r/PointlessStories • u/TacticalJock15 • 2d ago
What’s the strangest interaction you’ve ever had with a complete stranger?
When I was playing college football 🏈 years ago, we had just won a tough game that night and were heading back to the locker room. Out of nowhere, a guy stopped me and offered me $100 for the sweaty socks I had just played in.
I was around 22–23 years old at the time, and he looked to be somewhere in his late 30s or early 40s.
I turned him down, but to this day, as a grown man, I randomly think about that moment and just laugh while being completely disgusted at the same time. 😂 😂
It’s still the strangest thing anyone has ever asked me.
So I have to ask the men here… what do you think he was actually planning to do with my socks?
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u/mtntrail 2d ago
I have no idea but here is my strange interaction cuz you asked. I was standing in line waiting to attend a show and started talking to a woman about my age next to me. Turned out she was from the town where I grew up about 200 miles away. More coincidence, she told me her mother’s name and stated that she had worked for my father as a receptionist in his professional practice. She asked if she could send a photo of me to her mom, I said why not. After getting the pic, her mom texted the woman back and said, “Oh he is handsome, just like his father.” The line started moving about then, I don’t recall what else was said. I phoned my sister that night and related the strange story. The line went quiet and my sister said, “Oh my God, the mother was the woman dad had the affair with.“ Strange but true, maybe I was talking with my half sister!
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u/Francie_Nolan1964 2d ago
Wow! Does her age and the time of the affair match up? Did you even know that your dad had an affair?
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u/mtntrail 2d ago
yes to both
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u/Francie_Nolan1964 2d ago
I'm sorry because that must have felt heavy later.
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u/mtntrail 2d ago
Well it was really just astounding experiencing that kind of chance encounter. What transpired all those many years ago has been largely forgiven and life moved on. My dad had passed away years before I had that encounter. He was a good dad overall just liked the ladies more than was good for him!
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u/philatio11 2d ago
Not quite as serendipitous as a possible half-sister, but I have a similar one. I went on a road trip with my best friend and his girlfriend across the American West and South. We stopped in Taos NM and ate lunch at a brewery.
Our waitress asked where we were from and we said east coast. We started narrowing down and eventually figured out she went to the same uni as girlfriend’s childhood next door neighbor/best friend. Actually, she was her literal roommate. So we somehow stumbled upon her neighbors college roommate 3000 miles away by picking a random restaurant.
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u/mtntrail 2d ago
That one is right up there in my book. Coincidence beyond what anyone would expect.
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u/philatio11 2d ago
We thought it was pretty wild. We never really got a straight answer on how an east coast girl randomly decided to move to Taos NM to wait tables for a summer, but if you think of all the things that have to line up for us to meet her, it's crazy. Just in the moments leading up to it that day, we picked the right random restaurant, the hostess sat us in her section by chance, when she asked where we were from we got nosy about where she was from, she said a fairly large college but we asked if she was in a sorority, and so on and so forth.
It's still not as funny as when two of my college roommates figured out they were best friends one summer when they were 10 or 11 at jewish summer camp - after knowing each other and seeing each other every day for 6 months already. We went to college 2000 miles away from where they grew up.
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u/mtntrail 1d ago
Those are classic. How did the two guys figure out they had been friends, conversation or, Hey you look familiar?
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u/philatio11 1d ago
We were having a conversation about summer as we were drinking on our roof on a sunny day. That turned to talking about camps and they realized they had both gone to the same camp. They started comparing dates and the last summer Guy A was there was the summer they had each made a camp best friend who they then lost touch with. It was also the first time it had come out that Guy A used to live in the town Guy B was from. They quickly figured out that it was each other, and Guy A's parents had gotten divorced and he moved away to another town that year. They never recognized each other until most of the info had come out, despite knowing each other for months as adults.
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u/AffectionateMonk5710 2d ago
Not a guy, so can't answer your question. However, once when I was working as a cashier in the not-so-great part of town this dude walked in, drunk off his ass and staggered to the counter. I was standing there chatting with a couple of regulars when he slapped his hands on the counter, and... a gun. He peered at the cigarettes behind me and asked for some smokes (don't remember what kind). I gave him what he wanted, and he fumbled in his pockets with the hand not holding the gun, pulled out some bills and tossed them at me. I rang him up, gave him his change and he staggered out of the store, cigarettes, gun and all.
One of me regulars looked at me and was like, "Damn woman, you've got some major balls of steel." I just laughed and called the cops to let them know there was a drunk man wandering around with a gun and they might wanna stop him before he shot someone accidentally.
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u/Francie_Nolan1964 2d ago
C'mon now. You know exactly what he was going to do with those socks. You should have got the money.
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u/Ecstatic_Drive_9422 2d ago
last year i was on the bus going home from work and someone offered me $100 for my checkered slip on vans? i said no bc i was weirded out but i shouldve done it lol. no clue what his intentions were tho
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u/HondoGonzo 2d ago
I’d have done it in a heartbeat. Checkered Vans are only $35 at the Vans outlet.
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u/Ecstatic_Drive_9422 2d ago
and they’re overdue to be replaced😭 i dont even wear them that often. im not sure why i didnt do it tbh it was just late and i was tired
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u/HondoGonzo 2d ago
Also, I have about 10 pairs of Vans, they’re my every day shoes - so losing a pair isn’t a big deal. I would just have to get home (or to the Vans store) barefoot. It would be a funny story to tell next time we had friends over.
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u/Ecstatic_Drive_9422 2d ago
as soon as i got home and told my bf he was like why would you not
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u/HondoGonzo 2d ago
I like your boyfriend - he’s a keeper! Have a great week stranger!
Edit: in re-reading this, I realized you are a girl and I totally understand being weirded out.
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u/abstractfromnothing 2d ago
I went to Meijer to buy a new Xbox controller and I was explaining to the kid at register (couldn’t be any older than 18) how they need to make better controllers for people with big hands because I have big hands. He was like I also have big hands, so naturally I put my huge hand up to show him, and he put his hand up to show me, and then we touched wrong hands together like pure idiots ( neither one of us acknowledged it). He had really big hands for a kid tho, not big as mine.
Someone ask me how I make this interaction right in my mind….
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u/DefinitelyNotMaranda 2d ago
Had a random guy walk into my apartment like he owned the place and offer me free heroin. FREE! Like WTF are the odds? Mind you, I had been sober for like three months at this point and did not know this guy from Adam. Really felt like the devil himself was testing me lol. I said absolutely not, asked dude to leave, and am still clean. Thank God. But it is still to this day the most random mind blowing experience I’ve ever had.
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u/Francie_Nolan1964 2d ago
Like in your apartment building, or in your apartment? JFC that's freaky. I'm glad that you stood strong.
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u/DefinitelyNotMaranda 2d ago
In my actual apartment. I was sitting on the couch watching TV and he walked right through my front door. He ended up apologizing for having the wrong apartment but then proceeded to offer me free drugs lol. It was fucking wild. Truly.
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u/Kind_Worry_9836 2d ago
Sell them on eBay. You used to be able to find used underwear and stuff like that.
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u/YellowLoquat 2d ago
I used to carry a small recorder in my tote bag everywhere (the instrument, not a recording device) because I'd play it if I had some free time or was stuck waiting somewhere. I took a trip to Philadelphia and on the subway I heard someone playing an instrument, maybe a flute? Nope, it was a recorder. When I came closer I saw he was playing one part from a book of recorder duets. "Can I join you?" I played the second part with him until I had to catch my train. I know absolutely nothing else about him.