14x08: The Best of Canine Hero Stories

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This podcast contains adult language and content.

Listener discretion is advised.

If you have a story to share, send it to Let's Not MeetStories at gmail.com.

Enjoy the show.

Hello everyone and welcome to the show.

I was out sick this week, but we still put something special together for you.

In this episode, we're sharing some fan favorite stories about those courageous canines that have saved the lives of many of our Let's Not Meet authors.

Going all the way back to season three, we have a wide collection of stories from the past seven years in which the dog is always the hero.

Enjoy the show.

I'm a long-time listener and first-time story submitter.

This happened a few months ago.

I decided that I needed to start losing some of my pregnancy weight after my son was three months old because I was still wearing maternity clothes and I just didn't feel good about myself.

I started going on daily walks, sometimes twice a day, and only in the evenings would I take my rescue dog Odin with me.

My fiancée and I rescued Odin when he was just a year old from Romania.

He was a street dog and was in dog fights, so when we first got him, he was very scared of men, but warmed up to me during pregnancy.

He grew extremely protective of me.

When we brought my son home, we were worried that he wouldn't cope well with a baby in the house as we were informed that children in Romania weren't nice to street dogs, but luckily Odin took to my son immediately.

During my third week of going for walks, I had my son strapped to my chest in his sling.

We were both wrapped up, sharing body heat, as in England it gets very cold in the winter.

Odin was on his lead walking beside me, stopping every two minutes to sniff something as we were walking through a large field by our house.

I remember I was listening to this podcast when I felt my throat get dry and my stomach tightened.

At first, I put it down to my anxiety, having increased through my pregnancy.

But there was just something that made me feel like I was in danger.

It was around 7 p.m., so it was already pitch black, and the only sources of light that I had were the street lights and the light on my phone.

Odin started to get a bit manic, looking around frantically, and his innocent snuffling of grass turned into heavy panting.

I began to walk back towards my house, but I almost had to fully drag Odin because he was cementing himself in place, staring across the field, into the darkness.

I paused my podcast, and I looked around as naturally as possible, but I could feel myself beginning to sweat, and my heart rate was increasing.

And that's when I heard it, a long, low-pitched low-pitched whistle.

It would repeat with about a ten-second delay in between each whistle.

Odin, come, I said in a commanding tone, and pulled him one more time.

We were getting close to the pathway that would lead back to my house.

We were only five minutes away, but it felt like miles.

Odin stuck to my side, pushing himself against my leg while he kept looking behind us every couple of seconds.

The whistling started to get louder and closer.

This made me start to tear up.

My fiancé was working late and wasn't going to be home until 10 p.m.

and my neighbors across the road were on holiday, so I knew I wasn't going to feel safe until my fiancé got home.

Hey, a gruff voice called out from behind me.

Odin began to growl, and my grip on his lead tightened as my other arm moved to my son, holding him tightly.

Luckily, he was fast asleep.

I don't know how I'd cope if he were awake and crying.

I knew I couldn't run because it would wake my son up, and I was forcing myself to stay calm.

Hey, I'm talking to you, he called out again.

I started praying internally for him to be talking to somebody else, but I was unfortunately the only person there.

You'll stop when I fucking talk to you, you bitch, he yelled, his voice echoing down the empty street.

I froze midstep.

Odin's fur stood up on end as he turned to face the stranger.

I looked down at Odin, who was standing hard as a rock and growling lowly.

Odin, guard, I said sternly as I turned my face to the man.

Can I help you?

I said in a calm tone, even though my voice was probably trembling, and I was close to tears.

You're really pretty.

So is your baby.

I've seen you a few times at night, and I've finally got the chance to talk to you, he said with a smirk, stepping closer to me.

Odin let out a singular bark,

and I gripped his lead.

He's not friendly.

Don't come any closer, I warned.

The man laughed at me, and he stepped closer again.

Odin then lunged, and he barked with so much fury.

I had never heard him like this before.

I want to take you home, the man said.

I only now noticed that his hands were in his pockets, and my arm wrapped tighter around my still sleeping son.

That's not going to happen.

I want you to leave me alone, I said firmly, as I turned and began to speedwalk towards my house.

The whole way back to my house, Odin was watching this guy over his shoulder, but this guy was still saying things to me.

I grabbed my keys from my pocket and lightly jogged across the road.

I shoved the key in the lock and rushed inside.

I immediately locked the door, and as I latched the chain to the door, the man tried the door handle.

I kept all of the lights off inside the house and I told Odin to go upstairs and I let go of his lead.

I made sure the back door was locked before sneaking upstairs and shutting Odin, my son, and myself in my room.

Our bedroom is at the front of the house with two big windows looking out to the street.

