Trouble at the Coke Machine

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Guy walks over to the machine 6ft from where I'm standing, never acknowledges me, and starts trying to put a dollar in it. I thought it was strange that he didn't do something or say something to acknowledge the fact that we were the only two people there and standing only 6ft away from each other. Hell, he didn't even look in my direction.
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Are you his friend? Some long lost buddy? Why should he have acknowledged you? If you felt a casual greeting was so called for in this situation, why did you come at him with the "I love Coke-zero" line? What's wrong with "How you doin' tonight?"


That look he gave me at the coke machine was a far cry from the arrogant one he gave me as I originally drove past the gas station...
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Sometimes when I am standing around, I glare at people who are driving Lexus. It's called being jealous. Or in different terminology, hatin' on someone.


If a stranger, no matter the color, suddenly turned and exclaimed "Damn, I love Coke Zero™" in the middle of the night in a dark parking lot, I'd be a little freaked too.
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I once asked a woman in a parking lot if she had a pen. She took on some kind of martial arts fighting stance and started screaming. I ran away from her, fast. Why? I didn't want to get kicked in the throat. I can only assume that she later told her friends that she had scared away a would be rapist. What she actually did was scare away a young man who wanted to endorse his paycheck.
 
In my mind the only mistake was going out at the time you did. Otherwise nothing happened & I would say(with out being there) most likely do to the way you handled it.
 
I call Mall Ninja
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ha ha ha, maybe so. What's the saying? Give a man a hammer and every problem will look like a nail? lol.

Or gee whiz...you could have been the first one to be cordial by saying something like,"How ya doing?"

That would have broken the ice. You had nothing to lose due to your CC.
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The jerk should have spoken to me first! :D In all seriousness though, it was the way he crowded my car and got out and headed straight towards me yet never looked directly at me that made me uneasy. There was a line of buggies in front and some directly to the left of the machines. I was in a little nook. Cornered...I had to walk behind & within 2-3 ft of this guy to get out...


I can't help wondering if on another forum somewhere there is an entry like this:

I was hanging out with some friends where we usually do, and this guy drove by and stared me down. A little while later I went to get a Coke, and darn if that same guy wasn't at the soda machine down at the Piggly Wiggly. He didn't say a word to me when I walked up, no greeting or anything. Kind of gave me the creeps. Then all of a sudden he got this real aggressive look on his face and barked out, "Damn, I love Coke Zero," in this stern tone of voice that wasn't at all appropriate to what he was saying. I tell you, it was weird, like he was on drugs or something. Good thing I had my pistol with me - I thought it was going to go bad, but I was able to disengage and get away from there without shooting anybody, thank God. Do you think I should have called the police?
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I bet his behind goes to 7-11 from now on :D:D







This is a rowdy crowd. I've had trouble with them before. The night of my high school graduation I had to go by one of their clubs on my way to pick up my girlfriend. About the time I got to the road leading in, the car in front of me slammed on brakes...Then out of nowhere this other car comes slidding out of that road squalling tires, hard on the gas and headed in my direction. As they go past, another car comes flying out in hot pursuit with some idiot hanging out the window shooting at them. POP POP POP POP POP. I got caught in the crossfire...


Another time...well this story's actually good for another 'what to do' thread. I'll link it -->

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?p=4515778#post4515778
 
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...out gets the fellow that was at the gas station staring when I went by...
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The part about this situation that is the most telling is that the guy left a gas station to go buy a pop. Don't all gas stations sell pop? Sure, the guy could have been on his way home, then got a taste for a pop... but that is a stretch.

Haven't some of you had situations where you just get a bad feeling? The possible situation was ended before it was started. I think it is a good outcome to a situation that somebody didn't feel right about.
 
It's amazing how many "Armed Citizen", "It Happened to Me", stories take place at 0-dark thirty at gas stations, 24 hour grocery stores, etc.

Not the best planning.
 
