Back in ‘84, I was a desk clerk at a hotel in downtown Washington DC. The shift ended at 11pm, and I went down to the garage to retrieve the car. No one had access to the garage except employees. Guests’ cars were parked by the staff and the keys were hung on a key board in a lobby closet.

There were two men rooting around in a vehicle near mine. They asked me if I needed assistance. I thanked them and said that I left something upstairs, then walked as quickly as possible back to the lobby. The men were gone by the time that the police arrived.

For a 20 year old female new to the “big” city, it was scary.

@Pied_Pfeffer I remember you used to work hotels & yeah, that can’t have been pleasant.
Cheers for your answer :-)

When working night shift at a convenience store I saw a drunk man standing on the hood of a police car. He relieved himself, on the windshield, while standing on the police car. The officers were inside and all they did was to turn the wipers on and nothing happened to the man.

It was one of endless experiences with the patients running the asylum.

Selling of drugs (friends)
Illegal drug use (friends & family)
Concealed carry no license (family friend)
Driving Intoxicated (too many to list)
Larceny (friend)
Credit card fraud (friend)

Years before pot was legal in Canada I was on the Greyhound and someone asked if I was the contact. He opened a hockey bag full of pot. I said no and I went back on the bus.

I saw a toddler relieve him self on meteorite in a museum and he crapped in a potted plant. No clue where his guardian was.

I have seen child abuse in the grocery parking lot several times. The worst one was a woman kept yelling at a terrified child “GET IN THE CAR” and when he finally did, she slammed the door on him.

Hundreds.
Maybe more…

Theft, breaking and entering, assault, possession, use, and sale of illegal substances, driving while impaired, leaving the seen of an accident, vandalism, kidnapping, rape, child endangerment

I neither saw nor heard the shots, but saw the victims of first degree, and attempted first degree murder in front of my house where one dropped dead on my lawn. I moved me and my daughter a month later.

That’s all I can think of now. Don’t ask me which ones I’m guilty of, or the victim of. I’m not tellin’.

@Patty_Melt Gracious.

The response reminds me of the unhinged mother of my best friend back in the early 70s in the US. This was before child services existed, parents rarely divorced, and it was inconceivable that a mother would be abusive to a child.

The mother once screamed at her daughter for leaving her bedroom in a mess. It was immaculate, other than a bathrobe draped across her bed. The mom backed my friend up against the refrigerator, grabbed her jaw, and repeatedly banged her head against the appliance.

There was the time that the friend and her younger brother were allowed to have a pet rabbit. The two came home from school one day to find the rabbit dead. Their mother said that it climbed up the ironing board and either jumped or fell off.

While the younger brother was openly favored, I once witnessed the complete fear in his young eyes when he tripped on a stair and spilled a soda on the carpet.

None of these incidents were relayed to my parents. The friend’s parents were adults and knew best, according to my upbringing. Perhaps life would have turned out better had I spoken up. My friend and I are still in touch. Her journey has been an “adventure”.

I babysat for our next door neighbor in our apartment block ( I was about 16 yrs old then).

One quiet evening a knock at the door and as my mother opened it to the husband crying

hysterically, while carrying his two year old bleeding child run through our apartment as my

father woke up from his nap and approached him calmly.

Dad took him back to his apartment as we called for the ambulance.( no 911 then).

Apparently he and his wife had a violent argument in front of the two year old.

As the wife tried to call the Police on the phone the husband pulled it out of the wall and

threw it “just as” the two yer old ran in front of his mother and thus bore the brunt of the blow , causing severe damage.

After about a week later the wife was found strangled when my brother cumming home late

in the wee hours noticed that the apartment door was left wide opened and found her , but

thank GOD he untied the towel/scarf and she started to breathe again.

Soon she moved away.( I hope that she lived a good life after that?)

Don’t know what happened to the child nor the husband..hushed up?

By the way even at my young age I recognized the husband as a man with uncontrollable

temper and knew that one day that the wife would suffer from his anger.

I remember him as always putting her down,not really a loving husband at all.

They also had a six week old baby in the other bedroom.

That experience and others had taught me that behind a smiling happy face is sometimes

hidden anger/violence, that could erupt under stressful situations.

Here is one I forgot, and must add. A few months ago I was with my daughter when her ex took her to get her permit. On the way back he got pulled over for speeding.
Of course I wanted to say something, but I also wanted my daughter to continue talking to me, so I said nothing.

I got all that beat.
I saw an elderly gentleman deliberately toss a tissue onto the pavement.
We live in a small, quiet town…very quiet lol