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7 STARBUCKS HORROR STORIES ANIMATED · Martin Animations

0:03
Speaker 1: Just a little background. On the day this happened, I
0:06
Speaker 1: was with my girlfriend. I am also female. And we
0:09
Speaker 1: are both just under 5 foot tall and maybe 100
0:12
Speaker 1: pounds soaking wet. Point is, we're tiny. But anyways, on
0:16
Speaker 1: to the story. On this particular day, it had been
0:19
Speaker 1: raining outside and seemed like the perfect weather to stay
0:21
Speaker 1: curled up inside watching movies. One problem. No snacks. So
0:26
Speaker 1: my girlfriend and I decided to walk to the mini-mart
0:28
Speaker 1: just down the street. As we are walking we notice
0:32
Speaker 1: there is a man trailing some distance behind us and
0:34
Speaker 1: he is muttering to himself, talking under his breath. At
0:38
Speaker 1: first we paid him no mind. There are a fairly
0:41
Speaker 1: large number of homeless people in our area and sadly
0:44
Speaker 1: many have mental illnesses. We continued walking and noticed he
0:48
Speaker 1: was still behind us. Weird. We get inside the store
0:52
Speaker 1: and start picking out snacks and I notice he is
0:54
Speaker 1: standing right outside the store peering in, staring directly at us.
0:58
Speaker 1: At this point I am a little worried but when
1:01
Speaker 1: we check out he is no longer there so I
1:04
Speaker 1: brush it off. Further down the street from the store
1:06
Speaker 1: there is a Starbucks so we decide to stop and
1:09
Speaker 1: get some coffee before walking back to the house. The
1:12
Speaker 1: entire walk I felt like we were being watched and
1:15
Speaker 1: just couldn't shake the feeling of uneasiness. We walk into
1:18
Speaker 1: Starbucks and order our drinks and sit down to wait.
1:21
Speaker 1: I look out the window and there's the same guy again.
1:25
Speaker 1: He's across the street but he is staring straight at us.
1:29
Speaker 1: At this point, I'm freaking out and trying to tell
1:31
Speaker 1: my girl this creep has followed us, but she insists
1:35
Speaker 1: it's nothing. The next time I look up, the guy
1:38
Speaker 1: is inside the Starbucks and staring at us with a
1:40
Speaker 1: look I can only describe as predatory and hungry. I'm
1:44
Speaker 1: terrified at this point. We grab our drinks and are
1:48
Speaker 1: getting ready to head out when he yells out, Hey,
1:51
Speaker 1: there you are! Heads turn to see what the commotion
1:55
Speaker 1: is about and he calmly says, That's my niece and daughter.
1:59
Speaker 1: I told them not to go anywhere without telling me.
2:02
Speaker 1: My girlfriend decides to react at this point and grabs
2:05
Speaker 1: my hand and we get out of there. We speedwalk
2:08
Speaker 1: down the street hoping to put some distance between us
2:11
Speaker 1: before he can react. I turn back around and he's
2:14
Speaker 1: still following us. He's not chasing after us. He's sauntering
2:18
Speaker 1: in a way and has a menacing look on his face.
2:21
Speaker 1: This guy was pretty built and close to six foot.
2:24
Speaker 1: There was no way we could take him if it
2:25
Speaker 1: came down to it. We do the only thing that
2:28
Speaker 1: we can think of and start running. This is when
2:31
Speaker 1: he starts chasing us and screaming.
2:33
Speaker 2: Out, Don't go!
2:35
Speaker 1: Don't you want to play? The road back to my
2:38
Speaker 1: girlfriend's house is pretty desolate with no houses for a
2:41
Speaker 1: few more blocks and we're running away from the only
2:44
Speaker 1: area where there would be people. At this point he
2:47
Speaker 1: is gaining on us and I think that at any
2:50
Speaker 1: minute he will catch up to us and that will
2:52
Speaker 1: be the end. The guy is almost ten feet behind
2:55
Speaker 1: us when, almost miraculously, we see a car coming down
2:59
Speaker 1: the street. We start running towards it, waving our hands
3:02
Speaker 1: and yelling trying to get this car to stop. It
3:04
Speaker 1: does and we frantically start telling the driver that this
3:07
Speaker 1: guy is following us. The driver steps out and the
3:10
Speaker 1: would-be creep stops dead in his tracks. He stands protectively
3:14
Speaker 1: in front of us and says something along the lines of,
3:17
Speaker 1: Just walk away, buddy. You don't want any trouble. The
3:20
Speaker 1: creep stares us down. and then gives us the creepiest
3:24
Speaker 1: smile I have ever seen, shrugs his shoulders, and walks
3:27
Speaker 1: back up the street. The driver insists on seeing us home,
3:31
Speaker 1: and trails behind us the rest of the walk until
3:33
Speaker 1: he sees we are safely inside. Thinking back, we should
3:37
Speaker 1: have called the cops, but we were too scared to
3:39
Speaker 1: think straight. Thank God for good Samaritans. I shudder to
3:44
Speaker 1: think as to what could have happened if that car
3:46
Speaker 1: had not stopped, or that guy had actually caught up
3:49
Speaker 1: to us. So last year, my sister was working at
3:55
Speaker 1: a local Starbucks along this string of shops. There was
3:59
Speaker 1: a grocery store and about 10 other small stores in
4:01
Speaker 1: the shopping center. One day my sister came home and
4:04
Speaker 1: began to tell us about this really creepy guy who
4:07
Speaker 1: kept coming in at the same time every night. She's
4:11
Speaker 1: 16 and really small, about 5'1. She's also really skinny
4:15
Speaker 1: and doesn't know how to defend herself either. After the
4:18
Speaker 1: first few encounters, he began to call her Goldilocks or
4:21
Speaker 1: Cutie Pie. She claimed that this guy was in his
4:24
Speaker 1: late 20s or early 30s, so this was completely inappropriate
4:28
Speaker 1: and just plain gross. This happened for a few months,
4:32
Speaker 1: and they would tell my sister to go to the
4:33
Speaker 1: back area when he would come in. The guy then
4:36
Speaker 1: would ask them where she was when he didn't see
4:38
Speaker 1: her serving there. Me and my parents decided to go
4:41
Speaker 1: visit her Starbucks around the time he came in a
4:43
Speaker 1: few times, and sure enough, every night around the same time,
4:48
Speaker 1: the guy wore a similar outfit every day. A white
4:51
Speaker 1: t-shirt with blue jeans. We visited her for a few
4:54
Speaker 1: days and on one of those days we decided to
4:57
Speaker 1: see how far away he lived and if he was
4:59
Speaker 1: a local where to keep an eye out. This may
5:02
Speaker 1: have not been a completely appropriate thing to do but
5:04
Speaker 1: my dad is really protective so I was up for it.
