14x14: My Coworker Became My Worst Nightmare

[00:00:00] This podcast contains adult language and content. Listener discretion is advised. If you have a story to share, send it to letsnotmeetstories at gmail.com. Enjoy the show.

[00:00:40] I can't remember exactly when this happened, but I think it was March of 2019. I was 17 at the time. I quite often catch the train to London to visit my boyfriend. I go up there on Friday or Saturday, and then come back on Sunday evening. My parents always told me, quite rightly, to try and take an early train home on Sunday to avoid traveling late by myself.

[00:01:04] But I always accidentally miss the earlier train so I can spend some more time with my boyfriend. On this particular Sunday, I was catching the train that was set to arrive at the station where I lived at around 9pm. My station is the last stop on the line, and since that's where the train terminates, by the end of the journey it is always relatively empty. Sometimes I'm the only one deboarding, aside from the train operator and the guard.

[00:01:34] Usually on one of these train rides, I just put my noise-canceling headphones on, settle down, and zone out of whatever happens around me. I'm quite an anxious traveler so blocking out the sound really helps. I also try and sit at the end of the carriage, where there aren't as many people, as having lots of people around can make me more susceptible to an anxiety attack. The last detail changed after this evening, though.

[00:02:02] After this, I started making sure to sit near people. I was sitting with my headphones on. I was tucked away in the back with my suitcase in the footwell of the seat next to me. I was in a pair of seats next to the window, sitting in the window seat. I then noticed a man stumble into the seats adjacent to mine across the aisle. He leaned across the seats, looked directly at me, and mumbled something.

[00:02:29] He was wearing all black, had a massive coat, and a big duffel bag. Anxiously, I took off my headphones and politely asked him to repeat himself. His speech was slurred, which made whatever he was trying to say completely incoherent. But after he repeated himself several times, I realized he was asking if I knew any taxi companies at the station. I apologized and let him know that I didn't, before putting my headphones back on.

[00:03:00] He leaned over again and asked me the same question. So I took my headphones off and gave him the same reply. No, I don't know any. Sorry. Then he said something else. But I had to ask him to repeat himself, since his speech was still terribly slurred. I had no idea what he was saying. This strange conversation went on for about 20 minutes. I couldn't understand much of what he was saying.

[00:03:29] But he was sort of half mumbling, half speaking, and he wasn't making much sense. He kept asking me how I was getting home and where I lived. I just said I was going by car, but didn't mention anything about where I lived. I was nervous because this guy was giving me the creeps. I had a feeling something bad was going to happen. And he was starting to make me uncomfortable. There was just this vibe about him that was telling me he was bad news.

[00:03:59] He then asked if I was going to call the cops. I said no. And he started swearing profusely amidst the rambling. Then he mumbled something about beating my fucking brains in. This made me start to freak out. And then, suddenly, he moved across the aisle to sit in the seat next to mine. Effectively trapping me in the seat.

[00:04:25] I had no escape as I was sitting next to the window and he completely blocked the aisle. I looked around to see if there was anyone else in the carriage with us, but I couldn't see anyone. Meanwhile, he kept gradually leaning closer to me. Luckily, the train guard came from the next carriage over. He saw that I looked scared and came over to ask if everything was okay. This guy's demeanor changed completely.

[00:04:53] He leaned away from me and waved his hand as if to indicate nothing was wrong. I also said everything was okay, but tried to convey, with my expression, that I was very uncomfortable. The guard continued to make small talk with the guy and then moved to stand by the doors behind us. I really didn't have any idea of what to do next. Even though the guard was behind us, I felt very unsafe and I knew I had to get away from this man.

[00:05:22] I asked the guy if he would move back to his seat and he started muttering and swearing again. He was mumbling these half-formed threats under his breath. I then called my dad since he was picking me up and the guy kept trying to talk to me over my conversation on the phone. He talked over me the whole time, but I couldn't actually make out what he was saying.

[00:05:48] I was trying to think of how to communicate that I wasn't feeling safe to my dad without this weirdo overhearing me. The train then pulled into its final stop so I pulled my suitcase out of the footwell to try and make a quick exit. The guy got up, walked in front of me, and then grabbed my suitcase to presumably try and steal it. I still had my hand on it and managed to pull it out of his hands while he deboarded the train.

[00:06:18] Then I stood next to the guard for a couple of minutes since I didn't want to get off of the train at the same time as this guy. When the guard asked me if I was okay, I burst into tears. I was anxious and tired and completely over this whole creepy situation. A woman then approached us, and I don't know how she knew I was crying about what had just happened with the guy. She must have seen him getting off of the train.

[00:06:44] She said that he was asking her about taxis and making her feel uncomfortable until she told him to ask someone else. She apologized for sending him my way, and both she and the guard offered to walk me to my car. Luckily, my dad was sitting in the parking lot, and I got into the car safe and sound. There was no sign of the guy from the train. On the way home, I made a stop at the supermarket.

