[Music] just a little note before we get started my son looks nothing like me and I have a baby face so when people see my son and I they see a babysitter not a mother I had just gotten off work and my husband was waiting for me with our son who was 4 months old at the time we ordered something to go and my husband went to use the bathroom while my co-workers coed over my baby at the pickup counter I see this older man watching us but I dismiss it because my son usually gets a lot of attention plus he came to the McDonald's pretty often and didn't raise any red flags he came up to us and smiled at my son and asked if he could hold them I politely declined though he pulls a 20 out of his wallet why don't you take this and get yourself a sandwich and leave the baby with me he said trying to hand me the money no thank you I tried to be polite I needed my job we just got a new general manager I wanted to make a good impression aren't you hungry it's so hard to work two jobs I'm sure if anything happened the parents wouldn't blame you I was about to go off on him when my husband came out of the bathroom and placed himself between me and the man oh you must be the father he offered my husband the money but didn't talk about taking our son we made our way out of the store and the man followed offering US money the entire way my husband Fed Up stopped on a dime the man ran into him and my husband stared daggers at said the man until he went back into the store a few weeks later he came back to the store he rant said about how he could have given that baby a better life than that young man I told him I was the mother and that he could get his sausage biscuit somewhere else because he wasn't welcome here anymore I lived alone when I was 19 and one night I decided to walk down to McDonald's like I do on occasion I lived about 1 km from McDonald's it was a bit of a sketchy area a lot of people roaming the streets a lot of drug addicts and criminals I started walking and saw two guys probably around my age on the other side of the street in this situation it's important to know my house and McDonald's were on the same Main Street opposite tree dense campsites on the beach I could feel their eyes as I walked past but I didn't look up they crossed the road and started walking behind me they were close enough for me to hear them laughing and whistling they waited at the corner as I went to McDonald's and I could see them watching I left McDonald's through the back door walked straight up the side street and around three blocks before I brave going back to the main road I came out in front of them and again they started following me they were steadily gaining on me I walked as fast as I could without running because I knew they would catch up to me I came to a corner with a 71 and turned in as soon as I was out of their sight I ran straight behind this store and hit behind a dumpster in a bush I stayed there for maybe 20 to 25 minutes I slowly emerged and went up to the next side street I followed that street down until I came to more shops behind the main street they were standing under a post light directly in my way I froze and walked backwards so slowly and carefully trying not to be seen or heard again I ran around another side street and ended up looping around my house and jumping My Back Fence after that plus a couple other similar experiences I have serious anxiety about leaving the house by myself this literally just happened to me a few moments ago I'm a very skeptical person so I usually don't get caught up thinking random people are out to mess with me this scenario just really caught me off guard everything made sense and it nearly made me shiver when I realized it all in my head I work from home and my sleep schedule gets pretty backwards at times this means I usually find myself getting hungry in the late hours of the night at these times usually past midnight only a couple places are open one of these is a 24/7 Carl's Junior Green Burrito restaurant it's the closest 24-hour fast food place for my house and I like to fried zucchini so I find myself going there a few times a week whenever I go there past 1:00 a. m. or so there's always the same guy alone never have I gone there late and there have been a different worker he's pretty tall I'd estimate at least 6 ft somewhat slim and probably in his late 20s or early 30s anyways it was just a couple of hours ago at 2:30 a.
m. when I decided I was going to go to the 24/7 Carl's Jr for some food when I arrived they played the usual pre-recorded promotional offer and I said no thank you then the guy on the speaker asked me if I could just pull up to the window while I've never been asked this over a working speaker at any other fast food place it didn't really strike me as out of the ordinary I pulled up to the window and before placing my order that guy the one that is always there alone at this time asks me if he can just change the battery on this device really quick I couldn't really tell what it was but I'm guessing it had to do with the ordering system probably after a few minutes he comes to the window and asks for my order I ordered a jalapeno double cheeseburger and a side of fried zucchini I give him my card and after a minute or so he returns it now I've ordered this same exact thing over 20 times at the same exact time while the same employee was working alone every single other time I ordered it he haded finishing a few minutes at the most never did I have to wait longer than that the first thing that I noticed was that it was taking longer than usual i' had probably been waiting about 20 minutes at this point at least twice as long as I ever waited for this fast food meal that's basically already prepared then I noticed something a bit strange when you look into the window where you pay on the right side is the indoor counter with the cast registers and on the left side is the kitchen area with a dim window alling you to see in a couple minutes before I received my food I saw the guy doing something on the far side of the room I found it odd as he spent a couple minutes there and it looked like he was messing with something small all of the food prep stations were in the room to the left and if he was putting the burger together I expect I'd see a lot more arm movement this is the first thing that seemed a bit strange this is where it gets really weird though I've ordered this same thing from this same guy quite a few times so the past few or so he's thrown Ranch into the bag without me asking as he starts approaching the window with the bag of food I turn over and clear as day see him grab one single Ranch and toss into the bag it wouldn't be until later that this detail became really creepy I drove home brought the food into my room sat at my desk and started eating as I watched shows on my computer inside the food he also put in some napkins a couple ketchup packets and exactly three Ranch cups they