As the saying goes, people are strange.
In fact, they’re REALLY strange.
And we’ve all had those instances where we had super strange interactions with complete strangers that made us say, “I never want to leave the house again!”
So, are you ready to get weird?
AskReddit users talked about the weirdest encounters they’ve ever had with a stranger.
1. That’s very weird.
“I’m going to a job interview at 2pm. I walk in around 1:45pm and go to the receptionist to tell him I’ve arrived for the interview.
He says “ok, but we have a scheduled fire alarm test at 2pm so would you mind coming back at around 2:15pm?” I say no problem and go for a walk around the area outside.
I come back in around 2:10pm and a woman is standing next to the reception desk. She asks if I am there for the 2pm interview and asks if I know that I’m late. I look at the receptionist and explain that he told me there was a fire alarm and to come back.
The receptionist looks at me then at the woman who I am about to interview with and says “I’ve never seen him before.” My jaw literally drops. I go into the interview and flop sweat instantly. Im dripping sweat onto the table as I’m interviewing. The woman actually left to get me tissues to wipe my face mid interview.
It went about as horribly as an interview could possibly go. Needless to say I did not get the job.”
2. Back away slowly.
“It’s winter and an older woman was struggling with her groceries while me and my friend in a grocery store thats kinda out in the sticks.
I helped her cause I’m just nice like that. We get to her car and my friend is getting pissed because the lady is going on and on about her mother who was 102 and just died and how she’s never been grocery shopping without her. I had just lost someone myself so I was commiserating, but slowly backing away.
It’s snowing and kinda windy so we’re trying to get out before it gets worse but she’s talking a lot and like holding my arm which is weird but she’s really old sooo idk, I just let it happen.
But then she stops talking, reaches out, grabs my face and like whispers “such beautiful even skin, you’re just like my china dolls” and then adds “and such a nice color…” (I’m black)
My friend laughs and goes “alright that’s enough of this sh*t, have a good night ma’am” and like steers me out of there, shaking her head. She likes to refer to it as the day I almost got us made into lamps.”
3. Surreal.
“There’s a pub in my uni town that’s really popular, but is full of really weird people. It’s really small so you’re often sat with people you wouldn’t normally talk to or interact with. Me and my (now ex) friend were there reasonably often.
A couple of old guys, 70s or 80s started talking to us and another of our friends. Once was normal, if a little cooky. The other one was not. He started off by talking about how he had 80k+ gamer score on Xbox and new basically everything there is to know about Final Fantasy, in minute detail.
Then he went on to how he was a time/dimension traveller, because he did drugs with some strangers and woke up somewhere completely different and it was daylight. This went on for about 45 minutes, of basically just him talking. He left after a while, turns out the other guy didn’t know him at all, they’d just been hanging out all night.
It’s hard to describe how surreal the whole thing was.”
4. WTF?
“I’m home on leave when I was in the Navy in the early 90’s. Was out in a McD’s with my mom. This woman keeps staring at me while eating. Kinda creeps me out. We finish eating and go out to the car.
Mom’s unlocking the door, I’m standing in front the passenger’s side waiting. Woman runs out and yells over to me: I CAN’T MARRY YOU!
We look over and she says again that she can’t marry me.
Mom and I look at each other with a WTF?? look on our faces, turn back to her and mom goes: Why not?
Woman replies: Because I’m above and beyond the power of God. Then goes back inside, sits down, and continues to eat.
I tell mom, I’ll be right back. She tells me no and to get in the car or she’s leaving me there.”
5. In Namibia.
“Weirdest interaction has to be when I was on vacation in Namibia. The group I was with was hanging out in the bar to get the best WiFi signal. An older, white gentleman (70s ish) walks in from a side door and stands in the corner, looking at his phone. After a while he approaches the group and asks:
OG: (In a thick German accent) Are you guys American? You guys all look like Americans.
OG: (Looking at me) Except you, you look like a proper German. (I have blonde hair and blue eyes)
It was an interesting comment but didn’t think much of it. He starts up a conversation with the group and tells us his life story about being a professor at a local university and how he got to Namibia. He then goes on to start discussing American and world politics.
Eventually his conversation turned into discussing how the Jews were in control of the banks and just saying other Anti-Semitic comments. Made us all extremely uncomfortable to the point where we made excuses to go back to our rooms to escape him.
Pretty sure he was old school Nazi.”
6. Get me out of here.
“I was at the dentist. She was doing her thing, and accidentally poked my gums for a bit.
She went “whoops, sorry”. I made a noise as to say “no problem” because, you know, her hands being in my mouth, I couldn’t say sh*t. Apparently, she thought I was laughing, to which she replies “OHHH you think that’s funny, don’t you?? Yeaaah very funny!! That was funny, wasn’t it?? Yes it was!!!” in the high pitched voice you would use when talking to a f*cking baby/cat/etc.
I switched dentists right after that.”
7. What’s going on here?
”
The year is 2012. It’s summertime.
I’m 18 years old and only a week away from moving to Italy; and a some friends invite me over to hang out at Frisch’s for pie and coffee at around 8PM on a Friday. We’re sitting at the bar of the restaurant minding our own. Out by us walks a group of 4-5 exceptionally dressed middle aged black guys wearing beautifully tailored suits.
One of whom looked JUST like Tony Todd. He snaps his fingers at us and makes the air gun motion “Heeeeeeey!! You boys staying out of trouble?!” “Yeah man!” Everyone says a little confused. Tony Todd lookalike is paying for his meal at the register.
“Did you know that guy?” “No I thought you did!” “Well I thought you knew him!” chatter amongst the group. Conversation resumes per normal. Tony Todd lookalike returns to us and places his hand on my shoulder
“Hey… Is that real pie you’re eating?” he asks in a nasally whisper as though he were trying to be discreet.
