Was this an an incident in the making?

[El Kabong]

Ok, tell me what you think. My husband and I were leaving the movie theater the other night, chatting about the movie as we usually do, and walked past the crowd that was standing in line for tickets to the next showing. As we pass, I see out the of the corner of my eye a man step out of the crowd and begin walking about 10 yards back and to the right of my husband.

When that happened, a little alarm bell went off in my head. The guy wasn't saying or doing anything, but I didn't like it nonetheless. As we walked, I kept trying to get a look at the guy, but he was too far back. We were getting close to our car with the guy still behind us, so I turned around and looked straight at the guy, telling my husband some dumb excuse about how I thought the marquee lights were tow truck lights flashing (I told you it was dumb).

Anyway, after I turned around, the guy stopped following us and went in between the rows of cars and disappeared. I kept an eye out for him the rest of the way, but didn't see him again.

So what do you think? Situational awareness? Lack of sleep? All of the above?

 

[JamisJockey]

You're never wrong to assess a threat, and anyone intentionally getting in your blind spot and following you should get your 'hackles' up. Potential bg for sure, but probably nothing. You're here, and alive.

 

[armoredman]

Good job, condition yellow all the way.

 

[one45auto]

Good job!

Never second-guess a gut feeling. If it didn't feel right to you, then something was wrong. Personally I think you avoided some potential trouble through your situational awareness.

 

[gigmike]

Great job, but why wouldn't you want your husband to know you'd spotted a potential threat? Two sets of eyes are better than one and if you were jumped then he would have been better able to respond. Not criticism, just wondering.

 

[Trisha]

Simple 'awareness' words to consider

If you two have fire escape plans for your home, or do intruder drills, you might wnat to discuss and rehearse simple conversational phrases that can very discretely alert your partner to a gut feeling like that. Examples:

"I wish my nephew would call; you remember him, the jock?" Male, to your direct left, athletic. Condition yellow.

"Your sister called me three times today - and if she asks me about decorating again I'll just scream!" Female, to his right, possibly with three accomplices.

Male, left; female right. Ahead, 'going out to eat.' Behind, your 'neighbor's barking dog.' Crisis, 'I'm starting my period;' or are you getting another nosebleed?'

Just a thought.

Trisha

 

[Trebor]

You reacted appopriately. It was probably some guy just going to his car, but it might not have been. You were aware so you forestalled any possible problems. You also didn't overreact and freak out to make the situation worse. Nice job.