kind that are a hard plastic cup with the plastic peel on top I opened up a ranch cup so I could dip the fried zucchini in it after a little while I finished the burger and most of the zucchini there were only a couple left but the ranch was gone so I decided to open another this was the moment it all hit me out once like I was watching a good mystery show and I finally got the telling hint this second Ranch cup open open much much too easy I've eaten a good share of fast food in my life so I've opened tons of these cups of sauce so when the plastic seal slid right open without any resistance whatsoever I immediately knew something was off that important detail came rushing back into my head I 100% clear as day as the guy was approaching the window with the food saw him grab only a single Ranch and throw it into the bag that memory was literally the first thing that came to my mind when I opened the second Ranch cup I quickly grabbed the third and last Ranch and I already knew what was going to happen the plastic peeled right off even easier than the first cup instantly all I could think about were the details this order the same order I've gotten 20 times in the past that took 5 minutes at most every single time took an entire 15 minutes to stay about 10 minutes or so I see the guy in the very back of the counter area messing with something small for a couple minutes it doesn't seem like he's prepping food because he's only making slight movements with his arms when he approaches me with the bag I see him grab one Ranch cup and toss it into the bag not only am I sure I saw this I am sure that he put the sauce into the bag on two different occasions as there was also ketchup in the bag and even if he somehow grabbed three ranches when it definitely looked like one he didn't also grab any ketchup at the time I was looking right at him I know this all may sound coincidental but I can't stop thinking about it as it makes well too much sense even though I saw him only throw one Ranch into the bag it never surprised me when I saw three and a ketchup packet in the bag that's why I trust my response to opening those other two Ranch cups the ones that opened way too easily so easily that the realization that they had already been opened hit me like a ton of bricks if this is all possibly true and he didn't open those Ranch cups it must have been what he was messing with on the counter in the back maybe that's where he was using some kind of adhesive to seal them back up what none of this can truly answer what did he put in my food I didn't actually tear the seals completely off the two suspicious Ranch cups so I actually taped the tops down with gaffing tape put them in a plastic bag and into the fridge I know it sounds silly but if you really did try to put something in my food I might be able to figure it out with those even somehow being able to tell if there's a different adhesive than the normal one used to seal those sauce cups would literally be nearly inconclusive that it was tampered with tell me what you guys think I'm kind of freaked out I don't feel that odd other than a weird feeling that I kind of want to gag but I figured that's just me imagining what could have been done to my food while I feel safe as I didn't use those weird Ranch cops and only the one that had a tough seal who knows what he might have done to my burger as well neus is say I'll never be eating there again and I'll probably start trying to cook more I love a good McDonald's breakfast burrito especially with hot sauce I love them so much that when the drive-thru is backed up I'll get out of my car like a peasant and go inside yesterday was a day where I had to go inside I was already running late for work and I was hungry and impatient a girl stood in front of the door like she was going to come out blocking it with her body but still pushing it from the inside so I could come through I went through the door and said thanks instead of her leaving she closed the door behind me and sat down on a table I forgot about her while I was waiting for my food back outside walking to my car I hear ma'am ma'am I ignored the voice as I'm pretty late for work now what caught my attention was seeing in my peripheral vision a woman with a suitcase running at me and shouting ignoring me is rude ma'am I know you can hear me at this time I'm at my car and I'm able to get my driver's door open I feel lucky that I had my door between myself and this woman for some perspective I had parked in the spot that is rounded on the driver's side and front of the car by concrete and rocks meaning there was no car in front of me or behind me instead of asking me for money to make a phone call Etc this woman I say woman but she must have been in her early 20s well-dressed nice coat hat had a new backpack and a great traveler's suitcase demanded I give her a ride by saying you have to give me a ride to the terminal I say I can't as I'm running L for work and the terminal is literally a cakewalk from where we are she continues to demand that I take her rather than ask and I start getting angry I realized there's no reasoning with her so I thought I put an end to it I tell her I'm not taking you anywhere I'm leaving I get into my car and as I'm turning it on this woman starts tugging on my passenger's door handle and pounding on my windows I'm glad that my Jeep is old school with manual locks no way my passenger door was unlocked once she realized she wasn't getting in she ditched her suitcase and ran behind my Jeep she began digging through her purse and pounding on my rear window glass if you have an older Jeep you know that the glass in the back window is pretty thin the whole time she's screaming about what a [ __ ] I am with her digging through her purse my first thought is that she's going to slash my tires or shoot at me fortunately I was able to put the Jeep in four-wheel drive and roll up and over the concrete Rock parking enclosure I have oversized mudding tires and a serious lack of Jeep preservation and I peel the hell out of there She chased me to the sidewalk and I lost sight of I've never really told this story at least not completely but it's something that I still think about from time to time it kind of haunts me I used to work as a manager at a fast food place in a rather seedy part of a mediumsized city I'd worked at the nicer location until they decided to transfer me and there were rumors that the location I ended up getting sent to was was going to be shut down which did end up happening a few years later after I finally left anyway the point is is that the place wasn't being well taken care of the dining room was dated and old and the owners were certainly not updating or maintaining the place well they were just barely maintaining the very basic safety requirements and sometimes they weren't at all for example I often worked the closing shift which for this location at the time was 4:00 p. m.
