TexasCHLforum.com

I am new to the forum and recently completed the CHL course. One of the things my CHL really stressed was to be very observant to your surroundings. Last week I took my truck to the car wash, washed it and moved it to the area where you can dry and vacuum it. For whatever reason, an old beat up Lexus caught my attention when it pulled into the stall I had just vacated. Several minutes went by and I noticed the driver was just sitting in the car staring in my direction and had not begun to wash his car. I proceeded to dry my truck but was just not comfortable turning my back towards that Lexus. I even altered the way I dried the truck so that the driver of the car was always in front of me. Normally I do everything on the truck right there, windows, tires, vacuum, black trim the works. Not on this day, I felt the best thing to do was to get out of there and put distance between me and what could have become a bad situation.

Maybe I was paranoid but I felt that even with a gun, I was better off putting a potential situation behind me rather than waiting around and seeing what "might" happen.

Thoughts?

never disagree with a gut feeling, you did the right thing

When your "spidey sense" tells you to boogie out of there, it's best to do it.

Car washes are excellent locations for carjackings and other robberies. To begin with, they usually are not in the most high-rent locations. They are somewhat shielded from street view. People going back and forth between vehicles do not grab attention there. Most customers leave their keys in the ignition when they get out of the vehicle.

I have often thought that vacuuming the car in one of these places is an extremely vulnerable position. I bought a shop vac years ago that I could use at home.

OTOH, the person that you saw may just have been there for a drug deal, which is another common "off-label" use for car washes.

- Jim

seamusTX wrote:When your "spidey sense" tells you to boogie out of there, it's best to do it.

Car washes are excellent locations for carjackings and other robberies. To begin with, they usually are not in the most high-rent locations. They are somewhat shielded from street view. People going back and forth between vehicles do not grab attention there. Most customers leave their keys in the ignition when they get out of the vehicle.

I have often thought that vacuuming the car in one of these places is an extremely vulnerable position. I bought a shop vac years ago that I could use at home.

OTOH, the person that you saw may just have been there for a drug deal, which is another common "off-label" use for car washes.

- Jim

Well put,

Awareness is your first defense, avoidance your first tactic. Job well done.

with all of the above. The best thing you did was to not look like an easy target, ie...you kept your eyes on him and didn't turn your back. Bad guys will usually move on to a more oblivious target.

You did good. Awareness is your best first defense against people who seek to do bad things.

...on the other hand, maybe he was leary of you, thinking you were a threat and was just waiting for you to leave.

2up1down wrote:Awareness is your first defense, avoidance your first tactic.

Well stated (probably signature line worthy)

A-R wrote:

2up1down wrote:Awareness is your first defense, avoidance your first tactic.

Well stated (probably signature line worthy)

Thanks, it's a line I use with my students. It just fell out one day and I've kept it around.

When I was in college I kept odd hours (still do, really), and that led to a lot of really late-night (like past midnight) trips to the ATM, which was in a perfectly safe part of town. One night, I pulled into the lot around maybe 11pm or so, and my spidey sense just lit up. I sat there in my car, blocking the entrance to the lot, for probably ten minutes while I was looking for the source of my discomfort, before backing out on the street and going home. I never did figure out what was bothering me. On the way home I made a "no ATMs after 10pm rule", which has turned out to be more of a "no ATMs after dark" rule (although I will make an exception if it's a drive-through ATM in a well-light area and nobody else is nearby).

Anyway, that's the only time I can recall getting "that feeling". There have been several times when I'll look around and realize that I'm not in the best position, but not even those thuggish-looking guys who were paying a bit too much attention to me while I was loading out of a club in Deep Ellum* made me feel as uncomfortable as I was in that "empty" lot.

*And that incident led to a "no more gigs in Deep Ellum" rule. Fortunately, that one hasn't cost me any work because all the bands I've worked with arrived at the same conclusion not long after.

A-R wrote:

2up1down wrote:Awareness is your first defense, avoidance your first tactic.

Well stated (probably signature line worthy)

Yeah, I'm stealing that one.

Maybe I was paranoid...

Not IMO...

You maintained awareness of your environment, identified abnormal behavior, and executed a course of action based on your assessment. Nothing wrong with that at all, and if more people did that, criminals would have a much more difficult time finding victims.

I was better off putting a potential situation behind me rather than waiting around and seeing what "might" happen.

Absolutely.

Car Wash Stories
I'm never going to one of those self service car washes again. Its bucket and hose from now on for me.

Good job with your situational awareness... Spider sense is there for a reason.

The other night (about 2330) I got called in to work ... And had an weird experience as I was pulling up to a red light near the Medical Center in downtown Houston. (the area is notorious for many homeless and substance abusing upstanding individuals) Approaching the red light I noted a disheveled man and a very skinny woman on the sidewalk to my left. She was nervously looking around and he was standing there intently watching me pull up in my wife's Saab convertible. As I slowed and came to a stop at the light I realized (at this point) I was the only car stopped at that intersection. I then watched him in my side mirror look around multiple times and then step out into the street at my 7 o'clock. He then continued to act erratic (looking around and walking back and forth in the street about 25yds behind my car) as he looked around he then quickly started to close the distance to the rear of the car. He then took a few more steps toward me then walked away back toward the woman... they talked about something and then he then turned back toward me and walked straight toward my car. By this time I had already unbuckled my seatbelt and pulled up my shirt to allow easier access to my weapon should his erratic behavior not be just that erratic... As he neared my 8 o'clock and about 50' to the left I rolled the window down about 3" and yelled "Get the heck away from my car!" This stopped him in his tracks and startled him enough that by this time the light had turned green and I went on my merry way.

I don't think he had any idea how close he came to having a very bad day if he had chose to make a very bad decision. The only bonus was he was within walking distance the Ben Taub ER should he decide to approach another driver who was also armed.

I drive a vette convertible and the top is almost always down (unless in the heat of mid-day or rain or snow)....I try to be especially extra vigilant at stop lights/stop signs....always alert/scanning and have a plan.

This is what the "Gift of Fear" is about - folks have learned to ignore their "Spidey Senses" instead of embrace them. Good read even though I didn't agree with everything the author had to say about guns and people carrying them.

Teamless wrote:never disagree with a gut feeling, you did the right thing