5:08
Speaker 1: We got in the car after the guy's usual visit.
5:10
Speaker 1: He had also purchased kitty litter at the grocery store
5:13
Speaker 1: so he was a cat guy and followed out his car.
5:17
Speaker 1: This is where it gets really weird. We were in
5:19
Speaker 1: the car for about 45 minutes when we crossed the
5:22
Speaker 1: state line into the neighboring state. He lived in a
5:25
Speaker 1: not-so-nice area, not to mention it was Maryland, and he
5:28
Speaker 1: drove for another 10 minutes until he reached his run-down
5:31
Speaker 1: apartment complex, Volon Ghetto. This guy was traveling close to
5:36
Speaker 1: an hour to see my sister every day. After this,
5:40
Speaker 1: we told her to talk to her co-workers about it,
5:42
Speaker 1: and they told the guy that he wasn't allowed to
5:44
Speaker 1: make contact with my sister anymore because she was a minor.
5:48
Speaker 1: I never came back to that Starbucks again. My sister
5:51
Speaker 1: actually ended up moving to a closer one too in
5:53
Speaker 1: the end, so the creepy guy in blue jeans and
5:56
Speaker 1: white shirt at the Starbucks wouldn't be able to see her.
6:10
Speaker 1: I spent my first couple of years after high school
6:12
Speaker 1: just kind of wandering around and trying to figure out
6:14
Speaker 1: what to do next. I worked at a lot of
6:17
Speaker 1: lame jobs and I regularly signed up late for classes
6:19
Speaker 1: at a couple different community college campuses. This meant I
6:23
Speaker 1: spent a lot of time driving anywhere between a half
6:25
Speaker 1: hour to an hour to get where I needed to go,
6:28
Speaker 1: and a lot of my commute took me to parts
6:30
Speaker 1: of the city and the suburbs that I had never
6:32
Speaker 1: seen before. Back then, everything felt way too big and
6:36
Speaker 1: complicated and I was totally lost, but I loved coffee.
6:40
Speaker 1: I would always make time in my schedule to stop
6:42
Speaker 1: at Starbucks, get coffee, and read a little bit. I
6:45
Speaker 1: think it was because, no matter where I was, one
6:48
Speaker 1: of these shops always felt familiar. This was sort of
6:51
Speaker 1: my way of coping with growing up. Once, when I
6:53
Speaker 1: was waiting for a friend to get off of work,
6:55
Speaker 1: I stopped at a Starbucks I knew. When I first
6:58
Speaker 1: walked in, I noticed a girl who seemed really familiar.
7:01
Speaker 1: This would happen pretty often, and at the time, I
7:04
Speaker 1: figured I recognized her from campus, work, or even high school.
7:07
Speaker 1: She sort of smiled when she saw me, but other
7:09
Speaker 1: than that, we didn't interact. This location had a lot
7:13
Speaker 1: of space. There was a large lobby with five or
7:16
Speaker 1: six tables, a bar-style counter facing the windows, and an
7:19
Speaker 1: outside eating area and even a few of those stuffed chairs.
7:23
Speaker 1: The girl I had first noticed sat at the table
7:26
Speaker 1: closest to the door, and I chose a smaller table
7:28
Speaker 1: by one of the windows, away from the other customers
7:31
Speaker 1: but clearly visible by most. I probably bought a mocha.
7:35
Speaker 1: When I sat down, I must have spread all of
7:38
Speaker 1: my stuff out because I remember the table being kind
7:40
Speaker 1: of cluttered. I like to take notes when I read,
7:43
Speaker 1: even just for fun, so I'll have a notebook, a pen,
7:46
Speaker 1: my book, and also my wallet. I don't like to
7:49
Speaker 1: sit on it, and my phone on the table. I'm
7:52
Speaker 1: pretty single-minded, so when I read, I can get really
7:55
Speaker 1: into the zone. I'll lay my book on the table
7:58
Speaker 1: so that I can hunch over my notebook and take
8:00
Speaker 1: notes without losing my place on the page. Sometimes I'll
8:03
Speaker 1: lose track of my surroundings. This time, when I eventually
8:06
Speaker 1: looked up, I realized that someone was watching me. Another
8:10
Speaker 1: guy had taken the table across from mine. He looked
8:13
Speaker 1: about my age with yellowish hair. I remember he was
8:16
Speaker 1: wearing jeans which seemed weird because it was still basically
8:19
Speaker 1: summer and it was hot out. He didn't have any
8:21
Speaker 1: drink and it didn't seem like he was going to
8:24
Speaker 1: order one. Once he saw that I had his attention
8:27
Speaker 1: he started talking to me. He asked me small stuff
8:30
Speaker 1: like what my name was, where I was from, what
8:32
Speaker 1: I was reading. I was immediately creeped out but I
8:35
Speaker 1: had always been inherently introverted. and at that time I
8:38
Speaker 1: was trying to span out and meet new people, so
8:41
Speaker 1: I talked to him. Eventually he moved over to my
8:43
Speaker 1: table and talked about how he was new to the area.