Odin lay beside my bed, lead and harness still on, and somehow my son was still asleep.

I put my son in his crib and took Odin's harness off.

I called my fiancé and told him what was happening.

He was working half an hour away, but he immediately left work and stayed on the phone with me as he sped home.

I sat beside the window and watched as this man paced back and forth in front of my door, stopping every few minutes to bang on the door and shout, Let me in, you bitch!

The thirty minutes that it took for my fiancée to get home felt like a life sentence, but I soon saw his truck speed around the corner and stop in front of our house.

The man saw my fiancée and practically shit himself.

He stumbled back a bit, and then sprinted off into the field.

So, to the man who targeted me with my son and dog in a field at night, after watching me for God knows how long, let's not meet again.

Although Although it doesn't seem like it, this happened quite a while back, probably over ten years ago.

I was in the later years of high school and was home alone.

My parents were at a wedding that required them to stay overnight in a hotel that my brother was working the night shift at.

At that time, my family lived in a very well-known east coast city in a blue-collar neighborhood that was starting to take a nosedive.

As a teenager, I was a bit of a loner.

I wasn't necessarily a nerd or anything.

I was a big guy who had friends and went on dates, but I'm naturally introverted, so I cherished the rare alone time that I got.

Since my family was gone for the evening, I was looking forward to engaging in my normal empty house routine, play some PlayStation on the big screen TV, then late night takeout, either pizza or Chinese, and pig out while watching some Dragon Ball Z.

These nights always wound down around 2 a.m.

when I generally fell asleep on the couch with my old dog Cecil.

Cecil was a beagle who was as old as the hills, and he had been in our family for about eight years.

He was quiet and peaceful and spent his time begging for food or sleeping.

Unlike most beagles, Cecil never howled or barked.

He was more than content to just rest his head on your lap and spend the night there.

Anyway, back to the story.

At approximately 1 a.m.

I had just finished the last slice of pizza and was starting to doze off on the couch when I heard a bang coming from the back alleyway.

I didn't think anything of it.

Anyone who's lived in a city knows that outside noises happen at all times of the night.

Cecil's head popped up off of my lap and the hair on her back stood on end.

He was always a bit skittish, so I calmed him down and started dozing off again.

Not more than two minutes later, I heard another bang, which prompted Cecil to do something I had never seen him do before.

He leaped off of the couch and ran like the wind towards the door leading to the basement.

He was barking and growling like a dog twice his size.

The look on his face reminded me of a German Shepherd canine unit.

I had never seen him like that before, which got my adrenaline pumping.

Through Cecil's incessant barking, I finally managed to hear a persistent banging.

There was a seldom used door in the basement that led to the back alleyway.

It was old and rusted.

It was very hard to open even with the key, but it made a lot of noise.

I suddenly realized that somebody was trying to break into my home through the basement door.

For a bit of context, for anyone who hasn't lived in a bad neighborhood, if somebody tries to get into your house but moves on after they realize the door is locked, they want your stuff.

If someone is persistently trying to get into your house despite the door being locked, then well, they want you.

Knowing this to be the case, I rushed upstairs to grab a heavy wooden baseball bat that I always kept under my bed for situations like this.

Then I headed down to to the basement.

I probably should have run, but I was a macho teenager with a tough guy complex.

And I had nowhere to go, anyway.

While I was heading down the stairs to the basement, Cecil blew past me with the speed of a dog half his age, and then suddenly I heard a man's voice say, oh fuck, and the banging stopped.

I didn't call the cops or anyone else, which was probably the dumbest thing I had ever done.

I just sat up for the rest of the night with my baseball bat in hand.

My brother came home the following morning and I told him about what happened.

We went to the basement door to take a look, and when we gave it a tug to open it, the whole door fell off.

This psycho was one good shove away from getting into my house, but good old Cecil scared him off.

I'm pretty sure that lazy dog saved my life.

When I tell this story to people, they dismiss his actions as a dog doing what a dog is supposed to do.

But when I tell you that Cecil never barked or moved that urgently in his life, you can take that to the bank.

It was almost like he understood the danger of the situation, like he knew that the door was going to give out.

A few years back, we had to put him down because he no longer had the will to live any more.

Before that event, I had a moment alone with him.

I thanked him one last time for his friendship and for what he did that night.

At that point, I was a grown man with a wife and kids.

I'm convinced none of that would have happened without the protection of old Cecil.

Thanks, pal.

I miss you.

Hey, it's Brian Christopher.

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I'm honestly creeped out.

My husband and I have a family dog.

His name is Houndoom, and he's just over a year and a half old.

Houndoom is a Doberman.

He's the sweetest, most playful guy you'll ever know.

He loves people, young and old.

