Late night wrenching. Pass the Glock pls

#1

We live in a decent part of town, but there’s not so decent parts not too far away. There were two robberies within a 1/2 mile last week.

Last night I was in the back garage which opens to the alley. I was working on my camber because I was swapping R888’s for RA1’s. I was using a wood drift and a hammer to bang on the big strut nut. I’d been at it a while because I was having problems. It was 12:30AM.

Suddenly, to my surprise, someone banged hard on the garage door several times. I answered “Yes?” in a volume loud enough to carry but there was no response. I went over to the garage door and asked, thru the door, “Yes? Who is it?”. No response. That made me wary. The garage opens to the alley behind the house. Anyone could be out there.

“Hmm,” I thought, “who the hell could be banging on my garage door at this hour”. I figured that it would be dumb to just open the garage door and see what thugs my lights had attracted.

My choices were limited to opening the garage door or not opening it. Not opening it seemed a lot like hiding. But if I opened the garage door, it wouldn’t do to be helpless.

So I stepped into the house, pulled the “downstairs pistol” out of it’s hiding place and stepped back into the garage. I chambered a round, hit the garage door button and took a knee behind SpecE30 #6.

It was problematic that I’d be in the light and the mystery guy wouldn’t. Not ideal, I figured. But on the other hand the mystery guy was going to be greeted with all sorts of unfamiliar shapes and colors in the brightly illuminated garage interior. As long as I was motionless it was going to take him a couple heartbeats to identify me among all the visual clutter.

The door went up and a figure appeared in the darkness. The pistol went to centermass and my finger was on the trigger.

And there emerged a petite, attractive mid 30’s blond. Our neighbor. Our very unhappy neighbor. I think that she was so mad that she failed to note that there was a pistol aimed at her. I quickly put it away as she walked into the garage and started chewing my ass. She was very unhappy at how much noise I’d been making.

I felt really bad about it because they are really nice neighbors, and we are pretty tight with them. I took her flowers this morning.

#2

lol… don’t you think you overreacted a little when you aimed it at her. i can understand having it close… besides, i thought you could kill people with your bare hands ranger… :wink:

#3

kishg wrote:

If the figure in the darkness had turned out to be an armed bad guy, you could bet he’d have his pistol aimed at me. And I was illuminated and he, in that scenario, not.

Nice guys finish first in tv because it’s in the script. In real life, tho, violence wins. All of us, me certainly included, live comfortable modern lives, and it’s hard for us to mentally step out from our cocoon of safety, into the world of badguys that hurt people and walk away laughing. Most folks refuse to accept that those sort really exist. Most folks don’t really believe in evil because they’ve never encountered it.

When I was on a knee with the pistol pointed into the darkness I was thinking “holy shit, this just can’t possibly be happening to me.”

All BS aside, when the chips are down, there’s no podium position for 2nd place.

#4

yeah bad guys exist, no shit :wink:

i think we’re already discussing this on another forum, no need to waste bandwidth.

#5

yeah, I think I would have just yelled, “I’m not going to open the door unless you identify yourself”. The neighbor could have also just called you on the phone …

#6

kishg wrote:

A lot of folks would disagree tho. There’s a big segment of our population has never crossed paths with a bad guy. They see bad guys as “unfortunate” and/or “victims of the system”, that just need to be “reached”.

It’s the same old “rehabilitation” vs. “deterrence” arguement that’s been around for ages.

#7

i think he’s just trying to “motivate” the rest of us to give him an easy pass :slight_smile:

#8

kishg wrote:

Have you seen him drive?!?! He could’ve just taken the assailant for a ride! He would’ve laughed himself to death! :stuck_out_tongue:

#9

Ranger
your not getting a fly by granted on that episode from me!
Ive been to your house
#1 WTF were you thinking making that kind of racket at that time?, If I was that lady I would have just shot you first! BAM
#2 you were making all kind of noise and your first reaction when someone starts puonding on your garage is that some perp is coming for you?? really?? when was the last time a criminal announced his arrival?? come on ??
Youd bettter take her some more flowers!!