to midnight between 7:00 p. m. and 11:00 p.
m. it was me running the drive-thru in the front counter by myself and one employee running the kitchen at 11:00 p. m.
that other employee would go home and I was left by myself to tidy up and do the deposit between 11:00 p. m. and 12:00 p.
m. this isn't really safe and I am not sure it was even entirely legal at the time this was over a decade ago so who knows just to provide a little context and background here I'm a girl but I'm not what you would consider small I'm 6' flat and during this time I think people would probably say I came across as more than a little St I was younger but I'd already spent years working in fast food getting treated like crap by customers and having drinks and food thrown at me the location I worked at was a swarm of junkies and drug dealers and just general scary behavior all this to say I didn't get ruffled that easily and I took a lot of things and stride however on this night I was working the night shift with a new guy the new guy had probably been working there for no more than a few weeks I'd worked with him a few times before but never the closing shift from the first time I'd met him I'd always gotten a strange vibe from him and again I am not someone who at the time got ruffled easily prior to this I'd worked with a night janitor at the other location who had an neral addiction and rather unpredictable and scary rage problems and some creepy insult kid who barely spoke more than two words at a time and when he did it was always something about how much he disliked women and me in particular not an exaggeration but this guy this new dude he was a whole different level of weird he had a kid and said he was a single father he' brought the kid around during the day and the kid and his clothing were always really dirty like really dirty and not only that but the kid also occasionally had bruises on his head and arms the kid was a toddler and I know that toddlers can get into things but one look at that kid and I knew that those bruises were not from just a little kid massing around I never saw the new guy behave aggressively towards this kid at all but I don't know it was just a feeling and that feeling translated into other things I don't know he was just creepy it wasn't one thing in particular it was just a feeling I got when I was around him he was a medium height stocky young guy he was totally average in every way but he just had a Vibe about him he was always friendly never rude or aggressive but his eyes were just lifeless for a lack of a better descriptor anyway on this night I think he might have been called in cover a [ __ ] for someone else I was in charge of making the schedules most of the time and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have scheduled him to work at closing with me since I found him so offputting the first part of the night was fairly normal I ran the drive-thru in the front counter and he ran the kitchen between 8:00 and 11:00 p. m.
he was talking to me on and off between orders telling me about his ex and how he'd come to be a single father apparently the mother of his child had a drug problem in hindsight I think a lot of what he said was meant to inspire sympathy he really laid the trouble h of him and his son un thick but at the time I just felt a little bad for both of them especially his kid but despite being seen as Stern I was definitely still young and naive when it came to manipulative people he told me that he' moved to the city and immediately had trouble finding work prior to getting the job at the place we worked at he said he' been running out of money and was behind on rent and bills and didn't have enough formula for his son at the time I think I just empathized with him and said that sucked we were both working in fast food and I thought it was obvious that neither of us had any money the place was barebones minimum wage and I was barely getting by with three roommates and only pretty much eating the free meal I was given from the restaurant every day anyway he laid it on thick all night but I don't know that I was really paying all that much attention to it people tended to ramble when working in the late shift and i' gotten used to listening to people spontaneously talk about their personal problems I had a habit of just listening and not really reciprocating the sharing and I guess this didn't didn't really go over well with the new guy at some point the new guy said something to the effect of you don't talk much do you I'm telling you my whole life story here and you've got nothing to say I don't know if it was just that I was coming across as unsympathetic or more likely that he was frustrated that he wasn't successfully manipulating me into giving up personal details about myself as far as I was concerned he was just someone I was working with and I didn't know him I didn't really want him to know me and certainly I wasn't about to start telling him anything that wasn't surface level chitchat but the guy was really intimidating something about his tone was off it definitely wasn't a jokey accusation or off the cuff comment I can't remember exactly what I said but I remember that I just tried to play it all somehow he didn't say anything more about it but after that the silence between us seemed a little tense at 11:00 p. m. it was time for him to go home the normal procedure was that the kitchen closer would tidy the area and an actual kitchen cleaner would come in a few hour later to deep clean things in our case it was a husband and wife team who did several locations but they didn't usually come in until a few hours after I left so this guy was only tasked with a basic tidy and then I would let him out after which I would stay behind to prepare the deposit but instead of this happening smoothly this guy goes into the staff bathroom and stays there for a long while like almost 20 minutes or so I didn't know what was going on nor did I know exactly how to handle