[00:07:12] Usually, my dad would send me in to get whatever I needed, but since I was still upset about the whole ordeal from the train, I stayed in the car in the deserted parking lot. As soon as my dad entered the supermarket, a car pulled into the other side of the lot. When I saw the same man from the train in the passenger seat, my blood ran cold. The car that he was in wasn't a taxi.

[00:07:40] I found it strange because that's what he originally was asking about. I sank into the seat a bit, hoping he wouldn't see me. But it was like he already knew I was in the car. He then pointed right at me as he talked to the driver. They then got out of the car and began walking through the lot toward my car. I immediately locked the doors, but my phone was in the bag, which was in my trunk.

[00:08:08] So all I was able to do was sit there and pray for my dad to return at any moment. They were nearly at the car, right when my dad got back. He was only going in for bread, so he was out pretty quickly. The two guys saw him and immediately started walking the other direction towards the supermarket. I yelled at my dad to get in the car. I was crying so hard, and by the time he did get into the driver's seat, the men were nowhere to be seen.

[00:08:37] I calmed myself down enough to tell my dad about how the guy from the train was in the parking lot with somebody else, and I let him know that they were coming towards me. I pointed at the car that they were in, but my dad didn't say much and just started driving home. When I got home, my mom managed to calm me down a bit more. Then my dad told me that he noticed the car that I pointed out had been driving behind us since we left the station,

[00:09:04] meaning they intentionally followed us from the station to the supermarket. So, to the creepy guy who harassed me on the train and then followed my car, I don't know what your intentions were, but let's not meet again.

[00:09:36] This happened in the late 90s when a friend of mine and I were over at another friend's house. We were both around the age of 17 and 18. Around midnight, we both set out to go home. Both my friend and I ordinarily walked everywhere as neither of us drove. Walking was our only option. We walked part of the way back together, but eventually had to split off in separate directions.

[00:10:04] He lived out in a more rural area, so the walk back to his house was a long and pretty vacant one. He had to walk along a stretch of the main road, past a cemetery, and then continue for another mile on an almost pitch black road to get back to his village. His house was the second house in the village, so after that trek, he'd essentially be home right when he got to his village.

[00:10:32] About 10 minutes after we split up on this night, I got a call from him. He said that this guy had pulled up next to him and asked, Hey, do you want a lift? My friend's initial reaction was one of confusion. He didn't know the guy who was driving, but also this guy's car was full of kids. He had four of them, ranging in age from maybe 5 to 14.

[00:10:59] My friend told the man that he was fine and then watched the guy's face contort as he shouted, Yeah, well, you didn't fucking look like you needed one. He then sped off. As he was relaying this story to me, he said, Oh, fuck. Here he is again. I immediately turned on heel and started walking back towards my friend. I could partially hear the conversation as it unfolded over the phone.

[00:11:28] The man had pulled up alongside him and asked, Do you want a fucking lift now? My friend responded again, No. Then, and this is possibly the weirdest part of the story. The guy asked, Are you a hermaphrodite? Taken aback, my friend replied, What? The guy then responded, Do you have both male and female organs?

[00:11:56] My friend just responded no. And then the guy took off again. At this point, I was racing to catch up to him. He was just past the cemetery on this long walk right before he had to turn off onto the pitch black road. When I finally caught up to him, he was visibly freaked out. He said the weirdest part was that the kids in the car seemed completely unfazed.

[00:12:25] It was like this guy regularly does this kind of thing, and they seemed used to it. They weren't reacting or laughing or anything. They weren't even really paying attention. It was all just so bizarre. We then started walking together and got to the dark road. Now, this is not a nice place to walk at the best of times. And the previous events made both of us pretty nervous, but we pressed on.

[00:12:55] About halfway down the road, we heard a car coming up from behind us. It was the guy again. He was racing down the road and came to a screeching halt right next to us. Again, he rolled the window down. I clocked the guy, and he looked like the most typical early 30s dad at that time. He had bleach blonde, M&M style hair, and he was wearing a football jersey.

[00:13:21] Basically, you wouldn't have looked at him twice during that particular era. He eyed me and said, Who the fuck is this? Before either of us could say a word, he screamed, Do you want to fucking fight? And again, before either of us could answer, he took off, speeding down the road and into the village where my friend lives. We knew that we had to walk directly toward the direction he was going,

[00:13:49] so we sprinted, knowing my friend's house wasn't too far away. We rushed to his house and staked out his bedroom window, which overlooked the only road leading out of the village. No car left during the hour that we sat there, so we concluded that this guy must live in his village. I stayed with my friend that night, and early the next morning we went looking for the car. His village is made up of about four separate cul-de-sacs,

[00:14:19] but we saw no signs of the vehicle. This encounter was so bizarre that it genuinely started to feel like an episode of the Twilight Zone. So to that weird, angry, child-convoying football enthusiast, let's never meet again.

