Strangers you always run into

_Redzer_ · 08-08-2014 12:15AM #1

I can't be the only one here who runs into the same person enough for me to recognise them after only passing each other by.

Before Christmas there was a guy I would always pass in college, but the only one I'd pass consistently.
If I was going to a lecture, he'd be going the opposite direction, always -if I was going to the bar, he was coming from there. He was always coming the opposite direction as me the whole time.
I'd meet him on the street in random places every single day. He was recognising me back, so there was this strange awkwardness and acknowledgment, and I always felt like a stalker the amount of times I'd cross paths with him.

The worst encounter of all when I was walking home at night, pitch black and I meet yer man right as he's putting his key in the door, he turned around and saw me, I was so stunned and afraid he'd think I was actually stalking him I tried to wave, but it basically came out looking like this

Never seen a lad shut the door as quick. Wouldn't blame him if he bolted it either!

It's happened again with another guy with even more consistency recently. It's feckin strange. If I was into all that shíte I'd say the universe wanted me to meet these people.

Has this ever happened to a really high degree for anyone else when you're doing your daily commute or on your lunch break, did you eventually introduce yourself or talk to them?

Might do it with the guy I see 3+ daily. Sure what could go wrong? :pac:

Tail Docker · 08-08-2014 12:17AM

_Redzer_ wrote: »

Might do it with the guy I see 3+ daily. Sure what could go wrong? :pac:

That's youthful stamina for you.

_Redzer_ · 08-08-2014 12:19AM

Tail Docker wrote: »

That's youthful stamina for you.

Might turn that 'see' 3+ daily into 'see' 3+ daily :pac:

Sir Arthur Daley · 08-08-2014 12:19AM

Tail Docker wrote: »

That's youthful stamina for you.

Have you heard of viagra old man? :pac:

dmc17 · 08-08-2014 12:20AM

They must get less strange if you're always running into them

Sauve · 08-08-2014 12:24AM

There's an older man I pass most mornings on the way to work, I think he's a security guard somewhere.
We've escalated from a half-smile to a full-blown smiley "Good Morning" now.
It's kinda nice

_Redzer_ · 08-08-2014 12:25AM

dmc17 wrote: »

They must get less strange if you're always running into them

Nah it really doesn't, cos we avoid looking at each other.

There's a really long corridor that I frequent at random times. It doesn't matter, I *always* see him walking down at the very top, so it's this really awkward show down. You can only look at the floor, wall or ceiling for so long like, it's that long

It's funny. Once I was done with college I thought I wouldn't see him again and I got a bit disappointed, oddly. Well he is ridiculously hot in fairness, but sure enough he's back around again.

Yesterday I thought to myself I hadn't seen him at all today, looked out the window a bit later -there he goes.

Thought the same today, went to the stairwell, he's going down ahead of me.

That's beyond strange to hit into a stranger that often.

corktina · 08-08-2014 05:40AM

I see this strange old man all the time, have been doing this for years. Kind of unsettling, he's just the same after all this time except now he's getting a bit raddled and lined looking. Mostly I see him in the bathroom mirror :-(

Badly Drunk Boy · 08-08-2014 05:53AM

I've a few of these people on the go, although the times I see them might only happen for a few weeks at time. After a while of not seeing them, they re-appear for another spate.

It could be explained by the fact that I (sort of) work shifts, except my times going in to work are flexible enough, so I might see the person as I'm going into work at 11am within a certain 40 metre stretch of road, and then, going in at 9am the next morning, I see them on the same stretch of road.

dmc17 · 08-08-2014 08:06AM

He's most probably just a ghost or something. Have you tried speaking to him?

08-08-2014 08:39AM

I have become friend with some one from a situation like that, we cant remember how we fires encountered each other, but it did start with a nod, then a hello, then a few words which lead to a chat. I like serendipity like that.

_Redzer_ · 08-08-2014 02:00PM

Passed him by pure chance once again.

If I see him again today I'll talk to him

The Moldy Gowl · 08-08-2014 02:03PM

_Redzer_ wrote: »

Passed him by pure chance once again.

If I see him again today I'll talk to him

Just give him the nod.

Nod downwards means you want to see his junk.
Upwards is friendly

pickarooney · 08-08-2014 02:07PM

He's probably just your fylgja, OP.

Pumpkinseeds · 08-08-2014 02:09PM

There's a lady who adopted a rescue kitten from me, I used to meet her in the local shopping centre on the same day every week, for about a month. Poor woman must've thought I was stalking her

takamichinoku · 08-08-2014 02:10PM

Galway's really bad for this, I'm always bumping into people I recognise but don't know. Sometimes I accidentally greet them a bit with a nod or whatever, probably would talk to them if they seemed cool and an opportunity arose though.

