I recently wrote a story about one of the two times in my life someone seriously threatened my personal safety — here comes round two.
This one is not quite as dramatic and action-packed, but I feel it’s important to share, because I can easily see someone — myself included — making a tragic mistake if nerves had control of my mind instead of my brain.
I’ll say, just like the first instance, at the time of this occurrence I was 19 — concealed carry was not legal for me yet — so it’s kind of a moot point. It makes for a good background for conjecture as to what was appropriate in the situation and what was not/would not be.
Alright, I’ll break it down:
It was late at night. I was delivering a pizza way out in the middle of nowhere to a nice older man who was handicapped and living alone. Every time I stopped by, he would come up with some excuse to shoot the breeze, and I would normally oblige him. Who wants to be alone all the time?
This particular time, he asked me to give him a ride to the neighborhood mailbox so he could grab his mail — he said he needed a lift, but he also told me to meet him at the end of his driveway so he could roll his trashcans out.
The guy just needed five minutes of company. I was happy to help — it’s good business, as long as you feel safe and know the guy, which I did.
The customer, however, went into his house as I drove to the end of his driveway, and didn’t come back out. I had no idea what was going on — he was a little forgetful at times, so he may very well have quite simply forgot the plan. No worries — I waited five minutes to see if he’d come out, which he didn’t.
That’s when things got really wrong, really quick.
The older man’s neighbor came out, and she was pissed, because, reasons?
Apparently my parking kinda-sorta near where her yard started constituted staking her house out for potential robbery.
So she emerged with a bat and anย enormous dog. Granted, I was in a Chrysler Sebring, a very low-to-the-ground car, but that big ol- beast was face to face with me and about as cheery as her owner.
I tried to explain to her that I was a pizza chain employee — what with all the uniform shirt and hat, thatย really shouldn’t have been that hard to believe. Instead, I got told to leave, or she was calling the police.
I begged her to call the police, what with her being insane and all. I didn’t call her insane — I just thought it really hard.
She must have sensed it, because she told her dog to sic me.
I have no idea whether or not the pooch knew what that meant, and I didn’t care. I sped on out of there, and that, unfortunately, was the end of that.
If I had been armed, should I have drawn, and when?
My answer is no. Theย best case scenario here with me drawing a firearm and shooting a dog. Who the heck wants to do that?
I was in a running car, and I was out of reasons to be there after a few minutes waiting on this guy. Sometimes — oftentimes — discretion is the better part of valor. It cost me nothing to leave the situation, and there was no deadly threat just yet. It didn’t make any sense to wait for a dog attack, should one be on the way.
However, I want to hear from you guys. What do you think? Please share this on Facebook and Twitter and let us know!
