if I turn up dead, someone please send this to my local police department...

[Kitsa]

I just had a really weird interaction with someone. I mean, weird enough to come inside and lock the doors.

I was out in the backyard spreading some pea gravel around my gardens, when I looked up and saw a guy walking through a backyard 2 houses away. I waved, thinking he was another tenant. They're always changing and I can't keep track of them anymore. He waved back, then he started beckoning like he wanted to talk to me.

There was a fenced yard between us, with yappy dogs, and when he shouted something I couldn't hear him. He gestured that he was going around. I walked around to my front yard and waited. The dogs from next door ran through the house and were barking at him through the front window. He said "Oh, they hate me, must be a personal problem."

I was thinking, okay, out with it.

In describing this guy I'm going to have a problem. He was tall, skinny, with a baggy white t-shirt and what looked like a Notre Dame jersey tied around his waist. The weirdest thing about him is that he was affecting these super-effeminate mannerisms. I'm not talking gay, I'm talking over-the-top Rupaul shit. He wasn't walking, he was mincing. He had one hand on his hip and one hand in the air like a Restoration comedy, like he was holding an imaginary cigarette. The effect was completely bizarre.

On an instinctive level, it was straight-up "I really want you to think I'm gay" Ted Bundy kind of stuff, and that was scary as hell.

He said something I didn't understand.

"What?"

"Are you ever THINGLE."

I was so busy trying to take in all of the weird sensory data that I didn't answer for a second. I said "Yeah.." before I realized what I was saying, stalling for time, and then I said "No, uh, I have a boyfriend."

Then he made some dramatic "oh darn" kind of gesture, and said something like "Oh well, had to athk. So what have you been doing?"

"Gardening."

I swear to god he actually did a little rah-rah hip swing and said, "Well, you go, girl!" Swear to god.

He started to walk off, and I said, "Sorry, I don't want to make it awkward or anything." He didn't answer.

The weird thing is, when he walked away, he walked in the opposite direction from which he came. I mean, he was walking through a backyard that must not have been his, and when he finished talking to me he continued down the street on the sidewalk.

I was so fucking weirded out by all this that I went in the house and closed and locked all the doors and windows. I'm glad I have a giant dog and a Harpy.

Thoughts?

[Dixie]

That is very strange.
Keep an eye out for him and call the cops if you see anything weirder.
Warn your neighbors.

[kahljorn]

he's probably been injecting liquid eyeliner. It enhances beauty and beauty awareness.

ps stab him. or throw acid on his face

[Kitsa]

At the boyfriend's insistence, I called the cops. I just told an officer what was going on. I felt so damn stupid imitating the guy.

[Dixie]

Well, it's for the better that the cops know what to look out for.
That's a very odd encounter and you've every right to be concerned for yourself and other people in the neighborhood.
I hope he doesn't live there.


It kinda makes me think of people I probably should have reported but didn't.

[Kitsa]

Well, I kept thinking that the gay thing seemed very obviously fake. I'm not a lesbian but at the risk of sounding like one of those people who "has (minority group) friends", I know enough legitimately gay people to be skeptical about the over-the-top stereotypical stuff. And why would someone who was gay care if I was single or not?


I was worried for myself, yeah, but also there are lots of neighborhood kids whose parents let them out at all hours and who, I figure, are equally at risk when some weird stranger is wandering the neighborhood.

[Tadao]

It defiantly sounds like he was trying to distract you from what he was doing.

[Kitsa]

Well, cops were called, report (at least a verbal one) given, and I told all the usual neighborhood kids who hang around. In one case, I actually waited for parents to get home and told them. I don't know what else I can do, but seriously that guy scared the bejesus out of me. I hope he saw the cop car driving through and figured whatever he'd planned wasn't worth it.

[Evil Robot]

Hes probably just a wandering meth head or drunk or something.

[10,000 Volt Ghost]

Do you have a safety hoe just in case you could hit him with?

[kahljorn]

I'm telling you guys he has been shooting up liquid eyeliner and going on CRIME SPREES. Just like Dawn Davenport.

You ridiculous fellows.

[10,000 Volt Ghost]

"I love every fucking one of you!"

[Zomboid]

You sound like one of those weird stay-at-home neighborhood ladies that is always peering out the window.

The guy sounds nuts, but really? Calling the cops?

[Colonel Flagg]

Zom, WADR, I'm inclined to disagree. You never know who will be the next Natalee Holloway. It's entirely appropriate to report the encounter and let the cops sort it out. But then stop worrying about it.

[Evil Robot]

Buy a gun from walmart

[Kitsa]

The way I look at it is this. Random guy walking through someone's backyard...could be anything. Landscaping guy, relative, new tenant, not a copworthy thing.

Random guy waving/gesturing to me...not particularly welcome, but not a real problem. Not copworthy.

Random guy approaching me, making an effort to interact with me, and being completely creepy and bizarre as hell, asking inappropriate shit for walking up to some random woman....copworthy.

If I was out in a bar or something and someone asked me if I was single, I'd think nothing of it.

If I'm out in my yard, minding my own business, and some random stranger I'd never seen before comes up to me from several yards away and asks if I'm single/alone before continuing down the street in the other direction...that's weird and copworthy.

I'm perfectly willing to mind my own business if everyone else will.

[LordSappington]

Actually, a gay friend of mine acts exactly like you just described. Still, better paranoid and alive.

[Kitsa]

But I bet he doesn't give a shit whether some random woman in her yard is single or not.

[Zomboid]

Originally Posted by Colonel Flagg

Zom, WADR, I'm inclined to disagree. You never know who will be the next Natalee Holloway. It's entirely appropriate to report the encounter and let the cops sort it out. But then stop worrying about it.

I'm 21 and used to seeing sketchy characters, so maybe I'm just having a hard time seeing things from that point of view.

Thing is, though, I can appreciate someone being worried about a really odd character and calling the cops, but going up and down the neighborhood to inform everyone, going inside, locking the door and hiding with a big dog seems pretty over the top.

At my old place, my roommate's grandparents lived next door and they were forever doing shit like that. I just find those really introverted people that act like the neighborhood watch hilarious.

Edit: And dwelling on the "single" thing to the point where it was "the thing that tipped you off" just reeks of one of those people I described.

"There was... Jus' somethin' odd 'bout that fella. He walked very odd. I think he was maybe carrying a gun or drugs or something. Or planning to murder us all. Dear God! Harold, get the gun in case he comes back!"

[Kitsa]

fuck if I care what you think. He creeped me out and I called the cops.

[Tadao]

Yeah but I believe Michael Moore went to Canada and checked to see if everyone left their doors unlocked there. And yes they did. You guys have a better neighborhood feeling than we do here. The problem we have is that most people here won't do what Kitsa did and a lot of bad shit happens because we are nosey but not vocal.

[Zomboid]

Originally Posted by Kitsa

fuck if I care what you think. He creeped me out and I called the cops.

Yeah? Well you're a soulless ginger.

Edit: Yeah, my mom always leaves the door unlocked in my hometown. I live in a shitty neighborhood, so I lock my door and keep a machete next to my bed in case any mincing homosexuals decide to prance by the front of the house! :O

[Tadao]

That reminds me, I need to see his movie on healthcare.

[Kitsa]

Did you even read what I said? I don't think he was actually gay. It was more like someone doing a bad act of what they thought "gay" looked like.

[Zomboid]

Yes, that's quite perceptive of you. It's a good thing the neighborhood has you to look out for its interests. Heaven forbid anything should happen to old Mrs. Mcleary's lawn gnomes.