8:47
Speaker 1: He asked where I was going after this, and when
8:48
Speaker 1: I told him, he said he was going in the
8:50
Speaker 1: same direction. He said that since he was new, he
8:54
Speaker 1: didn't know any of the street names, but that he
8:56
Speaker 1: could find his way by landmarks and stuff. As hard
8:59
Speaker 1: as I was trying to be social, for some reason
9:01
Speaker 1: I didn't feel comfortable giving him a ride. I told
9:04
Speaker 1: him I was planning on staying at the coffee shop
9:06
Speaker 1: for a couple of more hours because I was waiting
9:08
Speaker 1: for a friend. This seemed to bother him because he
9:11
Speaker 1: abruptly changed the subject, but he eventually brought it back up.
9:15
Speaker 1: We went on like this for maybe a half an hour.
9:18
Speaker 1: He would ask for a ride again, or ask which
9:20
Speaker 1: car was mine, and I would make up some excuse,
9:23
Speaker 1: and then he would talk about something else for a
9:24
Speaker 1: couple of minutes. Eventually, we ran out of other stuff
9:27
Speaker 1: to talk about, so he just started looking at my
9:30
Speaker 1: stuff more. He looked at my notes, asked to borrow
9:33
Speaker 1: my pen, and at one point he even picked up
9:35
Speaker 1: my wallet and started looking through it. Back then, I
9:39
Speaker 1: was really non-confrontational, so rather than demand my stuff back,
9:43
Speaker 1: I just started to slowly pack up whatever he wasn't
9:45
Speaker 1: messing with. Eventually, he decided he needed to go to
9:48
Speaker 1: the restroom, so I started putting everything away. At this point,
9:52
Speaker 1: that girl I had recognized from earlier came over and
9:55
Speaker 1: asked if I was okay. I said I was, but
9:58
Speaker 1: I probably looked really uncomfortable. She told me that I
10:01
Speaker 1: shouldn't give him a ride and that I should just
10:03
Speaker 1: ask him to leave me alone. She actually even stayed
10:05
Speaker 1: with me until he came back out and told him
10:08
Speaker 1: that he should leave me alone. He kind of acted
10:11
Speaker 1: shocked and offended, but then he left the store. At
10:15
Speaker 1: that point, I probably should have just left myself, but
10:18
Speaker 1: I stayed. I talked to the girl a little bit
10:20
Speaker 1: and went back to reading. After a while, a lady
10:23
Speaker 1: in her mid-thirties came in. She wore a low-cut blue
10:26
Speaker 1: dress and a lot of makeup. Her hair was styled.
10:29
Speaker 1: She sat down across from me and asked if my
10:31
Speaker 1: name was Dean. I told her yes, and she asked
10:35
Speaker 1: if I could give that guy a ride. She actually
10:37
Speaker 1: offered to pay me $ 20 to give him a ride.
10:40
Speaker 1: I politely refused and got up to leave, but when
10:43
Speaker 1: I got to the door, I looked outside and saw
10:45
Speaker 1: that the guy was waiting by my car. I hadn't
10:48
Speaker 1: actually identified it to him and this was a large
10:51
Speaker 1: store parking lot. I looked back at the lady and
10:54
Speaker 1: she was just watching me. Rather than go confront him,
10:57
Speaker 1: I sat across from the girl I knew in the
10:59
Speaker 1: spot where I could watch this car. I didn't want
11:02
Speaker 1: to admit how nervous I was so I didn't call
11:04
Speaker 1: the cops or attempt to bring any attention to my situation. Instead,
11:09
Speaker 1: I proceeded to read while I watched the guy. Eventually
11:12
Speaker 1: a security guard came up and asked him to move along.
11:15
Speaker 1: After that, I basically ran out to my car and
11:17
Speaker 1: drove straight home, making sure no one was following me.
11:21
Speaker 1: I don't know what any of that was about, but
11:24
Speaker 1: I'm really thankful for that one familiar face.
11:39
Speaker 2: I currently work at Starbucks, and have worked there for
11:42
Speaker 2: nearly a year. I'm a part-time employee and work all
11:46
Speaker 2: kinds of hours that we're open. The Starbucks location that
11:49
Speaker 2: I work at, I would describe as an average location.
11:52
Speaker 2: It's near a shopping area with some other stores and
11:55
Speaker 2: restaurants nearby. This is a story of something that scared
11:58
Speaker 2: me a lot, and it happened several months ago. On
12:01
Speaker 2: this day in particular, I was working a closing shift,
12:04
Speaker 2: and when I started, I think it was about 12.
12:06
Speaker 2: We closed at 8 p.m., so it was an 8-hour shift.
12:10
Speaker 2: and we generally were not too busy in the afternoon
12:12
Speaker 2: until about 4 or 5. Then things would get kind
12:15
Speaker 2: of busy for a few hours. By 7, the place
12:18
Speaker 2: was usually very quiet again. I remember that the first
12:21
Speaker 2: few hours on this day went by sort of slow,
12:23
Speaker 2: because things weren't very busy. Inside the Starbucks, there are
12:27
Speaker 2: quite a few tables that people often come in and
12:29
Speaker 2: work at on their laptops or read books. There were
12:32
Speaker 2: a few people that got coffee as they worked or studied.
12:35
Speaker 2: By 5 o'clock, things were busy. It was around that
12:38
Speaker 2: time that I first saw a man inside that was
12:40
Speaker 2: acting sort of strange. I remembered that he had a
12:43
Speaker 2: full beard that was not incredibly long, but a decent length.