He's also a great guard dog.

His bed is in the kitchen next to the window, and we have a baby gate set up to make sure that he stays back as guests come in.

He always barks when he sees strangers, but once he catches on to the guests being family or friends, he turns into a big baby.

Now that I have informed you about my dog, I'll also mention that my husband and I have an eight-year-old daughter.

We'll call her Maddie.

Maddie is your typical eight-year-old kid.

She's really sweet, loves stuffed animals, never seen a scary movie before, innocent, etc., etc.

She has a best friend who will name Sarah for the story.

Maddie and Sarah are the same age and they go to the same school.

Sarah's parents had reached out to us to set up play dates for them to hang out outside of learning environments, and my husband and I were cool with it.

Sarah had been to our house a couple of times.

The first time she came over, Houndoom went ballistic.

Like how I said earlier, when it comes to strangers, he barks like crazy.

But when he realizes it's a friend, he loosens up.

Well, when she came inside, he almost broke broke the gate down.

I had never seen him out of control like that before.

My husband and I were trying to calm him down and Sarah just stood there staring at him with a little smirk on her face.

After trying to get Houndoom to relax to no avail, I had to tell the girls to go upstairs.

It was strange, but I initially brushed it off thinking, he probably smells another dog on her.

Whatever.

The next few times that Sarah came over to play with Maddie, Houndoom continued to stand his ground.

He even seemed like he genuinely wanted to attack her.

I continued to shrug it off, and I did my best to keep him separated from the girls to calm him down.

The thing that freaked me out was when Sarah and her mom walked up to my house.

My dog immediately went crazy.

He was growling and snarling and everything.

He typically doesn't lash out like that, unless he encounters other animals like squirrels or opossums.

Her mom doesn't talk much, which didn't help with diffusing Houndoom.

So, this time I thought that maybe he would calm down if Sarah pet him.

I figured she just needed to get close enough for him to smell her.

I generally hoped that he would calm down after that.

So I asked Sarah to come closer, but she stopped and looked at him in a very weird way.

It was almost like she was taunting him.

He continued to thrash around and growl, but she wasn't even afraid.

It was almost like she knew why he was so livid.

She brought her hand closer to him, and as we were petting him, he seemed to calm down a bit.

But then he suddenly snarled and tried to bite the shit out of her.

Thankfully, he didn't, since I quickly moved her hand away from him.

After that, he went right back to barking like he wanted to kill her.

I told the girls to go upstairs and turned to my husband.

I glanced at him as I nonverbally asked, Does this not strike you as odd?

The way that my dog looked at Sarah and started barking at her made me feel so unnerved.

It was like he sensed something was off about her.

Shortly after this, Sarah stopped coming over and my dog has been completely normal.

He hasn't acted that way ever since she stopped coming over.

He's been perfectly fine with every other stranger that we've introduced him to.

I had trouble sleeping after this ordeal since I kept thinking about how creeped out this made me feel about Sarah.

Although we haven't seen her in a while, I highly doubt I'll ever let her come over again.

I'm a 24-year-old female, and I probably couldn't defend myself against a 10-year-old.

I went to the grocery store to pick up some things the other night.

When I got to the register, there was a a man helping bag my groceries while the cashier was checking me out.

I was buying some dog treats, and he asked what kind of dog I had.

I said, Golden Doodle.

And he said, Oh my god, me too.

I didn't really get any kind of vibe from him, but he would stare and he wouldn't break eye contact at all.

I talked it up to him missing social cues and trying to be friendly.

After I paid, he started pushing the cart for me out the door.

This isn't uncommon.

They typically help you take your things to your car.

I have social anxiety, and I feel very awkward and guilty having them do that for me.

So I always say, I'm good, but thank you so much.

And every other time they've said, okay, have a good one.

When I said, I'm good to this guy, he said, No, I've got it, very bluntly, and stared at me the whole time.

I instantly got a bad vibe.

It was about 8 p.m.

at night, and hardly anyone was there.

He said, Well, my shift is over, so I'm walking out to my car anyway.

It was weird because he didn't clock out, but maybe he had before he did his last checkout, I don't know.

He was very talkative in the store, asking tons of questions about my dog and telling me about his, but when we got outside, he barely said anything.

I started asking questions about his dog because I felt anxious with the silence.

But I I actually regret that.

He took it as an interest.

He immediately said, Well, if you give me your number, you can meet him.

And I just stared at him again.

I said, Oh, I'm sorry, I don't give my number to strangers.

I didn't want to say no because I have a boyfriend, because he seems like he might get angry over that.

I don't know, I just get that feeling in the moment.

We had loaded all of the groceries into my trunk, and I was thanking God that I could get out of there.

