Monday, May 01, 2006

You are Worth Protecting!

A few weeks ago, I was driving to an audition that was outside of town. I stopped to fill my car up with gas, and when I pulled up to the pump, I noticed that three men were looking in the trunk of the car in front of me. The trunk was filled with boxes of perfume. Immediately, red flags were waving in my mind. Instinctively, I knew that something was fishy. My tank was on empty, and I didn't see another gas station in sight, so I decided to pump gas. It was broad daylight, and there was enought foot traffic going in an out to the place, that I felt like I would be safe.

I opened the door of my car, and no sooner had I stepped out and one of the men walked up to me holding one of the perfumes. He asked if I would like to try a sample of the perfume, and he got too far into my space. Immediately, some training kicked in from an IMPACT self-defense course that I took. I put my hands up in front of me like two stop signs and in an firm, loud voice, I said, "No, thank you. I'm not interested." He persisted, "It's Dolce and Gabbana". "No, thank you!", I said, "I'm not interested!". His body language changed. He slunk back, and (Thank You, God!) walked away. He may have been harmless, but that's not the point. The point is that he made me feel uncomfortable, he got too close to me, and he didn't listen to my "no" the first time.

I felt thankful for God's protection and for the self-defense training I had that taught me how to set verbal and physical boundaries in situations like that. If you live in a place where an IMPACT class is offered, I highly recommend it! It is one of the most empowering experiences I have had in my life.

Here are some links for IMPACT classes in the SF Bay Area, Houston, and New York. If you live elsewhere, just do a google search for "IMPACT self defense".

7 comments:

Autumn's Mom said...

Not fun. You handled it so well :) Thanks for the info!

The Cliff said...

I'm glad too that you handled it so well...but just think...you could have gotten some Knock Off perfume for really cheap...it may have even been so fake that it changed your skin color!!

Jenn said...

Yea, I read those emails about how there could be some kind of drug in the bottles that knock you out. How scary! I've thought about takin a class....I'm definitely sending my daughter to something when she gets older.

Fork said...

I think this story would have been better if you pulled a Lara Croft and kicked their smuggling butts.

But knocking someone back with the force of your two stop-sign hands is okay too.

J said...

Reminds me of 90210...did you watch that show? After Brenda got robbed at the Peach Pitt, and she took a class...she said, "NO! NO! NO!" while beating the person up. Glad you didn't have to get to that point.

I had a guy on the street get real close and try to sell me a diamond ring once...maybe real (stolen, surely), maybe not. Either way, I wasn't interested, but at least he just left and I didn't have to do anything.

Scary what the other comment said about the stuff knocking people out...I wonder if that's true, or just an urban legend? Scary.

Tracy said...

My mom actually sent me that e-mail about the perfume/ether scheme after I had the encounter at the gas station. I couldn't believe how similar the scenario was (save the ether). I looked it up online, and it said that it was just an urban legend. Still, I'm glad the guy went away. Maybe he was just trying to sell me some perfume, but the whole situation felt so weird/uncomfortable. And like I said in the post, you gotta listen to your instincts!

D.S. White said...

Good for you! Usually if you feel a situation's not right... it usually isn't