12:47
Speaker 2: He was balding and wore baggy clothes. The guy started
12:50
Speaker 2: walking around really quickly inside. It looked like he was
12:53
Speaker 2: walking fast to go someplace, but then he would just
12:56
Speaker 2: turn around and walk back. Soon, it seemed as though
12:59
Speaker 2: he was speedwalking laps around the store. It was strange
13:02
Speaker 2: to say the least. After about a minute or so
13:05
Speaker 2: of that, he stopped. and it appeared as though he
13:08
Speaker 2: went to talk with someone that was sitting down. I
13:10
Speaker 2: had work to do, and I got sort of busy
13:12
Speaker 2: for the next little stretch of time. Probably 30 minutes
13:16
Speaker 2: or so later, I heard that some of the customers
13:18
Speaker 2: were complaining about the guy. I looked out, and he
13:21
Speaker 2: was still there. Now he was sitting at a table
13:24
Speaker 2: by himself, and just kind of looking around. Apparently, he
13:28
Speaker 2: had approached several customers, asking them to buy him something
13:31
Speaker 2: or give him their drinks. Because I was the least
13:33
Speaker 2: busy at the time, after talking with the coworker, I
13:36
Speaker 2: decided to ask the guy to leave. I was nervous
13:39
Speaker 2: to do so because I didn't know how the man
13:41
Speaker 2: would react. I walked out from behind the counter and
13:44
Speaker 2: towards where I had seen him. It was still pretty
13:46
Speaker 2: busy and people were all over the place. This Starbucks,
13:50
Speaker 2: I feel like, is a little bit larger than most.
13:53
Speaker 2: When I got over to where I had seen the
13:54
Speaker 2: guy sitting before, he was now gone. I looked around
13:58
Speaker 2: and walked through the entire place. I couldn't find him
14:01
Speaker 2: anywhere though. I guessed that he had left. This was
14:04
Speaker 2: actually a relief to me, and I went back to
14:06
Speaker 2: behind the counter. I returned to work making drinks after that.
14:10
Speaker 2: By then, it was maybe between 6 and 7 p.m.
14:14
Speaker 2: Things quickly died down inside and got much quieter. A
14:18
Speaker 2: few of my coworkers left at 7, and there were
14:20
Speaker 2: just four of us working for the last hour. When
14:23
Speaker 2: I would work closing shifts, the 7 o'clock hour always
14:26
Speaker 2: seemed to drag on. It was very quiet typically at
14:29
Speaker 2: our location, plus usually it had been a long day
14:31
Speaker 2: to that point. We didn't get a whole lot of
14:34
Speaker 2: customers either. Finally, 8 o'clock came. Nobody else was inside
14:39
Speaker 2: at any of the tables. I walked out to clean
14:42
Speaker 2: the floor like one of us always did at closing time.
14:45
Speaker 2: When I got over to the back area where the
14:46
Speaker 2: bathrooms were though, I noticed that the door was closed
14:49
Speaker 2: to one of them. We had two bathrooms right across
14:52
Speaker 2: from each other in this small little back hallway area.
14:55
Speaker 2: They were both single room bathrooms with a locking door.
14:58
Speaker 2: When nobody was inside of them, they would be open.
15:01
Speaker 2: I remember the man, and instantly, my heart sank. Could
15:05
Speaker 2: he possibly be in there? It was like I just knew. Still,
15:08
Speaker 2: I knocked on the door, but I got no response.
15:12
Speaker 2: I waited for a bit, and then knocked again. This time,
15:15
Speaker 2: I said that we were closing, and I asked if
15:16
Speaker 2: anybody was inside. I got no response then as well.
15:21
Speaker 2: I started to think that possibly somebody had just closed
15:23
Speaker 2: the door, and then left. I knocked again, and asked if.
15:26
Speaker 1: Anybody was inside, and I listened closely.
15:29
Speaker 2: I was listening for any kind of movement or indication
15:31
Speaker 2: of somebody being in there, but I heard absolutely nothing.
15:35
Speaker 2: I took a couple of steps back, and then, out
15:38
Speaker 2: of nowhere, the door burst open. Sure enough, the man
15:42
Speaker 2: from before came running out, and he was running right
15:45
Speaker 2: towards me. All I could do was run away from him.
15:48
Speaker 2: My co-workers heard the commotion and saw me running. I
15:52
Speaker 2: ran all the way out of the building, though. When
15:54
Speaker 2: I made it outside, the man was probably about ten
15:57
Speaker 2: feet behind me, and he followed me out. I sprinted
16:00
Speaker 2: through the parking lot and didn't know exactly where I
16:02
Speaker 2: was going. I couldn't get inside my car on time
16:05
Speaker 2: before the man would reach me, so instead, I ran
16:08
Speaker 2: through the parking lot to another one where there was
16:10
Speaker 2: like a grocery store. I ran all the way to
16:13
Speaker 2: the grocery store and went inside of it. Thankfully, they
16:15
Speaker 2: were still open. At some point, the man stopped chasing me,
16:19
Speaker 2: but I honestly don't know when. All I know is
16:21
Speaker 2: when I got inside the grocery store, I didn't see
16:23
Speaker 2: him anymore. One of my co-workers was calling me on
16:26
Speaker 2: my cell phone, and I answered. She asked me if
16:28
Speaker 2: I was okay, and also mentioned that they had called
16:30
Speaker 2: the police. I said that I was fine, but I
16:33
Speaker 2: didn't know where the man was anymore. Very carefully, I
16:36
Speaker 2: walked back to Starbucks. As I did, I kept an
16:39
Speaker 2: eye out for the man, but I didn't see him.
16:42
Speaker 2: When I made it back, there was a police car outside.
16:45
Speaker 2: We all talked with officers, and they said they would
16:47
Speaker 2: search around the area for the man. We finished up
16:50
Speaker 2: our work, then all left. It made for the scariest
16:53
Speaker 2: day I ever had working there. I went to Starbucks
17:07
Speaker 2: last month and had the worst experience there of my life.