But no, the cart was between me and him, and he was positioned on the driver's side.

So in order to get to my door, I would have to go past him.

I said, well, I gotta get home.

My dog is waiting for his treats.

He just stared.

I realized I was going to have to go past him if I wanted to leave, so I looked around to see if anyone was in the parking lot in case something happened.

No one.

I started to get extremely nervous.

He could push the cart into me or just grab me himself.

I have had a traumatic experience before, and my problem is that I don't have a fight or flight response, I just freeze.

Just like that, he walked away pushing the cart to where they are returned in the the parking lot.

I took the chance to get in the car and lock the doors immediately.

I wish I left then, but I needed a moment to breathe.

I saw in my side mirror him getting into his car.

I quickly put the car in drive and drove out.

The exit is a stoplight, and just my luck, it's red, and I'm turning left.

I see his car right behind mine, not thirty seconds later.

I panicked, but then thought, he said he's going home, it's nothing.

I only live two minutes from the grocery store.

I made the turn, and he was hanging back.

I didn't put my blinker on for the next turn.

He made it too.

The next turn was a stoplight, and then a turn from my road.

As I get to the light, it's red again.

I thought maybe I should drive to the police station just in case, but as soon as that thought came, the light turned green.

My boyfriend and I moved here two months ago, so I couldn't think in my head how to get to the station, and I'm terrible at using my phone while driving.

I'm not even 30 seconds from the last turn onto my street.

Our street is a dead end with only four houses on it.

It's very long, and we are at the end.

No one goes down it unless they live there or they're lost.

I turn and he makes the turn too.

Fuck.

I literally just directed him to my house.

Thankfully, I have Bluetooth, so I called my boyfriend.

I said, a guy from the grocery store is following me.

Turn on all of the lights, open the gate, and let Nike out.

Nike is his German shepherd, and he was trained to be a German police dog, and then he got extra bite training.

He can hold someone up for six hours, so knowing he was outside, I wasn't nervous.

I was nervous, however, that my boyfriend wouldn't have gotten the gate open in time, and I would have to either sit there in my car or get out and put the code in.

As I pulled up, I saw that the gate was open.

Thank God.

My boyfriend was on the front porch with Nike on a leash.

I'm not trying to have someone killed unless it's necessary.

He also has his gun in the air.

I fly through and down the driveway.

This fucker follows.

Does he not see the gun and the guard dog?

Well, he did at that moment, because my boyfriend let Nike go and he charged at the guy's car, jumped up at the driver's window, frothing at the mouth, showing all teeth, and the hair on the back of his neck standing up.

He looked terrifying to me, and he was protecting me.

I gave gave Nike his command to come back, hoping that this guy got the hint that if he gets out of the car, he will die.

He did.

He reversed the car so goddamn fast out of that driveway, he nearly hit the gate.

I collapsed on the front porch and hugged my boyfriend.

Nike got a steak for dinner.

I reported the man to the grocery store because I remembered his name on his name tag purposefully.

They later contacted me and said that he had been served termination papers.

As a result of everyone's response to this story, I contacted the local police station today.

They have contacted the grocery store to get their report of the incident.

They said they could try and charge him for trespassing, but probably not since he never left the vehicle.

They said they will keep me updated.

They seemed to take me seriously and were very nice about the situation.

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When I was 16, I would nanny for two boys, Brandon and Randy.

Randy had mental health problems.

However, he was a sweetheart.

But you could tell something was off by the way that he walked and moved his hands.

They had a dog, Gunner, that was an Akita and Yellow Lab mix.

The dog was huge and protective.

I watched the kids every other week, all day, Monday through Friday.

Gunner watched everything that I did for the first week.

I had to gain this dog's trust.

That first week with the dog made me uneasy because if I was with the kids and they'd start being loud and rambunctious, he would get between me and the boys and start growling.

Gunner, however, learned to trust me rather quick.

There are two times that Gunner saved our lives.

One,

the boys lived in a rough neighborhood, not scary, just rough around the edges.

We went for a walk to the playground a couple of blocks away, and a white van slows down by us.

There was a bunch of guys yelling at us from the window, saying inappropriate things to me, I'm a female, and calling Randy horrible names because of his condition.

Just ignore them, guys, I said in a hushed voice as I shifted and put myself and Gunnar between them and the kids.

Gunner didn't take his eyes off the van full of them.

The tension pulled the fur on his back straight up, signaling to us that he was in protective mode.

As the men kept yelling at us, I pulled my phone out and started dialing 911.

But I didn't hit send before Brandon started

back into the van, nearly grabbing the leg of one man as they sped off.

Gunner received a lot of treats and praise when we returned home.

Story two

This one really freaks me out.