“Well I certainly hope it is!” I say. Baffled.
Tony Todd lookalike then snaps his fingers and does the air gun motion and does something between a saunter and a dance as he walks away laughing with a stereotypical villain “Mwahhahahahaha!”
Sh*t was weird, man….”
8. Nope.
“I matched with a girl on bumble and we vibed really well. Things were going well over text so we decided to go on a date. We get to the bar and she looks like her photos so another success.
We get our drinks and start talking about the usual date stuff and I’m thinking this girl is really cool.
About 15 minutes into the date we start talking about our jobs and she tells me she is self-employed. She sells Herbalife. She then tries to get me to join her team and sell Herbalife with her.
I realize the date is not a date and tell her I needed to use the restroom and then instead paid for my bill and left. Worst date I’ve ever been on and by far my weirdest social interaction. I’m not sure why anyone would think a fake date is a good way to recruit people to your pyramid scheme.”
9. Weird customer.
“At my last job (a cell phone store), I had a particular customer who on the surface seemed like a very put-together man, had a nice job, was married, and was very polite. Definitely not a creep… on the surface.
After a few interactions with him, he suddenly reached over one day and started caressing my hand, asking if I was a hand model. He was rubbing my ring finger (like he was making note of the fact I wasn’t engaged) and the look in his eye just screamed that he had a hand fetish. So that was weird, but then he left and wasn’t weird again for a while.
Another time the same man came in and sat at my desk and asked what perfume I wore. At the time I never wore anything because I was always in such close proximity with customers at my desk, so I told him that. He claimed he had gotten a whiff of something out and about and it just reminded him of my so strongly of me that he needed to know what the name was.
Plot twist: dude was smelling the Glade Plug-in that was situated right under my desk.”
10. This is uncomfortable.
“I having laser hair removal done in my bikini area. So that means some random woman is staring at my naked v*gina while i am laying there. A bit of small talk always makes this kinda situation easier, so she asks where i am from and so on.
I tell her i am Danish (this is in the US) and she tells me about a Netflix show about vikings she has been watching and how i would probably like that. Sure, cool.
Then she stops the procedure to go write down the name of the show, and her phone number, asking me to contact her and tell her what i think i about the show. Hmm, okay.
She gets back to blasting lazer in to my private parts, and while she has one hand on my vulvaz she stops again and asks if i wanna come with her to the Christmas party they are having at this clinic the following week!
I don’t know if she was just being super friendly, or if she was hitting on me. But it was such a bizarre situation!”
11. That’s not me.
“I was on a date with a new guy that I really liked.
While we were eating, this older man came up to us and wouldn’t stop staring at me. I asked him what he was doing..and he pulled out a picture of a young girl (maybe 6 or 7 years old) and he asked me if the girl in the picture was me. I said no.. because it clearly wasn’t.
And he asked if I was sure. I said no…again.
I guess that young girl was kidnapped and he thought it was me many years later. It was pretty sad.”
12. Sad and awkward.
“Me and some friends went out to a Taco Bell in downtown Cleveland and while we were waiting in line this guy who just ordered came up to us and was talking about how crazy it was they just gave you free food for filling out their survey on the receipt.
Not 10 seconds later this dude starts talking about his son who was killed by his ex wife I think. He had his phone in one of those armbands around his wrist and started pulling up every news report and article about the event being especially sure to point out the ex who was accused of doing the thing.
He went on about this for a while and we didn’t really know what to say other than we we’re sorry for his loss and hopes he finds peace. After we got our food he just sat in the corner occasionally staring at us.
Sh*t was weird.”
13. Weirdo.
“For me, it was probably when I went to see my college’s advisor to talk about potentially taking an exam to prove I know a subject (not sure what they’re called) so I didn’t have to retake a class.
A bit of backstory, I took an online math class, got A’s on all the homework and tests but failed the class because I didn’t take the mandatory, 5 question pre-module quizzes that basically ask, “What percentage of your grade is exams?” “How many exams are there?” etc. So I knew the material really well, but failed anyway.
So I go talk to my advisor, explain the situation to her, and she tells me that those exams can be difficult and she’s not sure if it’s the right move for me. She then pulls up my previous math grades and GPA, is a bit surprised, then says, ” Wow, well you’re smarter than you look.” I thought that was super weird but just kind of laugh it off and thought that was the end of that…but I was wrong.
She then calls the examination center to see if they’ll administer the exam for me and what available times they would be available. While on the phone, she says, “I’m here in my office with a young man named ThaChalupaBatman and he would like to take a knowledge exam. I’ve told him they can be difficult but he’s much smarter than he looks.”
I forgot how the rest of the encounter went but I took the test and passed, but I’ll always remember the encounter where I found out I apparently look like an idiot.”
14. I have a question for you…
“I walked into the reception of a doctors surgery, signed in then sat down and waited.
There was one other person there, a middle aged woman who obviously had some kind of learning disability because she was reading a Peppa Pig book out loud to herself.
A very skinny woman walks out of the surgery and sits in the waiting area, 2 seats from the woman reading. The reading woman (RW) turns to the skinny woman (SW) and this was the conversation:
RW: Hi what’s your name?
SW: Louise
RW: oh Louise that’s my mother’s name!
SW: oh that’s nice
RW: Do you smoke crack?
SW: Yeah.
RW: Oh.
And that’s when I got called into the surgery and I never saw either of them again.”
Now we want to hear from you.
In the comments, tell us about the weirdest encounters YOU’VE had with a stranger.
We’d love to hear from you!
