Paranoid? Grumpy wife!

[trlcavscout]

So my wife got on my case tonight about some funny driving habits. I guess with all the stuff going on anymore I am turning into a paranoid old fart.

So after going out to dinner (pinched one off at the restaurant but didnt forget the smoke wagon on crapper), went to the mall then I hit the ATM because I had to transfer a chunk of cash from checking to savings. After driving the 20 minutes or so back to my neighborhood I noticed a car following me so I made a quick turn around the block and took a scenic route around the neighborhood until I felt better. She immediately started giving me the third degree even after I explained that "we just left an ATM and a car I dont recognize has been following me for at least 10 minutes that i noticed". But all I thought about is once you pull into the drive way you are blocked in and a sitting duck with the whole family in the car and I can remember at least 3 incidents in the last few years of people being ambushed in front of their house, and it didnt work out very well for them. Maybe I watch to much news?

[Irving]

Have her read this article, then tell her to shut up about your driving....or ELSE!

http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2011/...to-pleasanton/

[rondog]

Man, the things women will bitch about when you're just trying to protect the family and keep everyone safe. I feel your pain. Try talking to mine sometime about situational awareness, opening the door to strangers, etc.

[HBARleatherneck]

delete

[Mtn.man]

It only gets better with time, or worse how ever you percieve it.
Mine is on me all the time about everything, even though she can't remember where she put her keys, but that is my fault too.

[theGinsue]

Yeah, I have cars follow me into and through my neighborhoob fairly often and I WILL NOT go straight to me home until I know they are well away from me before then. In most of the cases it's been a resident a few blocks away that pulls into their driveway, but in some of the cases the people never seem to find their "home". In those cases I generally find a way to follow them until they leave the neighborhood.

I have standing directions with my wife and kids to call me if they think they are being followed and to lead the followers into a neighborhood close to ours. With my big F250 I can get in behind the followers and on the couple of occasions I've had to get involved I've scared the sh!t out of a bunch of kids thinking it was fun to follow someone (no weapons were ever presented). Their idea of fun changed once they realized that the game had turned on them.

I've also ensured my family knows where the local police precincts around town are located. BG's rarely follow you into the parking lot of a police precinct.

My wife used to always accuse me of being paranoid, but she's seen me proven correct too many times now. She's finally starting to see that once my "spidey sense" tingles, something bad is usually going on.

There are a lot of very bad people out there and there are even more just plain dumba$$es that get off on trying to intimidate folks while they are behind the wheel.

[KevDen2005]

So my wife got on my case tonight about some funny driving habits. I guess with all the stuff going on anymore I am turning into a paranoid old fart.

So after going out to dinner (pinched one off at the restaurant but didnt forget the smoke wagon on crapper), went to the mall then I hit the ATM because I had to transfer a chunk of cash from checking to savings. After driving the 20 minutes or so back to my neighborhood I noticed a car following me so I made a quick turn around the block and took a scenic route around the neighborhood until I felt better. She immediately started giving me the third degree even after I explained that "we just left an ATM and a car I dont recognize has been following me for at least 10 minutes that i noticed". But all I thought about is once you pull into the drive way you are blocked in and a sitting duck with the whole family in the car and I can remember at least 3 incidents in the last few years of people being ambushed in front of their house, and it didnt work out very well for them. Maybe I watch to much news?

Why are you listening to a woman?!!

Just kidding, but in all seriousness, I have given lots of women advice similar to what you did while I was at work. They told me they thought they were being followed, and told me they were trying to get home as quickly as they could. I explained several reasons why this would be bad, not to mention none of them armed, all of them had small children with them.

[StagLefty]

The only good advice I get anymore about my surroundings are the voices in my head. They haven't let me down yet.

[TFOGGER]

My wife is utterly oblivious, condition white, most of the time. She wonders how I can miss something like a new doodad on the coffee table, or that she moved some furniture around the living room, but then asks me "When did someone move into XXX house down the street?". I guess I'm just attuned to that which matters, not the trivial bullshit that happens when she's in the mood to screw with interior decorating. I make note of vehicles that belong on our street(cul de sac), and she's utterly amazed that I know what the plate numbers are on vehicles that "don't belong"...

[gnihcraes]

Original Post: Yep, have done the same thing many times on the way home after dark, wife usually doesn't say anything, but probably thinks I'm nuts. Better safe than sorry.

I'm usually looking around at everything when driving by the house, windows, doors, the other cars, just to have One Up on anything or anyone that is hiding before I park in the driveway.