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Saturday, September 10, 2011

I'll Take "Psychotic Obsessive Nut Jobs" for $1000, Alex

This may shock you, but I've dealt with a fair amount of rejection over the years.  Actually gotten used to it, in fact.  To the point where if I'm not immediately rejected (politely or otherwise), I start waiting for the shoe to drop.

And then I read this article yesterday: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/09/08/earlyshow/main20103289.shtml

Go ahead and read it.  Google it for more details if you like.  I can wait.

This story is so bizarre that I'm not quite sure where to start.  I certainly enjoy reading weird news tales from around the world, but every so often I come across something where someone does something so completely removed from logic and reality that I have to marvel at it.  I usually give a woman two phone call and/or text message attempts for her to reply before moving on.  I figure that's fair for to her to call me back if she wants, as well as fair for me to move on in a timely fashion without going overboard. 

What could possibly have been going through this woman's mind to drive her to call this guy every 8 minutes over the course of an entire year?  Did she really think he'd actually answer the phone if she kept calling?  The creepiest part is that the woman had to sleep for at least a few hours every day, so she had to make up for that "lost time" when she was awake.  And how did she manage to get away with making all these phone calls while she was at work?

Then again, if I were the guy I would've blocked her number after about, oh, the 1137th phone call.  I'm not sure why such an option ever occurred to him, but at least he had enough evidence to show the courts the woman needed to be stopped.  I'd still argue after 1000 phone calls or so, he would have had more than enough evidence to show the courts this woman was nuts.

I once had a similar experience to this guy, though, so I can sympathize a bit.  Several years ago, I dated a woman who was a single mom.  She and I had worked together at the time, and she and her husband had split up before she had pursued me.  I was very uncertain about dating her because of all the red flags, but I still decided on going for it with her.

Shortly after we had started dating, her ex-husband got a hold of my cell number.  He called me a dozen or so times a day, but I never answered the phone.  One time he called from a private number, and when I had answered I immediately recognized his voice.  I hung up immediately and never answered his calls.  Fortunately my girlfriend at the time eventually got him to stop calling me, but he made things pretty miserable during the relationship.  I certainly could have had his number blocked or looked into some kind of legal action, but I never did. 

Either way, it's stories like this one that remind me of the kinds of crazies out there.  Fortunately I haven't had anything so extreme happen to me since that time, but I've kept a closer watch of red flags ever since then.

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