# Running into people in odd places **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 21, 2003, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-into-people-in-odd-places/163199 "2003-03-21T20:24:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-into-people-in-odd-places/163199/1 "2003-03-21T20:24:13Z")
Ah, the world, she is such a small place. Regale us with stories of running into people you know in weird places. I did my junior year of college in Jerusalem. Believe it or not, Jerusalem is a focal point for world Jewry! I ran into a girl I took Hebrew with in Santa Cruz, California, in a bookstore. I ran into the director of Santa Cruz Hillel downtown. The weirdest one was when I was sitting at a bus stop and the girl sitting next to me, who I would have sworn I had never seen before, turned to me and said, “Didn’t you go to UC Santa Cruz?” Completely freaked me out. Come to find out that we’d been in an anthropology class together the year before, ten thousand miles away. I ran into her several times again throughout the year. My roommate went to a yeshiva high school in New Jersey, and a number of her classmates were at yeshivot in Jerusalem. We ran into them all the time - in a whispered aside, she once pointed out the guy she went to prom with when she spotted him in the lobby of the movie theater. In February of that year, a couple friends and I went to Italy for a week. We ran into a girl from our small international school on a streetcorner in Rome! We ran into her again the next day, at the Vatican. The kicker is, when I related that story to a friend in Jerusalem, he told me that on that same break, he’d gone to France, and he ran into a couple other of our classmates in the Louvre. I had to ask a guard for _directions to the exit_ in the Louvre. Running into someone you go to school with in another country in that maze is almost unbelievable to me. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-into-people-in-odd-places/163199/2 "2003-03-21T20:27:25Z")
Goddammit, this is the second time I’ve done this in a month. Can I get a mod to move this to MPSIMS please? Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-into-people-in-odd-places/163199/3 "2003-03-21T20:30:15Z")
I ran into my cousin in the bathroom of a CnW bar in Aspen, CO. Actually, I ran into her friend who told me she was out watching the band. Small freakin’ world, eh? ---
**Author:** ![Amp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Amp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amp)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-into-people-in-odd-places/163199/4 "2003-03-21T20:32:34Z")
I ran into my old church’s minister in the adult bookstore. Reeeeeeaaally awkward moment. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-into-people-in-odd-places/163199/5 "2003-03-21T20:34:05Z")
Let’s see. My two Philly neighbors (who lived within 1 block of eachother but never met) met on an obscure beach in Italy…started talking and realized they lived around the corner from each other all the way back in Philadelphia, PA. That was about 15 years ago, and they’ve been married about five years now. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-into-people-in-odd-places/163199/6 "2003-03-21T20:37:21Z")
I once ran into my orthodontist on the streets of San Francisco, where he and I just happened to be vacationing at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-into-people-in-odd-places/163199/7 "2003-03-21T20:44:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Amp \* > \*\*I ran into my old church’s minister in the adult bookstore. Reeeeeeaaally awkward moment. \*\* I love it! What’d you say? Oh heck, what’s _he_ say? ---
**Author:** ![Amp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Amp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amp)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-into-people-in-odd-places/163199/8 "2003-03-21T20:48:53Z")
Nothing much, we made eye contact for about 1 second then he turned away. It really wasn’t anything to me, he seemed to get really beet red and tried for a duck and cover but it was to late, I had already saw him. My mom was still going to the church but I didn’t want to tell her the story. It would have led to a whole bunch of questions from her that I would rather not answer. ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-into-people-in-odd-places/163199/9 "2003-03-21T20:49:36Z")
Once when I was in Paris (In January, mind you, not exactly tourist season) I went into a little cafe and ran into a high school counselor I knew from North Carolina. Later, on that same trip, I ran into a high school student I knew from North Carolina (different town, though). Freaky. After living here in Michigan a few years, I was on one of my trips to Chicago. I was on an escalator in Marshall Fields and right behind me was my ex-boyfriend from when I was back in VA. He didn’t know I’d moved; I didn’t know he’d moved. That was cool, as it allowed us to meet up for, um, reminiscing. ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-into-people-in-odd-places/163199/10 "2003-03-21T20:50:33Z")
I was waiting to use the bathroom at a bar in New Orleans and got talking to a guy in line. It turns out he was also from the Detroit area, and we had been at the same party a week earlier. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-into-people-in-odd-places/163199/11 "2003-03-22T00:39:25Z")
I ran into my sister on a bus on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Niether of us lived in Chicago (or the state of Illinois for that matter) or knew the other was in the city. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-into-people-in-odd-places/163199/12 "2003-03-22T04:52:04Z")
Not me, but friends, a married couple. They met in college in Iowa, and didn’t realize until well into their relationship that they’d not only gone to high school together, but had been photographed together in the school yearbook. The high school was in Illinois. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-into-people-in-odd-places/163199/13 "2003-03-22T05:02:25Z")
