Trouble at the Coke Machine

[freenokia]

I was reading bob.a's thread about his gas station encounter(http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=441655) and it reminded me of a similar situation I encountered myself.

I live in a small town, less than 4000 people in the city limits. It's a rather poor, country, rual, area in Ga. The racial makeup is about 50-50 white to black. The younger black population like to throw big parties with a lot of people coming from out of town because of the DJ's ect. Some of the clubs don't let out until real late (3ish) while some let out at midnight. Usually when the earlier clubs let out all the black people will hang out/loiter at the gas stations & parking lots in the middle of town. Generally this is no big deal, they don't block the streets & they're spending money at the gas stations.

I'm self employed, so I have the luxury/curse of being able to go through spells of night owling/early birding at my own discression. One night during one of my night owl phases I decided I wanted a Coke Zero at about 12:45am. I had just recently blown the head gasket in my Jeep...so I borrowed my mothers car. She has a little black lexus sc...

So here I go bebopping my way down the road. When I get to town I notice the Flash Foods is overrun with the club crowd...So I decide to go to the coke machine outside of the grocery store down the road. As I turn by the gas station, I notice a middle aged black fellow staring. No big deal, it's a nice car...So I get to the Piggly Wiggly :P parking lot and turn in. I ease all the way down to the drink machines and park. I get out and start pumping dimes into the machine when I notice a car pull in and head my way. The car parks in front of my car and out gets the fellow that was at the gas station staring when I went by. 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. I suddenly got the feeling that he had followed me there under some sinister guise but was second guessing himself after discovering I was probably not an easy target.

I didn't get the vibe that his primary objective was to hurt me, but I did feel like he was trying to muster up the courage to rob me. I didn't know what to do...I was armed, had a G29 IWB under my shirt. I was not afraid or panicky, but I knew I needed to do something to project strength. So I squared off on him, looked him dead in the eye, and said somewhat sternly "Damn, I love Coke Zero". lol. When I saw his eyes all I saw was sheer panic...That guy was fixing to rob me. He was just chickening out. I think my decision to woof at him a little bit may have shaken his confidence enough for me to get out of there without the shtf.

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...



What'd I do wrong? What'd I do right?? What's the criminal psychology in situations like this???

[M.O.A.]

too me i think you handled your self very well not provoking or disrespectful but confident

[freenokia]

Thanks M.O.A., I just don't get who these people think they are...This area has always been low key. The only crime we really ever have is small time pot peddlers & the occasional business break in, but in the last year alone there's been 3 murders here or extremely close by...It's crazy.

[M.O.A.]

how close to atlanta are you

[freenokia]

Middle of the state. About an hr south of Macon. Hell it's actually 4...

One was allegedly over drugs. Supposedly the victim was targeted because he had a stash of drugs & cash. Shot him in the chest...guy died at hospital. No arrests.

One was a crackhead trying to borrow money. Went to a known loan shark's house. apparently LS turned him down. So he shot him. Dead before police arrived. This guy was caught in Savannah couple of day later. (this is the one I forgot)

Last two were seperate instances of elderly women who both lived alone. Both times someone broke in and beat/stabbed them to death. One was by the woman's neighbor. The other was by two 15yo teenagers.


It's rough man. Hell macon's just about turned into a war zone. I think there were 29 murders there last year.

[M.O.A.]

wow man i m glad i live in a nice city well for the most part all we get here is meth makers and they just blow themselfs up

[MTT TL]

The way I read your story is; "Man buys Coke Zero; nothing happens".

[M.O.A.]

you forgot the got followed by could be bad guy got bad vib confronted bg and then nothing happend

[freenokia]

Not to mention, could be bad guy left store where cokes are sold to get coke at same place I am. After staring at me as I drive by...It's a long read, though. I can see how you might have had difficulty staying focused.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Cochran, GA? I went to high school there 88-91. Dublin, maybe?

I dunno man, sounds like that fellow was as freaked out as you were by your remark. 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.

[freenokia]

Cochran, huh? Went to college there I'm from around dublin

[freenokia]

It would have been one thing if he had been cordial when he pulled up. I was fully prepared to be friendly. But the vibe I got when he seemed to be avoiding interacting with me but was so damned interested when I initally drove by is what put me in condition orange...

[Dr. Strangelove]

A good friend works at the HGTC in Dublin, she's program director of the Respiratory Therapy program.

[Dr. Strangelove]

It would have been one thing if he had been cordial when he pulled up. I was fully prepared to be friendly. But the vibe I got when he seemed to be avoiding interacting with me but was so damned interested when I drove by is what put me in condition orange...

You may have been right, better safe than sorry...

[freenokia]

Oh, cool. They have a good school over there. How old's your friend?

"You may have been right, better safe than sorry..."

True. but just cause i'm paranoid doesn't mean they're not after me

[Dr. Strangelove]

We're both 37, actually, nope, she's 38. I still visit occasionally and hunt between Cochran and Warner Robins with some old high school buddies when I get a chance.

[freenokia]

Ohhp thought I might know her but you guys have me by a couple of years :P Gotta love them GA Whitetails, a bigger commodity than cotton

[Dwight55]

I think the assessment is probably correct: followed w/intent to rob, . . . may have made your Glock, . . . decided whatever you might have was not worth getting shot.

Could have been cooincidence, . . . only your guardian angel knows for sure.

May God bless,
Dwight

[TailGator]

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?

[Eagle Eye]

It would have been one thing if he had been cordial when he pulled up. I was fully prepared to be friendly. But the vibe I got when he seemed to be avoiding interacting with me but was so damned interested when I drove by is what put me in condition orange...

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.

[jhog1]

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

I call Mall Ninja

[Willie Lowman]

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.

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...

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.

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.

[besafe2]

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.

[freenokia]

I call Mall Ninja

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.

The jerk should have spoken to me first! 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?

I bet his behind goes to 7-11 from now on







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/show...78#post4515778

[freenokia]

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