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[00:17:12] It was my day off, and the weather was surprisingly tolerable for winter in the Midwest, so I decided to take my dog to the dog park. The dog park belongs to the same property management that I rent from, and is half a block away at most. To get to it, all I need to do is cut across my building's parking lot. So, I leashed my dog and headed down towards the parking lot.

[00:17:38] When I stepped outside, I noticed an older woman in a bright pink coat. She was talking on the phone in front of one of the buildings ahead of me. She kept pacing from the door to what I assumed was her car. She was looking visibly irritated, and was very animated with her hand gestures. I figured maybe she was a delivery driver who didn't get the correct access code to the building or something like that.

[00:18:06] So, I thought that she was likely on the phone with the customer. This happens all the time in areas with essentially only apartment complexes. I wasn't close enough to hear what was happening exactly, but I only had access to my building anyway, so I continued to head to the dog park. As I stepped onto the sidewalk, she saw me and shouted, Hey! to get my attention.

[00:18:33] But this was done in a somewhat aggressive and desperate manner. I'm unsure of why she chose me of all people, as there were a couple of individuals closer to her who were entering and exiting their cars. But I said hello back to her. She shouted, Can you help me? I agreed as I was worried that something might actually be wrong. She began talking, but she was too far away for me to hear her.

[00:19:03] So my dog and I took a few steps towards her. Can you give me directions to 8th Street? My phone is dead. She claimed. I immediately stopped in my tracks as I became a bit cautious. I knew for a fact she was on her phone just seconds ago. Trying to rationalize the situation, I told myself that maybe her phone died as soon as she walked up, and she couldn't use her GPS or contact anyone.

[00:19:29] Regardless, I stepped further from her and situated my attention-seeking dog between us, just in case. Then I described the way that she needed to go, and I explained that it was very close by and easy to find. I even made sure to take extra time when giving her directions, since I'm not so good with directions and I didn't want to leave her stranded.

[00:19:53] But no matter what I said, no matter how simple the directions were, she was extremely confused. I kept pointing left, but she would act perplexed and then point in a completely different direction. At this point, I was getting a little impatient, but listening to her try and relay the directions back to me gave me a chance to get a good look at her. She was dressed very nicely, but her hair was messy. She was a lot taller than little old me.

[00:20:24] I stand at a whopping 5'3". She was also older than I realized. Usually, the people I live among are closer to my age, and I haven't seen her around before. I didn't think anything of this though, as we were relatively close to the highway, and we saw all sorts of people come through here. After the third try, she finally understood where she was supposed to go and calmed down a bit.

[00:20:50] So I said, good luck, have a good one, as we both turned and parted ways. She seemingly headed to her car, but after a few steps, I noticed that my dog's leash went taut. My dog wouldn't budge. I glanced back to see what the deal was, and saw that the woman was now walking towards me, at a faster than normal pace, while my back was turned.

[00:21:16] This really caught me off guard, because she was so much closer than before, and didn't seem deterred by my 55 pound dog at all. I politely and probably very squiggly said, Oh, have a good rest of your day. To remind her that our interaction was over. She abruptly stopped approaching me and said, Oh, thanks, you too. Before heading to her car, for real this time.

[00:21:45] I then went straight to the dog park, as it's in a populated area, and I would have had to pass her again if I went back to my apartment. Plus, I promised my dog a trip to the park, so we had to go. Once we were at the park, I looked up towards the street, and I saw the lady in the pink coat, driving in the complete opposite direction that I told her to go, and she was talking on her phone yet again. So I guess her phone wasn't dead after all.

[00:22:14] Did she not need directions then? Was she pretending to be confused in order to talk to me, and maybe get closer to me? This happened to me three years ago. I worked at a smaller Domino's location for about two and a half years, and this happened about six months into working there.

[00:22:43] I was freshly 18 at the time, and was working there to cover my car payment and gain some work experience while figuring out what I wanted to do with my life. I was working the night shift with my boss, the assistant manager, and a few others. My shift started at four in the afternoon, and went until midnight, so I was one of the closers. About one hour into my shift, a man parked a white truck outside and walked into the building.

[00:23:13] I was working the front, so I greeted him and asked him if he had placed an order already. He said yes and told me his name. His order wasn't ready yet, so I told him that it would be a few minutes. Now, considering everyone looks tall to me since I'm 5'2", this man seemed exceptionally tall. I'd guess around 6'4". He looked older, like he was in his late 20s or early 30s. He was heavier set and wearing a Wendy's uniform.

[00:23:42] Being the friendly person I am, I made conversation and asked if he worked at the Wendy's across the street, as I used to work there. He smiled at me and said, That's a shame. Wish you still worked there for my sake, though. This was odd to me, and his tone was flirtatious, but I didn't want to jump to conclusions. After a bit more small talk, I gave him his pizza and told him to have a nice night. About half an hour later, the phone rang.