17:10
Speaker 2: The thing is, I've gone there probably a hundred times before.
17:14
Speaker 2: I'm a big coffee drinker and I have coffee every
17:17
Speaker 2: day before work and throughout the workday as well. I
17:20
Speaker 2: don't stop at Starbucks every day though. Sometimes I make
17:23
Speaker 2: coffee at home. Other times I go to different coffee places.
17:27
Speaker 2: It just depends on a lot of things. This time though,
17:30
Speaker 2: I was going to Starbucks. As I pulled into the
17:33
Speaker 2: parking lot, the line for the drive-thru was extremely long.
17:36
Speaker 2: Because of this, I decided to walk inside, thinking maybe
17:40
Speaker 2: it would be faster. However, when I got inside, I
17:43
Speaker 2: noticed at least ten people were there. There was a
17:46
Speaker 2: line of about three or four to order, and the
17:48
Speaker 2: rest were waiting to pick up the drinks that they
17:49
Speaker 2: had already ordered. The employees all seemed very busy, constantly
17:53
Speaker 2: making drinks and taking orders for both the customers inside
17:57
Speaker 2: and the drive-thru line. At this time in the morning,
18:01
Speaker 2: I imagine that it's always busy like that. I had
18:04
Speaker 2: made my decision though, so I stuck to it and
18:06
Speaker 2: got in the back of the line. As I was
18:08
Speaker 2: waiting in line, a couple of people came inside and
18:11
Speaker 2: got behind me. A few minutes went by and soon
18:13
Speaker 2: it was my turn and I ordered. Then I made
18:16
Speaker 2: my way to the people who were waiting for their drinks.
18:19
Speaker 2: There was probably four or five other people there when
18:21
Speaker 2: I got there. Soon, one of the drinks was done
18:24
Speaker 2: and one of the people picked it up and left.
18:26
Speaker 2: I waited there for about three or four minutes as
18:29
Speaker 2: other people periodically got their drinks. I figured that mine
18:32
Speaker 2: had to be the next one because now everybody else
18:34
Speaker 2: who was around me waiting had ordered theirs after me.
18:37
Speaker 2: There were still about five of us there. I was
18:40
Speaker 2: actually getting a little bit concerned because I really needed
18:43
Speaker 2: to be getting to work. I didn't expect it to
18:45
Speaker 2: take this long to get my drink. Finally, one of
18:48
Speaker 2: the Starbucks employees put a drink down and said my name.
18:52
Speaker 2: I should mention that my name is Jessica, and the
18:54
Speaker 2: drink was clearly what I had ordered, the same size
18:56
Speaker 2: and everything. I started to walk over to get the drink,
18:59
Speaker 2: but a woman cut in front of me immediately. She
19:02
Speaker 2: had just ordered and wasn't even right behind me in
19:04
Speaker 2: the line. There's no way that this was her drink.
19:08
Speaker 2: I was in sort of disbelief as I watched her
19:10
Speaker 2: pick up the drink and start to walk out. I
19:12
Speaker 2: followed her and stopped her just before the exit. I
19:15
Speaker 2: told her that I thought that was my drink. She
19:18
Speaker 2: turned to me and had a really angry look on
19:19
Speaker 2: her face and told me no, it was hers. I
19:23
Speaker 2: told her that my name was Jessica and I had
19:25
Speaker 2: ordered before her and this was exactly what I had
19:27
Speaker 2: ordered as well. The woman claimed that her name was
19:30
Speaker 2: Jessica and she was in a big hurry I asked
19:33
Speaker 2: her what it was that she ordered, because I didn't
19:35
Speaker 2: believe her. She just said, this, as she held out
19:38
Speaker 2: the drink to me. She didn't even say the name
19:40
Speaker 2: of it, which made me doubt her even more. Then
19:43
Speaker 2: she started to walk out. I didn't want to go
19:45
Speaker 2: and ask for them to make me another drink and
19:47
Speaker 2: tell them the situation. The employees seemed far too busy
19:50
Speaker 2: to even notice and I didn't want to be late
19:52
Speaker 2: for work. I told the woman, fine, take it then
19:55
Speaker 2: and I walked out behind her and headed for my car.
19:58
Speaker 2: I would just make a pot of coffee later when
20:00
Speaker 2: I got to work. It really wasn't that big of
20:02
Speaker 2: a deal. Still, the fact that this woman had cut
20:05
Speaker 2: in front of me, taken my drink and been so
20:07
Speaker 2: rude about it made me angry. To my surprise though,
20:10
Speaker 2: when I arrived at my vehicle, the woman who took
20:13
Speaker 2: my drink was now right behind me. She said to me,
20:16
Speaker 2: how dare I accuse her of stealing my drink. She
20:19
Speaker 2: went on to say that she hadn't stolen a thing
20:20
Speaker 2: in her life. I told the woman that I had
20:23
Speaker 2: to leave and I didn't have time to argue with her.
20:25
Speaker 2: She started to say more to me, but I ignored
20:27
Speaker 2: it and just got inside of my car. I shut
20:30
Speaker 2: the door as she continued talking. When this happened, the
20:33
Speaker 2: woman then said, here, take your stupid drink. She then
20:36
Speaker 2: removed the lid and dumped the whole thing on my windshield.
20:39
Speaker 2: I was shocked. I didn't know what to do. Before
20:42
Speaker 2: I could say anything, though, the woman was storming off
20:44
Speaker 2: in the other direction. All I could do was turn
20:47
Speaker 2: on my windshield wipers and then drive off. The whole
20:50
Speaker 2: experience really blew my mind at how rude some people
20:53
Speaker 2: can be. I got to the end of the parking
20:55
Speaker 2: lot to merge back onto the road. It was busy,
20:58
Speaker 2: and I had to wait for a little while. During
21:00
Speaker 2: that time, I saw a car drive right up and
21:02
Speaker 2: slam on its brakes right behind me and then start honking.