I grew up in an extremely small town in Kentucky. While vacationing with my parents, we spotted a couple from town on the Isle of Palms, off Charleston, South Carolina. I couldn’t get over that we’d picked not only the same spot to vacation, but the same week. Our families weren’t friends and we never spoke to them, but like I say, it was a small town and you knew practically everyone. And then the next year? There they were. Again. ---
**Author:** ![ChrystinP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@ChrystinP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrystinP)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-into-people-in-odd-places/163199/14 "2003-03-22T08:01:33Z")
I was in Atlanta on business and none of my family knew I was in town. I found myself headed in the wrong direction and turned down a highway to turn around and saw my Mother waiting at the bus stop. This was several miles from her house. Naturally, I stopped and picked her up. ---
**Author:** ![jacksen9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@jacksen9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jacksen9)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-into-people-in-odd-places/163199/15 "2003-03-22T11:02:30Z")
I was on vacation in another state. I was making a call in a phone booth. Turned around and in the phone booth next to me was a friend from my youth. Odd. ---
**Author:** ![chula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a4c791/32.png) [@chula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chula)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-into-people-in-odd-places/163199/16 "2003-03-22T18:10:28Z")
I’ve had so many trippy ones I stopped being surprised. Here are some of the ones I can remember: [ul] [li]About two months after moving back to San Francisco from Greece, I was working in a bar, and one of my customers turned out to be a German guy who was a regular in my bar in Mykonos, Greece. Actually, I ran into several people in San Francisco who remembered me from Mykonos.[/li][li]Ran into some people in Berkeley who I had hung out with for weeks in a small town north of Barcelona, five years later.[/li][li]Ran into a Cuban I had met in Cuba at the United Nations four years later.[/li]Saw a high school friend at the running of the bulls in Pamplona.[/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-into-people-in-odd-places/163199/17 "2003-03-23T22:46:01Z")
Nothing in odd PLACES but a few odd circumstances… - Ran into aquaintance when she was shopping for bras and panties. - Ran into classmate when she was filling a birth contol perscription at the drug store. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-into-people-in-odd-places/163199/18 "2003-03-23T22:55:44Z")
One of my favorite stories, not mine: My husband has an ‘uncle’ of sorts who is from Germany. In the 60’s, he worked in Northern Australia in some mines. Ended up making friends with a Jewish guy from Israel. They played alot of cards together. The seven day war started and his friend, not knowing it was going to be so short, took off to fly home. This uncle, being a bit of a vagabond, eventually went back to germany. Years later, dunno, 10-15 years, This uncle decides to go Scubaing of one of the teeny tiney remotest island of Fiji or therabouts. The only way to get there is a series of small planes and eventually, a ferry boat. On that ferry boat, was his friend from Israel, going to scuba as well. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-into-people-in-odd-places/163199/19 "2003-03-23T23:42:57Z")
I’ve had a number of these. The most recent happened just before this last Christmas. I lived in Atlanta until August 2002, when I left my job and moved up here to start grad school. I stayed in touch with my old boss, and had plans to meet her for lunch when I was down in January for my friend’s wedding. Just before Christmas, the responsibility of picking up my brother and sister in law at the Atlanta airport fell to me. No problem. I drove Knoxville to Chattanooga, dropped off my stuff and headed south to get them. The flight was delayed so I was hanging out at the baggage check where their luggage would come. A couple stops and looks at the display of flight arival times. I glanced up right as they turned toward me and it was my former boss and her husband. Their daughter was coming on the same flight as my brother and his wife. Since the flight was delayed, we chatted for a while and got caught up. It ended up being nice because the rehearsal for my friend’s wedding was changed and I couldn’t have made lunch the day I thought I’d be able to. ---
**Author:** ![TheFunkySpaceCowboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9a28c/32.png) [@TheFunkySpaceCowboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheFunkySpaceCowboy)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2003, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-into-people-in-odd-places/163199/20 "2003-03-24T06:02:35Z")
Summer of 2000 I was taking a long road trip to celebrate finishing college and was bouncing around the east coast mostly staying in hostels along the way. As is so often the case in hostels I ended up hanging out with a largish group of fellow solo travelers from all of the country/world, including a Swiss fellow named James. He left DC a day or two before I did and I naturally never expected to see him again, we’d made no plans to meet elsewhere or anything like that. About a week later as I’m checking into the hostel in Savanna, Georgia guess who walks in right behind me: James! It was cool seeing a friendly face and we made plans to go out and do some drinking later. A girl from Germany ended up joining us at the bars that night and the three of ended up driving (she had a rental car) to New Orleans together the next day. When it was time to leave New Orleans James elected to head north to Memphis and I needed to head over to Florida to visit some family so we said goodbye once again, never expecting to see one another again. Well a week later after I’d finished visiting family I went to St. Augustine and guess who checked in on my second day there (and was my roommate)? James! It was so odd running into the same person by accident, over and over and over again on the same trip like that. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-into-people-in-odd-places/163199.md?page=2)