Worse still are the friends of friends you've met once on a drunken night out and have no interest in talking to again but you both clearly know each other.

Boom_Bap · 08-08-2014 02:13PM

There was a guy in college that I never spoke to before, but used to always see him about the place.
It got really weird when I would see him getting involved with girls that I had previously been involved with.

Foggy Jew · 08-08-2014 02:14PM

As I was going up the stair
I met a man who wasn't there
He wasn't there again today
I wish to God he'd go away.

Sir Osis of Liver. · 08-08-2014 02:21PM

In such situations I would feel the need to box him in the face just to break the deadlock.

Sunnyisland · 08-08-2014 02:29PM

I go for a walk most mornings, meet the same people nearly everyday, I say good morning to them all, some say it back some look away and some just look at me. :-)

Warper · 08-08-2014 02:34PM

There is this girl i see every night without fail. She never notices me probably because i am in her closet.

Sinister Kid · 08-08-2014 02:40PM

There is a guy that works in the shop where I grab my lunch when I am in work, he is also in my gym so I'd see him after work & I'd often see him in the supermarket close to the gym after that. To top it off I have also spotted him on a dating site & only realised after I clicked on his profile who he was... so I'm pretty sure he thinks I am stalking him

We do the nod of the head or a quiet hello when we pass but it's still a little awkward...

Adamantium · 08-08-2014 02:42PM

takamichinoku wrote: »

Galway's really bad for this, I'm always bumping into people I recognise but don't know. Sometimes I accidentally greet them a bit with a nod or whatever, probably would talk to them if they seemed cool and an opportunity arose though.

Worse still are the friends of friends you've met once on a drunken night out and have no interest in talking to again but you both clearly know each other.

There is no escape on the Salmon Weir Bridge

RedXIV · 08-08-2014 02:49PM

Used to see this guy cycling the opposite direction to my walk every morning to the Dart, first time I saw him I thought he was someone I knew so stated at him a bit, then we got to the nods and now we can quite cheerfully shout at each other from across the road. No idea what his name is our what he does but it always cheers me up seeing him.

Moving jobs next week so will miss him now because I won't need the DART

Maximus Alexander · 08-08-2014 02:57PM

There's a girl that always walks past me in the morning in the opposite direction at the same point on the road, even when I leave the house 5 minutes earlier or later.

There are also a couple of people who are almost always on the same LUAS and in the same cabin as me on the morning commute.

Never happens on the way home, but presumably that's because people start work at a fixed time and finish at slightly more flexible times.

Kilgore__Trout · 08-08-2014 03:04PM

From Cat's Cradle:

We Bokononists believe that humanity is organized into teams, teams that do God's Will without ever discovering what they are doing. Such a team is called a karass by Bokonon ... "If you find your life tangled up with somebody else's life for no very logical reasons," writes Bokonon, "that person may be a member of your karass." At another point in The Books of Bokonon he tells us, "Man created the checkerboard; God created the karass." By that he means that a karass ignores national, institutional, occupational, familial, and class boundaries. It is as free form as an amoeba.

Maybe you ought to print this off, and show it to the guy to explain why you've been bumping into one another so often. Should help smooth things out and convince him of your sanity.

moc moc a moc · 08-08-2014 03:24PM

Sauve wrote: »

We've escalated from a half-smile to a full-blown smiley "Good Morning" now.
It's kinda nice

Jesus, what's next, handjobs??

Son Of A Vidic · 08-08-2014 03:28PM

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

There's a girl that always walks past me in the morning in the opposite direction at the same point on the road, even when I leave the house 5 minutes earlier or later.

She's an obvious stalker?.........She hot?

Nassau · 08-08-2014 03:32PM

16 years ago there was a guy I used to always see walking past the bus-stop I was waiting at in the mornings.

Then always saw him walking home (damn fast walker!). Lived next estate up from me.

Started to see him in the local every weekend...

Felt like we were stalking each other.

14 years ago married him.

Maximus Alexander · 08-08-2014 03:46PM

Corvus Maximus wrote: »

She's an obvious stalker?.........She hot?

Hah! She's fairly decent, I'm spoken for though.

_Redzer_ · 08-08-2014 04:27PM

pickarooney wrote: »

He's probably just your fylgja, OP.

This is getting seriously ****ed up. Right after I read that I was heading on my way, turn to go out the door, and he's walking towards me.

Wtf?

Didn't talk to him, I think me both think it's too odd.

It's like he's the mirror image of me ffs

Strangers you always run into

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