I was allowed to have friends stop by since I practically lived there, and the boys liked hanging out with my wholesome teenage friends.

If it were a male, though, I'd have to go outside and hug them where Gunner could see and talk to them for a few minutes on the porch.

Gunner would assess them.

Normally, he let them inside without any trouble after that.

But there was one friend that he would not let inside without coaxing.

Gunner would never bite anyone unless he was actually attacked, for context.

One day, a man came to the door, knocked, and said he had to drop something off for their mom, who was supposedly expecting it.

We could see through the window that he seemed like a gentleman and was very nice, but as I approached the door, Gunnar cut me off.

He started barking at the door insanely.

His back stood higher than my hips.

At the time I was a small girl.

And the dog just forced me back.

Gunnar literally prevented me from being able to reach the doorknob.

He was gentle with me, but forceful.

I yelled back to the guy to leave whatever it was on the porch, but he seemed insistent, saying things like, Can you really not just unlock the door for a minute?

Come on, Randy knows me.

But I told him that I physically couldn't get past the door.

The man immediately got weird and said, No, that's not necessary.

I'll come back another time, and rushed off.

Anyway, the guy had some distinct features, and when I described him to the mom later, she informed me that she had no idea who he was and she wasn't expecting anything.

We never found out who he was, but he also never came back.

So, thanks, Gunner.

And let's not meet White Van and Creepy Not the Livery Man.

I always wanted my own dog.

I put a lot of research into it and decided to get a Bernese mountain dog.

My mom graciously covered part of the cost as my graduation present.

One thing to know about this breed and my dog Sirius, in specific, is that they are very friendly and don't consider unknown people as strangers.

Before I got him, I watched several videos of Bernie's mountain dogs just napping as repair people came into their backyards, and having a dog with this friendly demeanor wasn't an issue for me.

We also have a very protective Saint Bernard at home, so I didn't think that we needed a second guard dog.

I always wanted to be able to take my dog out with me, and in order to do that, I figured it would be better if he were friendly.

Around October, when a chill was starting to form in the air, a friend of mine and I decided decided to get some pumpkin flavored coffee for us.

We also got a pup cup for Sirius before going to a local park to get him some exercise since it finally wasn't too hot for him outside.

The park that we went to isn't one of the nicer parks.

It used to have a designated dog park, but due to continuous flood damage, it was shut down and the secluded area where it used to be is mostly abandoned.

There are plenty of people who use the seclusion to their advantage to do drugs, which is honestly what my friend and I had planned on doing.

There are typically lots of families at this park on the weekends, but since it was the middle of the week, the park was pretty empty when we arrived.

As we walked into the park, we passed a man who was training for something that I'm not sure I'd like to know about.

He was carrying a full army pack and was drenched in sweat.

When I later told my stepdad about this, he said he had seen the same guy running along the main road where there are no sidewalks.

Sirius was unbothered and completely ignored him.

We also met a couple who had a Rottweiler puppy who was a few months younger than Sirius.

We stopped for a moment and let them play while my friend and I talked to the couple.

Sirius had absolutely no issue with them and their puppy and was very happy to receive attention from some new friends.

Eventually, we arrived at the location where we were planning to smoke.

It was directly underneath the train tracks, which is the most secluded spot in the park, as there is only one path leading in and out.

This is unique since the rest of the park's paths loop around.

This specific spot used to be a functioning public road, but it was purchased by the city for the park, so it's completely empty except for a few houses just past its barriers.

We were there for around thirty minutes before an older man walked by and gave us a polite, Hey, how's it going?

Since the path didn't loop, once he reached the end, he turned around and walked back the other way.

A little while later, he passed back again, and noticed that we were sitting in the same spot.

This time he asked, Are you girls waiting on a ride?

This creeped me out slightly, since I tend to be overly cautious, and I quickly replied No, we're okay

which was true.

I had driven us there, and I was nowhere near sober enough to drive since we had been smoking.

We were just relaxing and enjoying the nice weather before it got too cold.

He then told us to have a nice day and turned back around again.

During these two interactions with the man, Sirius just continued to play with the stick that he was chewing on.

Now I only mention these encounters with the first man that we saw, the couple, and the other man, so that you can see how absolutely strange the next one is, in contrast.

Soon after, a man who seemed to be in his late 40s or early 50s started to walk towards us.

Instead of turning around like the other man had, he continued walking towards us.

Sirius absolutely lost it.

He was barking and growling at this man.

He even attempted to lunge at him.

Despite the fact that he was only around seven months at this time, Sirius was a big dog, probably around seventy pounds.

The man was scared, and he continued to walk past us.

He picked up his pace and kept his distance.

But it was strange that he headed that way, since there was nothing behind us besides an empty road and thick heavy woods.

