Self-defense is one of the things that I have thought about, especially since I live alone with my cat. I had to call security a few times. One of those times was when I heard some shouting. I opened the door and saw my neighbor's son with a large knife. He told me that he had to scare off some potheads because they were harassing his father, my neighbor.
I've had a few times where I had to call 911 at my old apartment. I never let any of those creeps that I ran into in my apartment, but it was still pretty stupid that I answered the door for them. I am glad that I moved since the only thing I had protecting me was a screen and a sliding glass door.
One of those creeps was a black guy, he came pounding at my door at like two in the morning. He said he needed medications for his wife since she was having a seizure and he couldn't afford the medication or some BS like that. Thinking back on it, he should have taken her to the emergency room, which was just across the street from my apartment complex. I gave him some dollars and he said he would pay me back, which he never did.
Another time was with a Hispanic woman. One of the neighbors that I talked to following this event the day after said that his daughter heard some woman scream. From what my neighbor and I piece together, it was probably the woman. She, from what I heard was fighting with her boyfriend. She got away, and showed up at my apartment. I answered the door and she demanded water. I gave her one of my cups of water, she walked off.
And, the last one had to deal with some bum that showed up at my door at four thirty in the morning. He wanted to be let in and practically scared me. I stayed in my bedroom and called 911 on my cell phone. The police came and all they could do was escort the bum off the complex.
Oh, and I almost forgot. There were some other unsavory encounters that I had, but they weren't at the apartment that I was living in. I had a roommate back in those other apartments, which both happened to be downstairs. The apartment that I was living in with those creeps to decide to visit happened to be on the second floor. Anyways, the most startling out of all of them had to deal with some Hispanic male.
He said that he was watching an American football game with a friend that had invited him over to our apartment complex. I am not sure what apartment was the friend's of this guy. Anyways, he had gotten into a brawl with the friend, who punched him pretty bad. He left the friend's apartment and wandered over to mine and my roommate's apartment. My roommate was an elderly woman that had her two-year-old granddaughter visiting. Thankfully, the granddaughter left before this bloodied guy showed up.
I heard pounding at the door and opened it wide open, pretty stupid of me. My roommate, her friend and I were startled to see this guy standing at our door. He was covered in blood. My roommate shut the door, lectured me on why I did this, and kept the window briefly open while one of us called 911. The guy told us the story and the ambulance showed up. We called the maintenance the next day. I showed the landlady the blood stain left by the bloodied bum and she got it cleaned up.
I honestly worry about my safety, especially since I have a cat to take care of. I have called security a few times, but I really don't trust myself with a gun. I have thought about taking karate, but nothing has came of it. I have also thought of getting pepper spray and I mostly stopped going out at night. I have heard that if I get attacked that I should use my keys as weapon and scream very loudly, so that somebody could hear me.
I also had something happen at Walmart a few years back. It was night, I was putting away a shopping cart and I saw this large maroon pickup truck. There was this black guy giving me funny faces. I got scared and ran back to my caregiver, who was thankfully parked close by. I told her about the guy's and I ended up telling security at a close by Dollar Tree. Maybe, I was overreacting. I think there was another guy in the driver's seat.