[00:24:11] I picked it up and answered. Thank you for calling Domino's, how may I help you? Oh, is this the cute redhead who helped me out? The caller asked. My heart dropped a bit, as this confirmed my suspicion about the guy flirting with me. He asked me for my number, and I politely said I wasn't interested, so I wasn't willing to give that information out. Then I told him to have a nice day and hung up. I had hoped that that would be the end of it. However, I still let my boss and assistant manager know what happened, since I was uncomfortable.

[00:24:41] Luckily, they completely understood. Fast forward to later that night, at around 10. I saw a white truck parked outside, and that same man got out of the truck. I immediately turned to my assistant manager, who pulled me into the back office so that he couldn't see me. My boss greeted the guy and asked him what he needed. But the guy just kept looking around for me. I was able to see all of this because the office had a window that was like a one-way mirror.

[00:25:10] I started crying, but my assistant manager hugged me and told me that everything was going to be fine. Meanwhile, my boss was talking to the guy. My boss said, Look man, she already said that she's not interested in you. So, I'm not letting you see her or talk to her. You need to get out of the store because you're making her uncomfortable. The guy's face then twisted into anger as he stormed out of the store.

[00:25:36] He then climbed into his truck and backed out of his spot so fast that his tires squealed as he drove off. I let out a sigh of relief as my boss came to the back to check on me. He let me know that I was safe and told me to take some time to clean myself up. He also sent me home early, since there was a lot to handle. My assistant manager sat in the office and talked to me for a bit. She was trying to make me laugh while I calmed down.

[00:26:03] And then the phone rang in the office, and my manager answered. It was one of our drivers. He was calling to ask what vehicle this guy was driving who was harassing me. My assistant manager said that it was a white truck. The delivery driver on the phone then said that this guy was driving his truck around the parking lot in circles, presumably waiting for me to leave. My manager was not happy.

[00:26:30] By the time I said what, she was already up on her feet, taser in hand, running out of the office and to the front door. She ran outside and set her taser off, which gave the typical shocking sound. Upon seeing this, he left the parking lot and sped off down the street. I called my dad since he was across the street at the bar playing darts. I told him to come to my work and follow me home since this creepy guy was freaking me out.

[00:26:59] My dad arrived quickly, gave me his keys and told me to drive his car while he drove mine, just in case the guy knew what I drove. I drove home with no issues, but I barely slept that night. For the next month, that guy kept parking in the parking lot right next to my car. He would stay there for hours waiting for me to leave the store. I never left while he was there and eventually he stopped parking

[00:27:27] and just circled the parking lot and the building a few times a day. Three months later, it all finally stopped and nothing has happened since. If you're going to take anything from this, just know that even with the very small initial interaction I had with the guy, my gut was right. He was a scary man. So please always trust your gut. Also, I always make sure to have a knife with me at all times now,

[00:27:56] and I refuse to leave my job at night without someone walking me to my car. I don't work at Domino's anymore, but this incident still haunts me.

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[00:30:20] Last November, my brother, who's from Dundee, came to visit with his 3-year-old son. Ever since my brother moved away to Glasgow, I haven't gotten to see him or his family too often, so I cherish any time I do get to see them. His wife unfortunately couldn't make the trip due to her work, and only a day into his visit, he was called back for an emergency. My nephew wanted to stay. I bought him a ticket to a football game the day after,

[00:30:49] so I agreed to let him stay and bring him back to his dad in Dundee after the game. The only train that I could get was a late one, and it was the last one of the day, so I took my nephew to the football game and headed straight to the station afterward. The train was fairly busy, but I booked two seats for us. Just as we were about to board the train, the man standing next to me made an odd comment.

[00:31:18] They're like sardines, aren't they? I hate sardines, he said. Despite finding this comment odd, I awkwardly laughed it off, which tracks as I've never been good at making conversation with strangers anyway. I always feel uneasy when anybody approaches me. As my nephew and I made our way to our seats, I noticed an old couple sitting in them. I told them that they were in our seats, but they were fairly rude,

[00:31:47] and I hate confrontation, especially in public, so I just let them stay. There weren't two seats together anywhere else on the train, so my nephew and I were forced to stand for about an hour until people on the train finally got off when it stopped in Perth. After my nephew and I sat down, I mistakenly fell asleep as I was so tired after a long day and standing on the train for about an hour.

[00:32:16] As my nephew was only three, he obviously fell asleep as well. I awoke just as the last passengers were deboarding at Dundee. Once I realized this, I quickly jumped up and tried to shuffle my nephew off of the train as quickly as possible, but he was too slow, so we had to stay on the train, meaning we missed the stop.