the situation it had honestly never happened before people usually couldn't get out of there fast enough at the end of the night was he sick did he fall asleep I didn't know but I honestly just wanted to get my work done and go home he finally emerged and quickly walked to the door and left I was relieved it was weird but I just Shrugged it off and hurried back to the office to get done what I needed to get done not 10 minutes later I start to hear a banging at the back door of the restaurant loud repeated banging normally I would ignore this the back door fac an alley and was right next to a Street full of bars and pubs people leaving the bars and pubs often got the idea of banging on the door would get them after hours food service because well they were drunk so this wasn't necessarily uncommon so I just ignored it and kept hurrying to get things done but the banging didn't stop and it somehow seemed to get louder and louder and more urgent so I finally got up and went to look out the pee pool to see who was there at this point I was definitely on Edge and this edginess swelled into flout anxiety when I see that it's the new guy standing at the back door now my first thought was to not open the door I really didn't want to open the door but I knew that he knew that I was in there what if he forgot something inside what if it was his house keys car keys or something I was going to have to leave the building by that same door at some point so there really seemed to be no escaping him reluctantly and very stupidly yes trust me I know I opened the door door what I opened the door to was quite frankly terrifying to me he said he left his jacket or Keys maybe I can't remember inside and I told him to tell me where and I'd go get them I didn't want him to come inside if this had been any other person I worked with regularly this would have been no big deal I let them back in let them get whatever they left behind and they would take off but I instinctively knew I didn't want this dude back inside in the dark empty restaurant with me but the new dude wasn't having it he pushed past me and said he'd get it himself then he proceeded to shut himself in the bathroom again and at this point I just panicked instead of staying there by the door which in hindsight I should have I rushed back to the office stupid girl that's me had left some of the cash I was counting for the deposit out I managed to stuff the cash in the safe and lock it before he came to find me the office was dark it was summer and the air conditioning was on full blast but this dude was sweating a lot I was taller than him and I am not a small girl but somehow I just knew that this guy was about to hurt me he was keyed up as I watched his eyes D around the office I grabbed my jacket hanging on the hook next to me I hadn't finished my deposit but I was getting out of there I didn't care how much [ __ ] I got into in the morning for my work not being done I smiled and told him that I was just leaving and that he could walk me out I was really just trying to not show my Panic whatever he had planned I wanted wanted to give him an out for him to rethink it so I smiled grabbed my purse and started to move towards the door new guy who was standing in the doorway didn't budge though he started talking though about his son about the money trouble he'd been having and capped the whole story off with a request for a loan from the tone of his voice it was clear that this was not a loan he was demanding money from me he said he would pay me back as soon as he got paid and that I'd really be helping him out I didn't know what to do he had me trapped I wasn't leaving the office or the building unless he allowed it or at this point at least I wasn't leaving without a fight something told me that despite my height difference I wasn't going to win so I gave him money from my wallet $50 I think I gave it to him he said thanks you really helping me and my son out I won't forget it when he said it he had no expression no smile no speech effect at all he didn't seem grateful or even relieved just dead eyes arms limp at his sides was terrifying to this day I don't remember how I got him to the door all I remember was shutting the door behind him making sure the door was securely locked and rushing into the office to burst into tears I didn't finish my work but I stayed in there until I could force myself to leave out of the same door I was sure he wasn't going to jump me when I left the thought never occurred to me to call the cops I don't know why I guess I just felt like nothing serious had happened yet he'd asked me for money and I'd willingly given it to him despite the fact that I felt I had no choice and had been scared shitless I only saw him one more time after that but neither of us ever mentioned that night or the money I don't know why I didn't ask for it back I think I was embarrassed or scared or both I don't know I don't think I've ever told anyone in my life this story or at least if I have I definitely left out the part where I gave him money and never got it back pretty quickly after that he stopped showing up to his shifts and I I never saw him again I don't believe in throwing words like psychopath around I think people overuse psychological terms like that making them just Anonymous with anyone who has just horribly behaved there are a lot of varying degrees of terribly behaved people in this world unfortunately but after taking a lot of abnormal py classes I can say that there was definitely something about this guy's effect that was just wrong for lack of a better term I'd smile he'd smile I'd frown he'd frown it was almost like talking to someone pantomiming emotions maybe I'm just remembering it that way because it was such a terrifying experience for me but the truth is that I've never been comfortable talking about this event and to this day when I do think about it I feel just as uncomfortable as I did the day it happened more than a decade ago P.