21:05
Speaker 2: I could see that the same woman was behind the wheel.
21:08
Speaker 2: I really didn't know what her problem was. When I
21:11
Speaker 2: finally merged onto the road, she went right behind me
21:14
Speaker 2: and proceeded to follow my car at an extremely close distance,
21:17
Speaker 2: even honking at me a few times. This went on
21:20
Speaker 2: for several miles, before finally, she swerved around me, flipping
21:23
Speaker 2: me off in the process. She then sped away and
21:26
Speaker 2: out of my sight. I got to work and made
21:29
Speaker 2: coffee there, although I didn't even need it. Even though
21:32
Speaker 2: the woman stole my coffee, the confrontation really woke me
21:35
Speaker 2: up for the day. I didn't go back to that
21:37
Speaker 2: Starbucks for a while, but I have been back since.
21:40
Speaker 2: I haven't seen that woman, but hopefully she doesn't do
21:43
Speaker 2: something like that again to anybody else. I'm a female,
22:00
Speaker 2: and this happened a few years ago when I was
22:02
Speaker 2: in college. It was during finals week at the end
22:05
Speaker 2: of the school year, I had lots of studying to
22:07
Speaker 2: do to get ready for my final exams. There was
22:10
Speaker 2: a Starbucks between my apartment that I shared with my
22:13
Speaker 2: roommate and campus. I occasionally went there to study because
22:16
Speaker 2: I could focus better than at our apartment. Drinking some
22:19
Speaker 2: caffeine would also help me focus typically. One day I
22:23
Speaker 2: entered the Starbucks off campus later in the morning. Things
22:27
Speaker 2: were pretty quiet because it was after the morning rush.
22:30
Speaker 2: There were a few people on laptops and stuff and
22:32
Speaker 2: I brought mine as well as some school notes and books.
22:35
Speaker 2: I sat down at a table, got my stuff out,
22:38
Speaker 2: and then went up in order to drink. Then I
22:40
Speaker 2: got to work, studying for some of my exams. Probably
22:43
Speaker 2: an hour or two later, I was still there and
22:46
Speaker 2: going strong. I was very focused and not really paying
22:48
Speaker 2: that much attention to my surroundings. That's when seemingly out
22:52
Speaker 2: of nowhere, a man approached. He was tall, sort of thin,
22:56
Speaker 2: and much older than I was at the time. He
22:58
Speaker 2: waved at me briefly as he stood there on the
23:00
Speaker 2: other side of the table I was at. He asked
23:02
Speaker 2: me what I was doing. and I told him that
23:04
Speaker 2: I was studying for my final exams. The man then
23:07
Speaker 2: asked if he could buy me a drink. I told
23:09
Speaker 2: him no thanks and smiled politely. Then I pointed to
23:13
Speaker 2: the drink that I already had. The guy said, You're
23:16
Speaker 2: finished though. I had in fact finished it, but the
23:19
Speaker 2: cup was not see-through, so I'm not sure how he
23:21
Speaker 2: knew that. I told him that I didn't want another
23:23
Speaker 2: one though, and I was good. The guy stood there
23:26
Speaker 2: for a few moments, and then just kind of walked away.
23:29
Speaker 2: I looked back at my laptop, but then looked up
23:31
Speaker 2: again a few seconds later to see where he went.
23:34
Speaker 2: He sat down in the corner across from me, but
23:36
Speaker 2: a decent ways away. After sitting down, he immediately looked
23:40
Speaker 2: up in my direction, and I looked back at my laptop.
23:43
Speaker 2: From then on, I looked up here and there, and
23:45
Speaker 2: I caught the man staring at me several more times. Soon,
23:49
Speaker 2: I decided to leave, because it was causing me to
23:51
Speaker 2: not focus as well. I had a good amount of
23:53
Speaker 2: studying done, though. I left and went back to my apartment.
23:57
Speaker 2: I didn't have any more classes for the day, so
23:59
Speaker 2: I stayed at my place. My roommate got back later
24:02
Speaker 2: that night, and I continued to do some more studying
24:05
Speaker 2: in my room. I had an exam the next morning
24:08
Speaker 2: and another one the following day. At about 10 p.m.,
24:11
Speaker 2: I decided to go to bed. As I was getting ready,
24:14
Speaker 2: there was a knock on the front door of our apartment.
24:18
Speaker 2: I assumed it was probably somebody there for my roommate,
24:20
Speaker 2: possibly one of her friends. My roommate and I got
24:23
Speaker 2: along well, but I never knew all of her plans.
24:26
Speaker 2: I didn't think too much of it until she came
24:28
Speaker 2: over to me and asked me if I had invited
24:30
Speaker 2: anybody over. I told her no and she then said
24:33
Speaker 2: that some guy was standing outside of our door. We
24:36
Speaker 2: both went over to the kitchen where the front door
24:38
Speaker 2: opened up to. I looked through the little hole to
24:40
Speaker 2: the hallway and the same guy was standing there. I
24:43
Speaker 2: jumped back when I saw him. My roommate asked me
24:46
Speaker 2: who he was and I told her about earlier in
24:48
Speaker 2: the day. I had no idea how the man got
24:50
Speaker 2: our address. We did not answer the door. He knocked
24:55
Speaker 2: again several more times. In total, he stayed there for
24:58
Speaker 2: probably about 10 minutes and it felt like forever. Finally,
25:03
Speaker 2: he left. I went to bed, and luckily, the guy
25:06
Speaker 2: didn't come back that night. The following morning, I took
25:09
Speaker 2: one of my exams and returned home to study for
25:12
Speaker 2: the exam I had the next day. This time, when
25:15
Speaker 2: my roommate was gone and I was home by myself,
25:17
Speaker 2: at about 5 p.m., there was again a knocking on
25:20
Speaker 2: the front door. I walked over and looked to find
25:23
Speaker 2: the man there again. This time, he was more persistent.