[00:32:41] The train was now going straight to Aberdeen, which was about an hour or so away. So I sat down and tried to phone anyone I knew, but I didn't have a signal. I began to panic, as I knew that there would be no return trains from Aberdeen at this time of night, likely meaning I would have to stay the night in a hotel there. I tried to compose myself and looked about the train to see if there was anyone who could maybe help.

[00:33:11] My carriage had cleared by this point, and there were only three other people left. An older woman who was sleeping a few rows in front of me, a young man who was reading a book on the opposite side of the carriage, and a third man who was behind me. I told my nephew to go back to sleep and started trying to plan what I would do when we got to Aberdeen. My phone still had no signal, and that made this difficult, so I thought I would ask the man behind me for help.

[00:33:41] I looked in the window's reflection at him and noticed that he was the same man who made the odd sardine comment from earlier. He was a middle-aged man with a fairly average build and height, and there was nothing to suggest that he was in any way dangerous. Except for one thing. He was staring right at me in the reflection when I looked. I turned away for a moment, thinking maybe he was just looking around the train,

[00:34:10] just as I was a moment ago. But when I looked again, he was still staring right at me. His stare didn't seem to break until he got up to, presumably, go to the bathroom. I debated switching to another carriage, but before I could gather my stuff and wake my nephew, he returned. Only this time, he sat in a different seat, facing me directly. A few easy minutes passed before he made this first comment.

[00:34:41] Someone's sleepy. He nodded towards my nephew. I laughed awkwardly and put my earbuds in to avoid having to talk to him, even though my phone had just died. Must be some set of earphones if they can listen to music when your phone's dead, he said. My heart dropped. I'm only kidding with you, he said. But now I had no excuse to avoid conversation with him.

[00:35:09] So are you going home or visiting someone? He asked. I made the mistake of telling him what happened and that I had missed my stop. Well, that's quite the situation. You won't get a train back at this time, he said. I nodded and replied, I'll just find a hotel for the night. He then approached my seat and sat across from me. Hotels are probably booked out.

[00:35:38] Even if they're not, they're going to charge you a fortune, he said. I've got a place not far from the station. You can stay there for the night. Catch the train in the morning. Don't worry. I'll stay out of the way of you and your son. I explained that it was my nephew, not my son, and that I was more than happy to cough up the money for a hotel. I tried to stay polite, even though I really wanted to tell him to fuck off,

[00:36:05] and said that I didn't want to be a nuisance for him. Oh, believe me, he continued in an overly friendly tone. You won't be a nuisance to me. I was feeling extremely unnerved, but still attempted to talk myself out of the situation. This conversation carried on for another ten minutes or so, and he was getting increasingly insistent that I stay with him. I had no idea what to do. I felt completely helpless.

[00:36:34] I told him I needed to use the toilet, in an effort to move into a different carriage. This was when he grabbed my wrist below the table. You're not going anywhere, he seethed in a hushed tone. You're staying with me. I'll keep you safe. It was extremely chilling, but I couldn't even bring myself to scream in this kind of situation.

[00:37:01] The only other passengers on the carriage were on the opposite end, and I was terrified that if I screamed, the man would hurt me or my nephew. He wouldn't let go of my wrist and kept repeating, Just act natural. The remaining part of the journey seemed to last a lifetime, and I knew even then there was no light at the end of this tunnel. This man was not going to let me go.

[00:37:29] The train reached Aberdeen, and the man told me to wake my nephew, not alarm him, and tell him that we're staying at a nice man's house for the evening. He held my hand as we got off of the train. I felt as if my worst feelings were coming true. It was as if I knew what would happen when this man got us back to the house. Then, suddenly, I was knocked to the floor in a heap of bodies.

[00:37:59] The police had tackled the man, and they were arresting him. As I got up to my feet, I grabbed my nephew's hand and ran only a couple of yards before completely breaking down. The police comforted me as they told me that the young man who was reading his book on the other side of the carriage had noticed what was going on. In 2017, he sent a text to the British Transport Police, whose number is all over the walls of the train on posters.

[00:38:28] It took a couple of minutes to process everything, but I managed to gain enough composure to thank the police and express my gratitude towards the man who had sent them the text. I only managed to say a few words to him, but I will forever be grateful, as he saved me from what would have been a night of terror. He very possibly saved my life and my nephew's life. The police were very kind, and they took me and my nephew back to Dundee,

[00:38:57] where my brother and his wife were extremely relieved to see us. It has been some time since this incident, but it has had a lasting effect on me. And I always make sure that when I'm traveling late at night, I'm accompanied by someone, and I haven't run the risk of missing my stop ever since.

[00:39:17] We are Teresa and Nemo. And that's why we switched to Shopify. The platform, the before Shopify used, has used regularly updates, which have caused sometimes to lead to that the shop didn't work. Our Nemo Boards shop makes so much more on mobile devices a good figure.