My friend and I continued to sit there until we were sure that he was gone.

That was weird, right?

I asked my friend.

She agreed and wondered.

Where did he even go anyway?

I hadn't considered it at the time, but looking around, I could not figure out where he could have gone.

Since we were high, we came up with the brilliant idea to wait and see if he would re-emerge to pass us again.

He did not.

So we walked up the small hill and passed the barricade to see if we could spot him.

There are three houses just past the barricade.

They are all pretty run down, and the moment that we started walking past the first one, the man came out onto the porch with a gun and stared at us.

Now, I had never seen my dog act like that before, and I haven't seen him act like that since.

Every other time he's met somebody new, he's acted like he goes way back with them and he's known them for his whole life.

I've always thought that dogs have better instincts than we do, and this has just proved it for me.

My friend and I are both pretty small girls.

We're both around 100 pounds, under five five, so it's very scary to think what could have happened had my dog not been with us.

We would have had no way to defend ourselves in such a secluded area.

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It's 2014.

I'm in my mid-twenties.

I had just moved back to the city after getting out of an abusive relationship for two years, and I got an apartment with my best friend and her boyfriend, Marie and Robbie.

Also, they're very sweet, loving, big loud, and intimidating-looking dog.

Bailey.

The goal was living it up, aka getting trashed every night.

not actually my best life, and what I really mean is spiraling.

I was a drunk mess more than half of the time, and I didn't make great decisions.

But I was so confined by my previous relationship and separated from my friends for so long that I decided that I would deal with my trauma by drinking it away, as well as casually dating and enjoying my time.

I worked as an assistant manager at a cosmetic store in our local mall.

My coworkers and I frequently made friends with people who worked within the mall.

We had a little network of people that we knew and chatted with.

So when my coworker told me that their friend who worked down at the coffee shop was interested in me, I said, give him my number.

I said he wasn't looking for anything serious, but he found me attractive and asked them about me.

So one night we meet up for a beer at a local brewery after work.

The connection was fine, at least the coffee guy and I had a friendship started.

And he was attractive and seemed fun.

We're both, what I thought, honest and upfront about what we're looking for.

We talk about how I had just moved back to the city and he knew the area that I lived in because he was going to college near my apartment.

We part ways at the end of the night and agree to hang out a few days later on a Wednesday, my day off.

We're going to make dinner at his apartment and watch a movie.

So we lightly text a bit between each other.

Again, it's fine, but I'm already getting a sense that he's a little bit more attached than I feel comfortable with.

Cut to Monday night.

I get home from work and almost immediately after I get home I get a text from the coffee guy.

Hey, are you home?

I'm feeling slightly creeped out, as he asked almost immediately after I walked through my door, but he doesn't know exactly where I live, right?

It's just a coincidence.

He starts to go on about how he just got out of class and had a terrible day between work and school, and he'd really like to see me.

He knows that my apartment isn't far from the campus.

Could he come over and just chill for a bit?

I say yes, but I do feel a bit weird about this whole interaction.

So I tell him my address and he gets there within five minutes.

Now I know I live close to the campus, but it's at least a couple of miles away.

So maybe he took an Uber.

He comes up and he's overjoyed to see me.

He's practically sitting on top of me on the couch and he's hugging me and the overall level of physical affection, it's just making me uncomfortable.

He talks about how much he's loving talking to me, how we should go to a movie later in the week.

He's getting very excited, which is a combination of endearing and, dude, this isn't what I'm looking for right now.

Suddenly, the dog bursts in and wedges his way between us.

Now, Bailey was incredibly protective of me, but I had never seen him like this, physically pushing the coffee guy away from me, sitting on top of my lap and wedging his head onto my shoulder and just staring.

Oh,

you have a dog, he says in this tone that's completely different from before, seemingly annoyed.

Yes, this is my roommate's dog.

Oh,

you didn't mention you had a roommate.

Even more annoyed.

I still get a vibe that he's almost mad at me.

Yeah, Marie and Robbie.

Do you fuck Robbie?

he says stone-faced.

What?

No,

that's my friend's boyfriend.

There is immediately an intensity in the room.

We had a weird moment of silence when suddenly Marie and Robbie walk through the back door.

I'm gonna go, he says.

He seems weirdly angry, but after just getting out of an abusive relationship, I don't want to push the issue.

When it comes to weirdly quiet, upset men, I just freeze.

I immediately feel strangely uncomfortable, and like I'm really not sure if I want to see him again.

The interaction with Bailey, it was just bizarre.

Now, I could stop the story right here and talk about how I learned my lesson about the creepy, possessive Maul Barista.

But, like I said, I didn't make good decisions at this time of my life.