25:27
Speaker 2: The way he knocked was louder than before and faster.
25:30
Speaker 2: It was like he knew that I was home and
25:32
Speaker 2: was frustrated that I wasn't answering. Then, he even tried
25:35
Speaker 2: opening up the door, which was locked.
25:38
Speaker 1: I was terrified.
25:39
Speaker 2: What if he tried breaking in or something? I called
25:42
Speaker 2: my roommate and told her that the guy was back.
25:45
Speaker 2: She was on her way home, and I didn't want
25:47
Speaker 2: her to run into him. He stayed there, standing outside
25:49
Speaker 2: the door, but didn't knock again. He just stood there
25:53
Speaker 2: for a really long time. I kept watching, hoping that
25:56
Speaker 2: he would leave. After at least 10 more minutes, he
26:00
Speaker 2: finally did. I told my roommate that he was gone,
26:03
Speaker 2: and soon after, she got back home. But neither of
26:06
Speaker 2: us felt safe there. Luckily, we had some friends who
26:08
Speaker 2: had a college house not too far away, and we
26:11
Speaker 2: ended up going there to spend the night. They had
26:13
Speaker 2: enough space for us, and we were both afraid that
26:15
Speaker 2: the man would return again.
26:16
Speaker 1: When we stayed.
26:17
Speaker 2: At our friend's place, the guy didn't show up there.
26:20
Speaker 2: In fact, I only had to be at college for
26:22
Speaker 2: two more days, and I stayed at the same house
26:24
Speaker 2: the whole time. I just didn't want to go back
26:26
Speaker 2: to our apartment. My parents then came up during the
26:29
Speaker 2: day to help me move out of the apartment. I'm
26:32
Speaker 2: sure that the man probably returned, but at least he
26:34
Speaker 2: didn't break in. I still don't know how he knew
26:37
Speaker 2: where we lived though. He must have followed me back,
26:40
Speaker 2: which really creeps me out, but I had no idea.
26:43
Speaker 2: I'm just happy that I haven't seen the guy since.
26:53
Speaker 1: I used to be in a really, really bad place.
26:56
Speaker 1: I had struggled with mental health issues from the time
26:59
Speaker 1: I was in middle school, mostly depression and anxiety. You know,
27:03
Speaker 1: the usual culprits. I had been working in a Starbucks
27:07
Speaker 1: as a barista. The Starbucks was actually inside of a Target.
27:11
Speaker 1: You would think it would be bad, but it was
27:13
Speaker 1: pretty nice. Anyway, I dated this one guy who may
27:17
Speaker 1: have been an actual sociopath. He had some serious problems.
27:21
Speaker 1: I haven't spoken to him in a few years now
27:24
Speaker 1: and I don't plan on reaching out anytime soon. Trust me,
27:28
Speaker 1: you'll see why in just a minute. He actually found
27:31
Speaker 1: me out back one day. I was behind the store.
27:34
Speaker 1: I said I was going on break, but I really
27:36
Speaker 1: just needed to go and cry for a little while.
27:39
Speaker 1: I was feeling really overwhelmed and depressed. I just didn't
27:42
Speaker 1: have anything to look forward to in my life at
27:44
Speaker 1: that time. I remember looking up at him. I could
27:47
Speaker 1: barely see him through the tears in my eyes. He
27:50
Speaker 1: started talking to me and he really comforted me. I
27:54
Speaker 1: told him that I thought about ending my life and
27:57
Speaker 1: was severely depressed. At the time, I thought he was
28:00
Speaker 1: just a really sympathetic person, willing to help someone down
28:04
Speaker 1: on their luck. But now I know the truth. He
28:07
Speaker 1: saw a struggling person who would be easy to abuse,
28:10
Speaker 1: and that's exactly what he did to me. I vividly
28:13
Speaker 1: remember him wiping my tears away, right off of my cheek.
28:18
Speaker 1: I was so touched, and his name was Mike. He
28:21
Speaker 1: really got me. It wasn't long before we had exchanged
28:25
Speaker 1: numbers and started dating. It was really great at first.
28:29
Speaker 1: That honeymoon part of our relationship was so great. But
28:32
Speaker 1: the honeymoon phase doesn't last forever. And when I started
28:35
Speaker 1: to see him for who he really was, I got afraid.
28:40
Speaker 1: I noticed that he wore a mask, and I don't
28:42
Speaker 1: mean like a costume. He would pretend to be someone
28:45
Speaker 1: that he wasn't. He literally faked a personality. There were
28:50
Speaker 1: a few times that I was at his apartment and
28:52
Speaker 1: he would just start acting really weird. It was like
28:55
Speaker 1: his true self came out, and it was horrifying. He
28:59
Speaker 1: was so mean that I honestly can't even put it
29:01
Speaker 1: into words. He really did enjoy making me suffer. I
29:05
Speaker 1: remember him telling me that I wasn't good enough and
29:07
Speaker 1: that I needed to lose weight and read more and
29:10
Speaker 1: work harder and a million other things. He told me
29:13
Speaker 1: everyone in my life thought that I was pathetic. He
29:16
Speaker 1: said so many things like that and I honestly couldn't
29:19
Speaker 1: stand it. It was like he found that negative voice
29:22
Speaker 1: in the back of my head and put it on speaker.
29:25
Speaker 1: The worst I ever felt about myself was when I
29:27
Speaker 1: was with him and I totally let it all happen.
