Roadside Creeping

Went out to get lunch today and this happened:

I hear a vehicle coming behind me, but I’m on the sidewalk, so I’m not really paying attention to it or worrying about being in the way. After a few seconds, enough time for it to have passed me walking, it is still behind me. So I turned my head a little, because I know people who like to just pull up on the side of the road behind me like that’s proper. Turn around and it’s some older other woman in a jeep creeping behind me. And when she gets to where I’m alongside the window she hollers out “Can I give you a ride? It’s hot out there.”

Ummm…this is a question I hear a lot and it always baffles me why complete strangers want to offer rides to me or anyone else they see walking up the road, but don’t know. You have NO idea who I am, I could be crazy [oh, wait I am], I could be dangerous [guess that one is kind of true too], and I could decide to rob you or something crazy.

And on the flip side of that, I don’t know you. I’m not hoping in a car with someone who doesn’t know me and doesn’t even know where I am heading. You could be crazy, dangerous, and criminal too! Yeah, it’s hot – I knew that before I stepped outside. If I couldn’t handle it, I would have stayed inside.

Lesson for the masses: stop offering strangers a ride. It’s not safe for you & that mess is creepy as hell!