I still went over on Wednesday.

Still got weird vibes, but didn't feel strong enough to speak for myself at this point.

We hung out maybe two more times, but it continued to get wildly uncomfortable.

He made comments about how I should meet his family, and when we bumped into a friend of his, he called me the one while squeezing my shoulder.

We were laying down watching a movie, and he says,

we should do this the rest of our lives.

He seemed sweet, but it wasn't what I was looking for, and something was intense and just felt off.

I noticed a few odd moments, like when he asked me about how many men I've slept with, or if there are other guys that measured up to him.

I'd find him peering over my shoulder when I would get a text message and suddenly get jealous of anyone who I was talking to.

He also had a bit of a temper.

When I left his apartment, I knew.

that we would have a conversation and I wasn't going to be seeing him again.

So we did.

And he didn't take it well.

He replied, but we have a real connection.

I love you.

And out of nowhere, oh, what the fuck, bitch, really?

I wasn't about to get into something abusive like this again.

We had only hung out maybe three or four times.

And now

here is where the story really begins.

Coffee Guy continues to text me.

I either tell him, no, I'm sorry, or I just completely ignore him.

So one Saturday night, he's texting me, asking if we can meet up and talk, and I tell him no.

I'm just not that interested.

I'm sorry.

I wish you the best.

I go out with three or four of my friends from work, and we're sitting in a booth in the basement at the same brewery he and I had originally gone to.

We're talking and bullshitting, and they're asking me about the whole situation with Coffee Guy, and if he was still texting me.

We giggle about him for a minute, make a few jokes about how I'd never want to meet him in a dark alley, and move on.

My friend Danielle gets up to grab another round for everyone at the table, takes two steps, immediately freezes, then sits back down.

He's sitting right behind you, she says to me quietly.

What?

Who?

I exclaim, confused.

That fucking coffee guy.

He looked me dead in the eye as soon as I stood up.

He had to have heard our conversation.

I,

now feeling scared but bold with my friends with me, and having some liquid courage, loudly exclaim, Fuck it.

Let him say something to me.

He wouldn't be so bold to actually talk to me here, would he?

Did he follow me from the mall?

I try to brush it off, but have an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach.

A few minutes pass, and he comes over to the table.

So this is where you've been hiding, he exclaims.

I've been texting you all day.

What, did you lose your phone?

Without even having a chance to get my words out, my friend stands up and exclaims, You're fucking creeping her out, dude.

Back off.

We all get up and leave.

He tries to grab my arm as I walk away.

We need to have a conversation, he says, with much more anger in his voice this time.

I pull away, flip him off, and head up the stairs and out of the bar.

We then decide to head off to one of our other watering holes.

The night is young, and he's already told me that he doesn't go to those bars because they're too seedy.

So I feel safe knowing I realistically won't bump into him there.

So we head off to bar number two.

It's about a 25-minute walk.

We're all just laughing about the bizarre incident with Coffee Guy.

We hang out out back, and two of my friends go inside to grab a beer.

And about two minutes later, come barreling outside, again with that look of what the actual fuck on their face.

Coffee Guy just walked in, they said.

What?

Let's go before he sees you.

Maybe it was coincidence?

No, he had to have followed me here.

He's already said he doesn't go to these bars.

I don't think he saw me, But he saw my friends.

And that was enough for the fear to rush over me.

Also, I'm buzzed.

It's barely past midnight, and the bars are still open for another two more hours.

And no one was going to stop me from drinking.

So we run off to the Scurvy Dog, my favorite bar, thinking, I've got to be safe there.

We get to Scurvy, and everything seems fine.

I'm hanging out with my friends playing pool and popping in and out of the bar between smoking and drinking.

My group of girlfriends had gone out and slowly start to head home, asking if I want to go with them.

But I, again, am too stubborn and idiotic to miss out on last call.

I know the majority of people here.

I feel safe.

I'm thinking that someone would have to be a fucking idiot to come here and try something with me.

Around 10 minutes before the bar is about to close, I'm hanging out.

with an acquaintance, chatting in the corner when someone spins me around.

It's Coffee Guy.

We need need to have a conversation, he said, looking at me with anger radiating through his body.

His face was bright red.

I freeze.

What the fuck are you doing here?

Did you fucking follow me?

He slowly guides me outside.

I'm afraid I can't speak.

Every memory of my ex is flowing through my brain and I'm terrified that he's going to hit me.

Or worse.

He pulls me into the side alley of the bar and starts talking to me, begging me and pleading that I see him again.

To give him another chance.

Initially I say, no, absolutely not.

And at least attempt to stand my ground, but I realize he's getting angrier.

And the bar is let out.

But no one knows we're standing here.