#10

I met one of my “VIR” neighboors yesterday. We talked for about 30 mins and he mentioned that someone was trespassing onto his property. I told him I had motion detectors that triggered buzzers so I would be warned of “visitors” I also told him that I never had unannounced company and that if he decided to visit to sound his horn coming up the drive as I would be armed and ready. He seemed taken aback but hopefully he will tell the other neighboors that I have not met that I have alarms and guns. The way it works is a neighboor visits then mentions to someone else that you have cars/parts/tools and that person tells an uncle/cousin/nephew that is a crackhead and next thing you know you stuff is gone. At least that is the way it works out in the country…My next door neighboors have been sending people to steal stuff for 15 years, the same M.O. just a couple of small items or all of one type i.e. aluminum wheels all gone but tools, aluminum oil pans, etc left alone. They have stolen a stereo and left $15 cash in the console. They came in and stole a set of Lancia wheels with new tires off a car that was parked up against a wall but left the BMW ones on a car that was already on blocks…One day I will catch them in the act.

Al

#11

bdigel wrote:

[quote]Ranger
your not getting a fly by granted on that episode from me!
Ive been to your house
#1 WTF were you thinking making that kind of racket at that time?, If I was that lady I would have just shot you first! BAM
#2 you were making all kind of noise and your first reaction when someone starts puonding on your garage is that some perp is coming for you?? really?? when was the last time a criminal announced his arrival?? come on ??
Youd bettter take her some more flowers!![/quote]

No one, to include the wife, has complained about the noise before and I’m working in the garage until the wee hours all the time. Therefore I just flat-ass didn’t know that I was creating a problem.

My first reaction was not an assumption that it was a thug. But I’d rather be overprepared then underprepared. And having the pistol in my waistband would have been useless if it was a thug, because he’d certainly have his weapon, if any, drawn.

Home invasion always start with a knock at a door. It’s a pretty common mode of aggravated assault and robbery.

Citizens prevent crime, depending on who’s statistics you read, 2-4 million times a year with their personal firearm. Rarely does someone get shot tho. Usually the fact tht the good guy is ready to defend himself is enough to encourage the bad guy to go find easier prey somewhere else.

I feel really badly about making her so upset. They are very nice neighbors and our kids hang out there all the time. But I don’t feel bad about pointing the pistol at her. Someone bangs on my door in the middle of the night and fails identify themsleves, they’ll get greeted with a pistol every time.

#12

Yeah I hear ya! come knocking on my door in the middle of the night it better be the second coming of Christ,:woohoo: but in your case it still doesn’t hold water, You were raising hell in a Nieghborhood, ITs unreasonable to expect your nieghbors to put up with that at that hour! To be raising hell like that that late and not expect your nierbor to come pounding on the door is dense ! I’ll bet you , any thing that wasn’t the first time they were upset with that, they were just to polite to say anything!

#13

bdigel wrote:

I agree. That’s my take too. But I’m a guy. I don’t (attempt to) read minds like chicks do. If you don’t tell me I’m a pain in the ass, I’m not going to figure out on my own.

#14

My story got me a week of time out at BF.c. I’d posted my tale of stupidity in the GA forum and it had gotten locked right after someone beat the crap out of me. Somewhat surprised that the thread had gotten locked for no obvious reason…I mean they tow OT, threads, right? I created a new thread to counter the ass-beating I’d taken in the locked thread.

Apparently that’s a big no-no. Apparently that counted as 8 infractions so I went right from 2 “points”, to go sit in the corner for a week.

The world is full of ill-mannered shit heads. But I’m not one of them.

#15

I’ve been granted a reprieve.

#16

you probally got in trouble there for cross posting, you posted your story in several sections, which they don’t like???
read the rules??

#17

Neg. It was for restarting a locked thread. I agree that they don’t like posts in more then one sections, but some Scott-is-a-dumbass stories just beg to be shared with a wider audience.

#18

i guess you are really bored scott :wink: no oil pressure mysteries to solve to keep you out of trouble? :stuck_out_tongue:

#19

Ranger wrote:

I want to see a “Dumbass-a-Unbelievable-a-thon” competition between Gress’s forum posts (“Tales of Timing and Scoring Tower Buzzes and Other Incredulous Sagas” ) and Robinson’s blog (“Life When Hated by God: DTOM Racing” ) . I think Al Taylor will be the sleeper in this one though and take the cake… Just don’t ask him about Jimmy Buffet, but you may want to know if he’s seen a dead man.

For the record, I enjoy reading about Ranger pointing his “downstairs pistol” at the hot neighbor in the middle of the night vs white docs and thesis papers covering the ever elusive but always mysterious M20 oil pressure issues.

#20

Craig, you get an email from me today?