(On a serious note) -- scary restaurant and baby story...

[kick-ass-bob]

Back when my son was an infant, he was super cute with bleach blonde hair. We were sitting and eating dinner (Applebee's I think) a woman was walking by and she stopped and said how cute our son was. She then said, "can I take him to show everyone at my table - it's right around the corner."

We nervously looked at each other (we were both 23 years old) and both said "no, I don't think so" to the woman.

She said "oh, OK" and walked away.

We watched her - she walked straight out the door of the restaurant - she wasn't eating there.
:scared::scared:

It still gives me a queasy feeling in my stomach, even today.

[KitchenWitch]

1. holy crap!

:scared:

[kick-ass-bob]

3. we were sitting in the corner of the restaurant in the window.

She must have seen us and came in.
That was almost 10 years ago and it still makes me sick to think about.

[KitchenWitch]

4. Oh man

Glad you had your wits about you!

[johnnie]

2. Yikes!

That's messed up.
:scared:

[DS1]

5. Maybe she was just leaving.

I'd have said no, anyway

[kick-ass-bob]

8. I thought about that too, but then where was this group of people she was

with? That she was going to show our son to?

[xmas74]

6. Someone once offered to buy

my brother off of my dad at O'Hare.
There are some freaks out there.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

15. Hmm... what was the going rate?

:D

[xmas74]

20. I have no idea.

I think I was 6 at the time and he was two.
He's almost 28 now.
There were times growing up that I wanted them to take it.

[underpants]

7. Wow

Good thing you both spoke English.

Kidding aside that is freaky.

[kick-ass-bob]

9. I think this lady was a

dingo in disguise.
:bounce:

[Benfea]

10. Ewwwwwwwwwwww!

Creepy!

[bigwillq]

11. That just gave me the chills.

I am so happy everything worked out. Geez, there's some nut bags out there.

[miss_american_pie]

12. Those instincts kick in quickly

I had my sirst out grocer shopping when he was maybe six months old. We came out in the middle of a thunderstorm, so I figured I'd wait it out under the awning at the front of the store.

A lady drove up, rolled down her car window, and asked if I wanted her to hold the baby while I got my car.

:scared:

[Brewman_Jax]

13. I got one for you

Not as scary as yours and all of this is in the past. I was talking on the phone with a young lady (potential date material) and over the weekend she had taken her son and joined her friends at a sports bar to watch NFL football. She said that he complained and wanted to go home. I asked his age, she said 8--I was expecting to hear 12 or 13.

Having been a camp counselor, soccer coach, and substitute teacher (not at the same time! :P), 8-year-olds are not noted for being still for extended periods of time. Add to that being in a smoky sports bar (the smoking ban had not yet past and smoke won't always avoid the non-smoking section) for a 3 hour football game, and she wondered why the little guy wasn't behaving (duh! )


Glad you listened to your instincts.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

14. You have kids!!?!?!?!?!?

That IS scary!! :scared::scared::scared::scared:

:D :evilgrin: :hide: :yoiks: Just kidding!!

[1gobluedem]

16. Wow, that gives me a queasy feeling too

My SO's kids used to freak me out because they were so friendly and trusting when they were small. We would go to a lot of outdoor music festivals where they would attract a lot of attention because they were so cute. They would go over and talk with anyone; I was afraid to ever take my eyes off them.

Now they are 8 and 12 and understand that not all people can be trusted, thankfully.

[Jokerman]

17. You bleached your baby's hair???

Or did you just mean his natural blond hair looked like it could have been bleached?

Good for you for trusting your instincts.

When I was around 10 years old I was approached by an older man who just seemed a little too eager to be my friend and it creeped me out. I stayed away from him and years later he was convicted of multiple counts of child molestation.

I still trust my instincts when they tell me something is wrong.

[Frank Cannon]

18. When I was about 8 years old, and in the hospital...

a woman dressed head-to-toe as a nurse came into my room and said that she needed me to get dressed so that she could take me home to get some medicine. Even at 8, that didn't make any sense to me at all, and so I told her to beat it. She insisted, even pointed to my name on a clipboard that she had, but I told her no. She seemed exasperated and left.

Immediately after that, my dad showed up. I told him what happened. He immediately when out to the nurses' station and told them about it. They didn't know who that woman was or what that was all about.

There are a LOT of freaks in this messed-up world, a lot more than we know.

[Cats Against Frist]

19. Oh my goodness

That's really scary. I have a four-year-old, who is really cute, too (aren't they all), and I watch that boy like a hawk. The freakiest story, for me, is the story of that little boy from England, three-year-old Jamie Bulger (or Bulgar, can't remember), who was kidnapped by two pre-teens at an English shopping mall. The details are gruesome, and I can hardly think about it, without crying.

I know there are people who harsh on parents that are "sceeerd" and over-protective, but if my son ever went missing, after 24 hours, I'd probably have to kill myself. It's worth it, to me, to be a little paranoid.

[Arugula Latte]

22. Oh god. I know.

The only thing worse, I think, than having a child die would probably be to have one go missing indefinitely. I don't know how those parents whose children are missing for years and years can keep living. Five minutes would be unbearable; five years or more ... I don't want to think about ... :(

I've occasionally lost sight of my kids (say, if they're crouching on a play structure at a park, or something) and just about gotten sick from that sudden rush of fear for the few seconds before I re-establish a sight line on them.

[Canadian Socialist]

21. Almost 30 years ago

When I was in my late teens, I took my youngest brother grocery shopping. My mother worked full time (and my dad was in the army so away a lot) and would give me a list and money to do this (and the car keys! bonus). Anyway, (and I just found this out this past Christmas), I had given half the list to Jim (who was 11 at that time). He went his way, I went mine. It was our routine. No biggie. This would be Winnipeg in 1974. Nothing happened in Winnipeg back then. So, I go up to the front, waiting for Jim... finally he shows up, looking a little upset. I didn't think anything of it, at the time. BUT... Jim now tells me (30 years later) that he had been cornered by this "creepy guy" who wanted him to go with him... thank goodness Jim is and was a very capable and intelligent man, and he managed to get away from this guy. What bugs me is that he never said anything to me. I'm a big girl... I would have kicked that asshole's ass. Touch my little brother, will you! Course, I still feel that way, and Jim is now a doctor with a lovely wife (also a doc... they're a pair of docs (sorry about the pun) with the most beautiful child.