[00:39:45] The illustrations on the boards come now much clearer, what is important to us and what our brand also makes us out. Starte dein Testen heute, für 1 Euro pro Monat, auf Shopify.de slash radio. The final story contains references to self-harm. Listener discretion is advised. This happened last year, at a new job. This guy Mike was in charge of my training. At first he seemed like a nice guy.

[00:40:14] We would talk about common interests and have lunch together. Normal things that co-workers would do. Then one day he started to overshare about things from his personal life, such as, I hate my wife. And if I told you I cut myself, in a place only God and I can see, would you want to know where? Also, his wife was pregnant at the time. Keep in mind,

[00:40:40] I had known this guy for all of three weeks when he started saying this stuff. Meanwhile, the most personal thing I'd ever shared was that I had been on Prozac in my first year of college, which I didn't think was a big deal since doctors prescribe it all the time. This is important to note, and you'll see why. Anyway, while I found what he was sharing to be odd, I didn't want to piss him off because I was concerned that, as my primary trainer,

[00:41:09] he'd start bad-mouthing me to the managers. So I did my best to change the subject whenever I thought he was going too far, which was becoming a daily thing. I also started avoiding being alone with him as much as possible. That didn't stop Mike from deciding to see me as his best friend or his sister. He even started referring to me as his sister from another mister.

[00:41:37] This was eventually cut short due to the point of him straight up calling me his sister in front of other people around the office. The first couple of times he did it, I just laughed. But then it stopped being funny because in his mind, it seemed like me being his sister was real, like it was a fact for him. He even changed his Facebook listing to make me his sister.

[00:42:05] I'd added him on there along with some other people from work, which was a big mistake. By this point, my actual biological brother was itching to have a talk with Mike, but I told him it really wasn't a big deal, and I let him know that I was going to try and gently remove myself from the situation. But gently attempting to do so just didn't work. I was having lunch with this other guy from work one day. We'll call him Blaine. For a little bit of background,

[00:42:34] Blaine is a guy who completed the same course I did. He was in the course in a different year than I was, so we had a lot to talk about, and I enjoyed having someone around my age to talk to. As I was having lunch with Blaine, I could see that Mike was giving him the stink eye from across the room. He was eating alone and had a very obvious, look what you're doing to me, demeanor. That same evening,

[00:43:01] Blaine messaged me on Facebook and told me that Mike was messaging him over Slack about me. We used Slack to communicate at work, and some people have it on their phones to coordinate after-hour stuff. Blaine shared screenshots of the conversation with me. Mike was saying, I'll protect her from scum like you until my dying breath. And, if you break her heart, I'll break you.

[00:43:28] It was some of the most cringe-worthy and disturbing things I've ever read from someone I knew in real life. Blaine then rightfully asked me what the hell was going on. Did you tell Mike that we were together or something? Blaine said. Because if you did, I apologize for sending you the wrong signals because that's not the case. I was pretty pissed off. I wasn't just pissed because Mike was threatening one of the few friendships I had at work,

[00:43:57] but this was getting fucked up all around. So I messaged Mike, asking him to stop threatening Blaine, while also apologizing to Blaine about the whole misunderstanding. Mike messaged back, I'm just looking out for you. That's what brothers do. I then took a deep breath and replied that he's a very good friend, emphasizing friend, and added that I didn't need to be looked after. Mike came back with,

[00:44:26] then I'll just have to protect you from the shadows, with a winky face. He said some other cringy shit about me being young, naive, and an easy target. But by that point, I was 300% done with whatever he thought this was. So I blocked him. The next morning, Mike came in late, sat down and immediately messaged me on Slack, asking if I was okay. I ignored it. A bit later,

[00:44:54] he got up to go out for his smoke break, and as he passed my desk, he said, Hey, I slacked you. Did you see it? I used some generic comment about being busy, then went about minding my own business. Lunch came and went, and the rest of the day carried on without a word from him until 10 minutes before I was about to go home. That was when I received a wall of text on Slack that made me realize that whatever was happening in Mike's head

[00:45:24] was completely detached from real life. In said wall of text, he was talking about how he thought I was lashing out at him due to being hurt and angry from all of my trauma. I assume he was talking about my depressive episode from years ago. He told me not to worry, and said he'd continue to stand by his dear friend, meaning me, since he made a promise to be my brother and defender.

[00:45:52] He said he wasn't going to take the easy way out and let me go just because I was hurt. He even said he wanted me to take out my anger and pain on him because he could take it. As I was sitting there reading all of this, I couldn't believe it. Mike then logged off for the day as I was still processing everything. Then, about 20 minutes later, I went down to the parking lot and there he was, smoking next to his car.