The music is so loud.

So if I try to scream, No one would hear me.

He takes my phone.

He shows me my fucking location is shared with him and is turned on on Snapchat.

He told me he did it for my safety.

Fucking whore.

What, are you fucking some other guy?

Is that it?

Am I not good enough for you?

I'm attempting to light a cigarette and he's ripping them out of my mouth and smashing them on the ground, but then immediately crying and apologizing.

It's 2.30.

We've been arguing for over 40 minutes in an alleyway, and no one is left in the bar.

I decide I'm going to craft a plan that will appease him enough for now.

Get me home safely and I'll deal with it tomorrow.

Yeah,

okay, I'm sorry.

I was wrong.

I'm sorry, but I need to go home, I said.

It's near three o'clock in the morning.

It's the middle of December in New England.

There's no one out.

He gets excited.

Come back to my place.

I lie.

No, I have work early in the morning, and I need to change.

He starts starts to wrap his arm around me.

I'm terrified.

I really need to pretend like everything is fine for my own safety in this moment.

He begins begging and pleading with me, but I decide at least in this moment, I'm going to put my foot down because at least going home should be a reasonable request.

I'll come with you, he says.

I'm fumbling with my freezing fingers in the cold to try and get an Uber.

No, no, no.

My My roommates don't like it when I have guys stay over that they don't know.

25 agonizing minutes later, the Uber shows up.

We agree I'm going home and he can't stay over, so I get in the Uber and I feel like Cinderella stepping into a fucking pumpkin carriage, escaping this obsessive, crazy barista.

He jumps into the Uber.

What are you doing?

I just want to make sure you get home safe.

He grabs my leg, grips it hard.

We sit in silence for the ride, except for me exclaiming every few minutes, I don't know why you got in the car.

You can't stay over.

We pull up to the apartment.

How the fuck am I going to pull this off?

He gets out.

I get out.

Okay, so bye.

What?

Do you have another fucking guy coming over?

He's infuriated.

He's grabbing my wrists, telling me he will come inside.

All I can think about is how the fuck did I end up here.

My friend hooked me up for a casual hookup buddy, and now he's screaming at me in front of my apartment at 4 a.m.

and I'm convinced something terrible is about to happen.

That's when Bailey starts barking and smashing into the window loudly.

Even I jump.

He's completely losing it like I've never seen before.

He knows I'm in trouble.

This is why he got weird when he realized I had a dog.

My apartment lights turn on and I can see Robbie's silhouette standing in the window trying to calm Bailey down.

I have to go.

The dog's upset.

He can see me.

I rip away, suddenly refilled with courage that I had earlier in the evening.

You're just going to make me fucking walk home now?

What the fuck?

Fuck you.

He starts coming after me.

But Robbie at this point had realized I'm outside and opened the door for me.

Coffee Guy immediately stops when he sees Robbie.

The next day, Robbie called the guy and told him if he ever came near me again, he'd fucking kill him.

I had mall security walk me in and out of the mall every day, and shortly after he got transferred to a new coffee shop across town.

For a long time, I dealt with a lot of guilt and confusion over the situation.

I know I didn't lead him on, but to go from one abusive relationship to an abusive hookup really threw me for a loop.

Now I'm sober, married, a mom, and living 1,200 miles away, but just in case he didn't get the picture the first time, Coffee Guy Let's Not Meet ever again.com your extended version of this week's episode.

If you'd like to get access, head over to patreon.com forward slash let's not meet podcast to sign up and support the show today.

You'll get access to ad-free versions of all of our episodes, all at a higher bit rate, plus bonus content with stories you won't hear anywhere else released every single week.

Again, that's patreon.com forward slash let's not meet podcast.

This week you have heard My Rescue Dog Protected Me and My Son by The Devil's Duplicate, Home Alone with My Old Dog by Mars 1317.

My Dog Sensed Something About My Daughter's Friend by The Real Mouse.

Grocery Store Creep Meets My Guard Dog by Linda's Burgers.

Dog Days by Queen Super.

My Dog Is Our Hero by PJR Dolans.

And finally, Creepy Coffee Guy and My Savior Dog by M.

All of the stories you've heard this week were narrated and produced with the permission of their respective authors.

Let's Not Meet, a true horror podcast, is not associated with Reddit or any of the message boards online.

Send your stories in to Let's Not Meet Stories if you'd like to hear them on the show.

Don't forget to check out the new episodes of my other podcasts, like Odd Trails, My True Paranormal Podcast, Cryptic Encounters, and the Old Time Radio Cast, all at crypticcountypodcasts.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

I'll see you all next week.

Everybody, stay safe.

This happened in the fall of 2023.

I'm an aspiring author, and I live in a busy city.

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