This is a prime example of situational unawareness or more to the point, carelessness. If I know it's late, and rowdies hang out in a given location, and said rowdies are known to be hostile to any member of another ethnic group, I stay the H@#$ away from there and go home for my Coke Zero.
 
yes maybe it was a mistake to go out there at that time, but are we (all of the good people) going to let them (the bad people) decide whether we get the coke zero we want? he didn't go out looking for trouble he even went farther to avoid it and this guy came after him so to speak. I probably would have done the same for a root beer. the "Damn, I love Coke Zero™" was as good as any way to disarm somebody, sometimes a little acting crazy can defuse the situation better than trying to look tuff.

just my .02
 
You say the guy was middle aged huh?... 35 or 40ish? hmmm. I have a slightly different take on the situation. Me thinks perhaps he mistook you for a temporary boyfriend. Thats why you scared him so much. He was probably looking for love in all the wrong places.
 
yes maybe it was a mistake to go out there at that time, but are we (all of the good people) going to let them (the bad people) decide whether we get the coke zero we want? he didn't go out looking for trouble he even went farther to avoid it and this guy came after him so to speak. I probably would have done the same for a root beer. the "Damn, I love Coke Zero™" was as good as any way to disarm somebody, sometimes a little acting crazy can defuse the situation better than trying to look tuff.

just my .02
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Yep. There is no coexist. Every time we deny ourselves a coke the opposition grows stronger.


You say the guy was middle aged huh?... 35 or 40ish? hmmm. I have a slightly different take on the situation. Me thinks perhaps he mistook you for a temporary boyfriend. Thats why you scared him so much. He was probably looking for love in all the wrong places.
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eww..:D



The part about this situation that is the most telling is that the guy left a gas station to go buy a pop. Don't all gas stations sell pop? Sure, the guy could have been on his way home, then got a taste for a pop... but that is a stretch.

Haven't some of you had situations where you just get a bad feeling? The possible situation was ended before it was started. I think it is a good outcome to a situation that somebody didn't feel right about.
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Yeah man, exactly! Whether he followed me down there for money or man love, he wasn't getting neither one without a fight :)
 
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You couldn't just have waited to get a Coke in the daytime? lol

I'd say you did ok, other than maybe you could've gone to another gas station/grocery instead of a stand-alone soda machine.
 
If this were the middle of the afternoon, I would say much to do about nothing. However, given the time of night and the circumstances, I say good situational awareness and vigilance. This is a changing world and one can never be too careful. Nothing worse than saying to yourself that your are being paranoid and then waking up from a three month coma after being beaten or shot.

If we really give a situation like this a lot of thought, isn't this why we carry a gun? What would you have done different if you had not had a gun with you at that time? I not saying that a gun should give you a false sense of bravado, only the right to protect yourself given a deadly threat, which in this case never materialized. One must constantly be aware of what goes on around them...it's self preservation in today's world. If you stick your head in the sand, some one is going to kick your butt hard and then take anything you have in your pockets.
 
It sounds to me like he was sitting at the gas station then you drove by on a nice little female car. Then he thought he would follow and see if he could hook up with some hot females but then he realized you were a guy and it got awkward. He was prolly more scared of you.
 
Macon a war zone??? I just laughed out loud.... things must have changed a lot from what I remember. I had family there. And some that currently live in Lake Park, GA.
 
If I know it's late, and rowdies hang out in a given location, and said rowdies are known to be hostile to any member of another ethnic group, I stay the H@#$ away from there and go home for my Coke Zero.
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i think someone else also said you should go somewhere they dont hang out, or something to that effect.

i grew up in a small town in midwest ohio, where there was 1 grocery store that closed at 8pm. and 2 gas stations that were 24 hours, both of which just happened to be across the street from each other. so to say go somewhere else, or dont go at all is rubbish to me. in the OP's case there MAY have been another option. in my case in my hometown there would not have been.

i say good awareness and excellent handling of the situation. a goofy greeting or casual statement could defuse a LOT of borderline robberies that happen late at night

my advice to you is go pick up a mini-fridge and stock it with your favorite chilled beverage.... like double cola :D
 
I can't help wondering if on another forum somewhere there is an entry like this:

I was hanging out with some friends where we usually do, and this guy drove by and stared me down. A little while later I went to get a Coke, and darn if that same guy wasn't at the soda machine down at the Piggly Wiggly. He didn't say a word to me when I walked up, no greeting or anything. Kind of gave me the creeps. Then all of a sudden he got this real aggressive look on his face and barked out, "Damn, I love Coke Zero," in this stern tone of voice that wasn't at all appropriate to what he was saying. I tell you, it was weird, like he was on drugs or something. Good thing I had my pistol with me - I thought it was going to go bad, but I was able to disengage and get away from there without shooting anybody, thank God. Do you think I should have called the police?
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I can't help but think that somewhere out there someone posted on a forum "Damn, I was gonna rob and beat some white cracker sissy, but I made his gun, and he wasn't the wuss I thought he'd be."
 
It sounds to me like he was sitting at the gas station then you drove by on a nice little female car. Then he thought he would follow and see if he could hook up with some hot females but then he realized you were a guy and it got awkward. He was prolly more scared of you.
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C'mon, really?
 
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