[00:46:22] I ignored him as I walked past. Thank God there were other people around. He just stood there unmoving and stared at me as I got into my car and drove away. This was when I started to think about talking to a manager. We had two managers, a younger guy and a woman. We'll call them Pete and Pam. I started writing this long email to both of them and also thought of talking to Blaine,

[00:46:51] who I figured could back me up since Mike harassed him after he had lunch with me. In the end, I decided not to. I thought about how Mike had a kid on the way and he was clearly in need of some mental help that he didn't seem to be getting. I didn't want to get him fired and take away his livelihood. Spoiler alert, I lived to regret it. After the day that I ignored Mike in the parking lot,

[00:47:18] things were normal for a while. Sure, I caught Mike staring at me a few times, but I pretended not to notice. Then after a few weeks of nothing, one of the other girls on our team said she had something to tell me. We'll call her Angie. Angie. So one day, Angie and I went out to a coffee place across the street that pretty much everyone in the building goes to for lunch. She told me that Mike had been talking to other coworkers about me and my hurt.

[00:47:48] He was telling some coworkers how I was struggling with depression. He said it was so bad that it was making me push my family away. Because according to this psycho, we were family. He said he had been trying to help me and it was breaking his heart that I wasn't letting him, since he cared so much for me. Angie wasn't sure how many people he had been discussing this with, but besides herself, she knew he was talking about all of this with at least one other person. I was livid.

[00:48:18] Honestly, who goes around telling people things like this, making themselves look like a saint? This was when I had a change of heart and decided it was definitely time to talk to the managers. So I started with Pete. I opened up Slack and asked him for a quick one-on-one. He immediately agreed and said, That's great. I've been meaning to talk to you. Pam will be joining too. So I need to get her down here. So the three of us met later the same day. Pete started our meeting by asking me how I was doing.

[00:48:48] He asked how I was getting along with the rest of the team and so on. I kept things general at first, but I had a feeling of where this was going. Sure as rain, Pete then said, Mike's been saying a lot of good things about you. But his face wasn't the face of a man who had been hearing good things. All the while, Pam was sitting there, hardly saying anything. She was just nodding and smiling in a way that made me a bit uncomfortable.

[00:49:18] I was starting to get very anxious because I'm not a confrontational person. I hate drama. But Mike had crossed all of the lines. Still trying to be nice, I said, Look, I think I somehow gave Mike the wrong impression. And I gave them a scrubbed-up version of what had been going on. Pam asked, Did you ask him to stop? I wasn't sure of what to say since I hadn't, really.

[00:49:46] But I assumed that blocking him on Facebook and not engaging him on Slack or anywhere else otherwise was sending him that same message. Pam then proceeds to give me advice. She says, If he starts to talk about inappropriate things, tell him you're not comfortable with it. Don't engage with him on a personal level or outside of work. Pete and Pam concluded the meeting by promising that they'd assign someone else as my trainer. And they said that they would talk to Mike about spreading inappropriate rumors,

[00:50:15] which I insisted were not true. A week later, Angie and I headed out for coffee along with another guy that we were friends with at the office. As soon as we walked in the front door of the coffee shop, Mike was there holding two cups of coffee. And one of them had my name on it.

[00:50:44] I think Mike ran over there ahead of us while we were waiting for the third guy. Mike then tried to give me the cup of coffee with my name on it and he said, It's just the way you like it. My heart was racing so fast that I couldn't make out what it was. I was pretty sure I was about to have a heart attack right then and there. Though it was probably a panic attack. By the time I got a grip, Mike was gone and Angie looked at me with concern as she said,

[00:51:14] Are you okay? You looked like death. I then went outside with Angie while our friend waited in line. I was shaking, trying not to cry. She asked what was going on so I told her some of the things that Mike had been doing. By the end of it, she looked disturbed and said that I should talk to managers. I told her that I already did and she urged me to tell them about him approaching me at the coffee shop.

[00:51:40] Part of my brain thought that it wasn't worth bringing up since he was just buying me coffee but I also knew I couldn't continue pretending that I was okay with any of this anymore. As soon as we were back in the office, I went straight to Pam. Normally I would talk to Pete since he's my direct manager while Pam is more of a servicing manager. But I knew I'd feel more comfortable about all of this, talking to a woman.

[00:52:06] So, this time I told Pam everything, including how Mike threatened someone else after they had lunch with me. I also told her that he stares at me a lot. I let her know about that long, creepy, delusional message that he sent me on Slack and she asked me to see the message. I said that I would forward it to her when I got back to my desk since I didn't have Slack on my phone. She asked me to forward anything else I had since she wanted to be able to fully understand the extent of the problem.

[00:52:34] She then asked, has he been following you outside of work? I told her about the coffee shop incident and also about his lingering and staring in the parking lot. After a pause, she said, well, I know I can't fire him. And this made my heart sink. While none of this was serious enough for them to boot him, she said that he could be disciplined for using Slack inappropriately.