29:31
Speaker 1: Because no matter how mean he ever was to me,
29:33
Speaker 1: a part of me secretly believed that he would be
29:36
Speaker 1: the only person to ever be with me. That I
29:38
Speaker 1: wasn't worth anyone better than him yeah it was a
29:42
Speaker 1: really dark time it wasn't too long into our relationship
29:46
Speaker 1: that he convinced me to move in with him he
29:49
Speaker 1: actually had a nice place but it was kind of
29:51
Speaker 1: far from my job and my parents because of the
29:54
Speaker 1: move I had to drive almost half an hour one
29:57
Speaker 1: way to Starbucks of course he didn't care He never
30:00
Speaker 1: did about things like that. He gradually isolated me from
30:04
Speaker 1: everyone in my life. He did it one by one.
30:08
Speaker 1: He started with some of my friends, and I might
30:10
Speaker 1: mention that I wasn't very close to them to begin with,
30:13
Speaker 1: but any contact with anyone other than him was a threat,
30:17
Speaker 1: so he would tell me that so-and-so person that I
30:20
Speaker 1: speak to once in a while actually hates me, but
30:23
Speaker 1: sometimes he was more abrasive about it. There was one
30:26
Speaker 1: time when he grabbed my phone right out of my
30:28
Speaker 1: hand and blocked my co-worker's phone number. He was really
30:32
Speaker 1: threatening about it too. I knew that if I ever
30:34
Speaker 1: unblocked him, that he might actually do something to me.
30:39
Speaker 1: Things started escalating to the point that even I recognized
30:42
Speaker 1: that they were out of control. I knew if things
30:45
Speaker 1: continued down this path, he was going to kill me
30:47
Speaker 1: or I was going to end up taking my own life.
30:51
Speaker 1: It really was that bad. I won't bore you with
30:54
Speaker 1: every little horrible story, but He broke my stuff. Cheated
30:58
Speaker 1: on me. He even joked about the fact that he
31:00
Speaker 1: cheated on me. Said I should be happy he's with
31:03
Speaker 1: me at all when there are so many other great
31:05
Speaker 1: women out there. And all kinds of stuff like that.
31:09
Speaker 1: The day I realized that I had to get out
31:11
Speaker 1: was really important. I didn't really have anywhere to go though.
31:15
Speaker 1: Mike basically forced me to break off contact with everyone
31:18
Speaker 1: and he regularly checked my phone to make sure I
31:20
Speaker 1: wasn't speaking with someone who I wasn't supposed to. I
31:24
Speaker 1: reached out to my mom while I was at work
31:26
Speaker 1: borrowed one of my co-workers' phones and gave her a call.
31:30
Speaker 1: It was really nice to hear her voice. I explained
31:33
Speaker 1: as much of the situation as I could, and she
31:36
Speaker 1: said she completely understood and that she was more than
31:39
Speaker 1: happy to let me move back home. That was a
31:42
Speaker 1: really touching moment for me. I walked out that night
31:45
Speaker 1: because Mike was out. I was able to pack my
31:48
Speaker 1: stuff and leave without ever having to say anything. He
31:52
Speaker 1: probably would have gotten me to stay somehow. He said
31:54
Speaker 1: the right words. made me feel like everything was going
31:57
Speaker 1: to be okay, the way he always does. He didn't
32:01
Speaker 1: appreciate the fact that I was gone. He was mad.
32:05
Speaker 1: He started showing up at my job a few times
32:07
Speaker 1: a week. He would always try to talk to me,
32:10
Speaker 1: convince me that things could get better. He said that
32:13
Speaker 1: he would change and be nicer to me, but I
32:15
Speaker 1: knew that he was just lying to me. I knew
32:18
Speaker 1: he just wanted me back under his thumb. I ignored
32:21
Speaker 1: everything he said, and that seemed to work for a
32:23
Speaker 1: little while. It didn't stop him There was no way
32:27
Speaker 1: that I was going with him again. This is where
32:30
Speaker 1: things get crazy, though. He really wanted me back. He
32:34
Speaker 1: showed up at my work one day. I actually happened
32:36
Speaker 1: to be on break. I was walking around Target and
32:39
Speaker 1: just killing time, honestly. As I was walking, I saw
32:43
Speaker 1: him looking through some of the glass near the Starbucks
32:45
Speaker 1: section of the store. My heart dropped. He looked livid,
32:50
Speaker 1: like really worked up and violently kind of mad. I
32:55
Speaker 1: stopped and just stood there for a moment. I didn't
32:57
Speaker 1: know what to do. He turned around and saw me
33:00
Speaker 1: and we made eye contact. And the only thing I
33:03
Speaker 1: could think to do was run. My body spun around
33:07
Speaker 1: faster than I ever had before. I ran as fast
33:10
Speaker 1: as I could in the opposite direction and I knew
33:13
Speaker 1: that he was chasing me. It was actually weird how
33:17
Speaker 1: I got out of the situation. There is an employee
33:20
Speaker 1: door that you need a card key to get through.
33:23
Speaker 1: The Starbucks employees had them too, for some reason. I
33:26
Speaker 1: think there was a glitch in the system, but either way,
33:30
Speaker 1: I was far away enough from him that I got
33:33
Speaker 1: through it and closed the door behind me. One of
33:35
Speaker 1: the Target employees asked me if I was okay. As
33:39
Speaker 1: bad as the situation was, I honestly didn't want to
33:41
Speaker 1: make a scene. I told him I was fine and
33:44
Speaker 1: just needed a minute to take a break. I sat
33:47
Speaker 1: there for about 15 minutes and left. Mike was gone.
33:52
Speaker 1: and that was the last time I saw him. I'm
33:55
Speaker 1: not sure why he hasn't contacted me since. I'm just
33:58
Speaker 1: glad he hasn't, though. He was responsible for the worst
34:01
Speaker 1: part of my life, and honestly, I'm lucky to have
34:05
Speaker 1: gotten out of that situation alive. Wherever he is, I
34:09
Speaker 1: just hope he isn't doing the same thing to another
34:13
Speaker 1: poor girl out there.