Tell me a story please, anon.

One day I was sitting at my PC, and really just wasting my time, when I got a message from a friend. Having nothing better to do, I checked the message, expecting to find some sort of music recommendation or something, but instead it was a list of links. The friend told me that he had sent a list of comfy boards, and that I should check them out. Always loving image and text boards, and knowing there was a lack of quality boards on the modern internet, I clicked some of the links. And that's how I found this place.

In 2012, I used to work at a gas station, night shift. Towards the end of my "career", someone entered the story and I immediately knew he was here to steal stuff. As soon as he walked towards the back, I emptied most of my cash drawer into the safe "just in case". Protocol has me not react to any thefts since a life is more important than goods, and I did just that. I didn't pay for these goods, so it's not my problem. I had already pressed the panic button, which is also protocol for when there is a theft of more than $20.

He exists the walk in cooler with a case of beer in hand. Instead of taking a turn towards the exit, he continues down the aisle that leads straight to the employees only section of the store.

"Oh."

He grabs a couple packs of cigarettes, backs me into the corner that is my register and tells me to open the drawer. I comply, because it's still not my job to resist a theft/robbery. Seeing approximately $13 must have pissed him off because he lefts the drawer to check underneath but there is still nothing. Thoughts of "Huh, I guess I really could die right here and there'd be nothing I could do about it" cross my mind as he throws the part he just lifted, spilling all the coinage. I groan as I immediately realize I will have to clean that up later if I'm still alive after this. He sprints out of the store with beer, cigs, and $13.

The cops arrive and they find him huddled at the base of someone's fence, with a trail of $1 bills leading to his position. After everything was said and done, store security finally decides to call the store to check up on me. Bunch of useless fucks, he could have killed me if he so pleased and you wait until after everything is safe?

I've never left my home unarmed again. I work in a comfy office environment now and I still pack heat every day. I will never give another human being the opportunity to put me in a position like that again without me resisting.

>>3
I'm curious, how did you immediately know he was going to rob you? I work in a liquor store myself, and it's not hard to spot most shoplifters, but I can't imagine what a violent robber would look like at all.

>>4
I noticed that every single time people were there to steal any beer (single cans or 30 packs or anything in between), they walked down the aisle closest to the door. This guy walked on the isle furthest from the door and looked straight at me. For the couple of seconds I had to think, there wasn't anything that could convince me that he wasn't about to rob the store.

>>5
He didn't say anything? Was there something about the way he looked at you? I suppose I just don't get what set him apart from a regular customer.

>>6
No words, only body language and posture.
Between my recognition of a thief when he walked into the door to how he walked when returning to the front of the store, it was simply a strong gut feeling. The guy was an older white dude so it's not like my high intensity racism played a part either (I'm a twig and he wasn't so he was still easily a threat).

Maybe to clarify, I only had the gut feeling that he was only going to steal beer when he walked in, but that feeling increased to "he's coming for the counter" with the pattern that he broke by going down the "wrong" aisle. Nothing about his appearance triggered any alarms beyond regular thief.

I recently traveled to Japan and and went on a few hiking trails on days that I didn't have plans. One of the trails had wild mountain monkeys and I got to see a few, which was very cool.

The first was when I took a less traveled path that overlooked one of the shrines. It didn't notice me, but at the time I was unaware monkeys lived there so it was a very nice surprise.

The second was when I stopped at the main attraction of the trail, a very tall waterfall. I sat down on one of the stone benches and went through my bag to get a snack, and one of the territorial monkeys was apparently approaching me. One of the other hikers yelled for me to watch out and when I looked around, this monkey was almost within arm's reach. I stood up really quickly and it ran back to its perch, which was a small cliff (about head height) overlooking the benches. It was a lot scarier than I would have thought. I ate my salty snacks without further incident.

The third monkey was on a side path. On the way to the end of a trail, there was a small tunnel with another hiking trail that I wanted to check out. Someone was nice and left a very good hiking stick at the trail entrance, which I used once I returned to this trail. I was very glad they did, because this trail was difficult for a non-hiker. I was thirsty because of those snacks but I didn't have any water. Because the trail followed a river, I decided to drink some because it looked clean. It was a really cool experience since I live in the city and have only ever drank filtered water. Thankfully there were no complications regarding that. About 1/4 through this trail, I heard something suddenly start shifting around in the nature around me. I immediately freeze, and start looking around since I'm in a foreign country on a path that no one takes, but I can't find the source. After a few more seconds, I eventually see a monkey in the trees above me, staring at me. In my state of fear, I slowly walk backwards away from it and it resumes (?) its path through the trees. For the rest of that trail, I remained as alert as I possible could despite the exhaustion I was facing due to the difficulty of the trail.

Overall, 10/10 experience and if you found yourself in Japan, take a day or two to hike.

>>8
That sounds amazing. The photos I see of Japanese nature are incredible.