[00:53:01] She asked if I'd like to transfer to another team, but I didn't think that that would do much good since I'd still have to work in the same building as this psycho. So, she suggested a mediation. A meeting including her, someone from HR, Mike, and me. She didn't sound very convinced that it would do anything, and I wasn't either. And guess what? It didn't. Let me start by saying I was very anxious throughout the whole thing. I was shaking.

[00:53:30] I did my best to state that I wanted to have a professional relationship with Mike and only that. I said I wasn't comfortable with him sharing his perceived personal information about me, or talking to other people about my quote unquote problems, which weren't even real. Throughout this whole damn mediation, he was just sitting there saying, Yeah, uh-huh. Okay. With this shit-eating grin on his face, like we were all just playing pretend.

[00:54:00] That same day, I got a Slack message from him and it said, If you wanted me to give you some space, you should have just asked. No need to go to HR about it. I looked up and noticed that he wasn't sitting at his desk, but assumed he was probably still in the building somewhere. If he was sitting at his desk, I'm pretty confident I would have lost my shit then and there. I replied, Okay, well I'm saying it now. Please don't ever talk to me again.

[00:54:28] To which he replied, But we work together silly, with a winky face. Not long after the mediation with HR, my brother picked me up from work because my car was in the shop. My brother is a pretty big guy. Even though he looks intimidating, he's not violent whatsoever. Well, as I got into my brother's car, Mike was in the parking lot smoking a cigarette and giving us the meanest look you could imagine.

[00:54:55] I'm pretty sure he was waiting there for me to come out of the building that day. It wouldn't have been the first time. Mike's expression wasn't just staring anymore. It was more like an, I'll kill you in your sleep glare. My brother noticed this and simply asked, Is that the guy? Yeah, but just drive, I said. However, before I could stop my brother, he was already walking over to Mike.

[00:55:23] Mike was quick to get verbally aggressive as soon as he saw my brother coming. I heard him shouting from where I was sitting in my brother's car. Stop right there, or I'll run you over, Mike said. I have a gun, bitch. I have a gun. This was when I completely lost it. I walked over and began screaming at him. I've never in my life let loose on someone like this, and I honestly scared myself because of it. At some point, while I was screaming, Mike just drove off.

[00:55:53] I was hysterical for the rest of the evening. I called in sick the next day because I couldn't stand the thought of being anywhere near Mike. While I was out sick, I received a text from an unsaved number that said, Bitch. Just that. My brother was telling me that I should quit the job and get a restraining order against this freak, since it was obvious people in our workplace weren't going to do anything to protect me. No job in the world is worth dealing with all of this, my brother said.

[00:56:22] You could stay with me and my girlfriend for a while if you're worried about money. This was a good pitch, but my mind still wasn't made up. And then, that same evening, I received a picture message of a man slitting his wrists. You know the expression, go down the street, not across the road? Well, this was definitely across the road. And it was really messy.

[00:56:48] There wasn't a face included in the picture, but it was painfully obvious that it was Mike messing with me. I blocked the number and I quit my job that next day. I also stayed with my brother and his girlfriend for a while. Mike never tried to get in touch again, or if he did, I never knew because I blocked him on everything. However, that changed recently. You know how LinkedIn has a feature that allows you to see the people who looked at your profile?

[00:57:18] Sometimes it shows you their photo, even if you don't have a paid subscription. When I looked at who had been viewing my profile, I noticed that Mike had looked at mine. He was still with the company I had resigned from. Needless to say, I'm now freaking out. Especially because I'm sure LinkedIn showed him I looked at his profile as well. If he happens to just walk by my current workplace or tries to initiate contact, I'm going straight to the police.

[00:57:47] Mike, please, let's never meet again. Thank you for listening. Stick around after the music if you're a patron for your extended ad-free version of this week's episode. You can get access at patreon.com forward slash let's not meet podcast.

[00:58:17] Sign up and support the show today. You'll get access to ad-free versions of all of the episodes at a higher bit rate for the best listening experience and bonus content every week with stories you won't hear anywhere else. Again, that's patreon.com forward slash let's not meet podcast. This week you have heard the man on the train by Hexgoth. Do you want a lift by Sly Enemy. Unsure of this woman's intentions by thousands of worms. I had a stalker by Jordan Sky.

[00:58:46] Creepy encounter on the long haul train by Maria Olson 23. And finally, my coworker became my worst nightmare by Stalked and Tennessee. All of the stories you've heard this week were narrated and produced with the permission of their respective authors. Let's not meet a true horror podcast is not associated with Reddit or any other message boards online. Make sure to send your stories in to lets not meet stories at gmail.com to hear them on the show.

[00:59:13] Finally, be sure to check out the new episodes of my other podcasts like Odd Trails, the True Paranormal Podcast, Cryptic Encounters and the Old Time Radio cast all at crypticcountypodcasts.com or wherever you get your podcasts. I'll see you all next week. Everybody stay safe.

[00:59:29] This happened to me four years ago when I was...

[01:00:02] This happened to me four years ago when I was...