86: Jen was robbed at gunpoint

Explicit content warning

08/13/21 • 64 min

2 Listeners

What Was That Like - True Stories. Real People.

There’s something I find really fascinating, and that’s learning about the wildly different ways people react in a sudden emergency situation.

Imagine you’re in a restaurant and the main dining room is full of people. Everyone’s talking, servers are buzzing around to their various tables, people are enjoying their food. Then suddenly at the table next to you, a middle-aged man clutches his chest, yells out in pain, and falls from his chair. It’s pretty clear he’s having a heart attack. He’s still conscious and breathing, but he is clearly in distress.

And what does everyone do? No doubt, there will be a person who will yell out for someone to call 911. There will be people who see what’s happening, and their first reaction is to quickly look around the room, like they’re looking for help. There might be someone who goes to the man and tries to do CPR. Incidentally, if someone is still awake and breathing, you don’t need to do CPR. I can guarantee that many of the people at the nearby tables will not do anything – they’re definitely going to watch and see what happens, but they won’t take any action themselves. And there will be some people who will immediately get up and get away from what’s going on. Their brain tells them they need to leave. I know this, because I’ve seen it happen.

And there will be some people who remain calm, and try to help. They’ll make sure someone has called for paramedics (or they’ll just take out their phone and make the call). They’ll get the man into a comfortable position, maybe talk to him, maybe check his pulse. These are the people you want to have around when something happens.

But that’s the interesting thing about this. If you’ve never been in a situation like that, you don’t really know for sure how you’ll react.

My guest today, Jen, doesn’t have to wonder about that. She knows how she reacts. That’s because one day at work in a retail clothing store, she turned around and was facing the barrel of a gun.

Jen’s podcast is called I NEED BLUE – www.IneedBlue.net

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp online counseling – get 10% off your first month at BetterHelp.com/WHATWAS.

This episode is sponsored by Felix Gray blue-light glasses. Get yours at FelixGrayGlasses.com/WHAT.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There’s something I find really fascinating, and that’s learning about the wildly different ways people react in a sudden emergency situation.

But that’s the interesting thing about this. If you’ve never been in a situation like that, you don’t really know for sure how you’ll react.

My guest today, Jen, doesn’t have to wonder about that. She knows how she reacts. That’s because one day at work in a retail clothing store, she turned around and was facing the barrel of a gun.

Jen’s podcast is called I NEED BLUE – www.IneedBlue.net

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp online counseling – get 10% off your first month at BetterHelp.com/WHATWAS.

This episode is sponsored by Felix Gray blue-light glasses. Get yours at FelixGrayGlasses.com/WHAT.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Previous Episode

85: Bonus episode: Jessica's story

This is a bonus episode on an off-week Friday.

Today you'll hear Jessica's story of what happened to her fiancé Mike. Jessica and Mike have been together for seven years, and have five children.

After a short family vacation, Mike got sick and was unexpectedly diagnosed with Covid. He was unvaccinated.

If you would like to help, a GoFundMe account has been set up.

Music credit:

Almost in F by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3354-almost-in-f

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Next Episode

87: Victoria's neighbors brought horrible news

1 Recommendations

I was watching a video online recently. I don’t remember where it was, probably in a subreddit. It was recorded on a security camera in some business. There’s no sound, but you can pretty much tell what’s going on. These two men are standing there, and they are obviously in some kind of argument. You know how, even when you can’t hear what someone is saying, it’s easy to see that they’re upset just because of their body language? That’s what this was.

I don’t know if they were two customers, or a manager and a customer, doesn’t really matter. But they were angry. And they were getting up in each other’s face, but neither of them had touched the other one yet. It looked like it might evolve into a fist fight, but for now it was just a verbal confrontation.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a third person enters the view of the camera. He comes up behind one of the guys, and, from behind, hauls off and closed-fist punches him right in the head. And he’s out cold. Of course, he never had a chance to defend himself, or even to brace for the hit, because he never saw it coming. That’s what’s called a sucker punch. It just comes out of nowhere and knocks you right out.

That’s kind of what we’re talking about in today’s podcast episode.

But this story has nothing to do with a physical fight or anyone being hit in the head. I’m talking about an emotional sucker punch. This is when someone looks you in the eye, and they deliver some kind of news that you were not expecting at all, and what they just told you suddenly changes your whole life. As in, you know nothing is going to be the same going forward.

That’s what happened to Victoria one Saturday morning, when a former neighbor showed up on her doorstep.

Warning about this episode. Some of the content may be triggering, and isn’t suitable for children. So if you have kids in the car, you might want to skip this one or listen to it later.

This episode is sponsored by A Life’s Story podcast – life stories of incredible people. Listen to it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp online counseling – get 10% off your first month at BetterHelp.com/WHATWAS.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices