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So if you've ever been on some sort of public transport, ie bus or a train, with a rest stop, you know the anxiety of being accidentally left behind.
One doesn't normally expect someone close to them to forget about them, but then again, nothing is impossible.
This woman's story will have you wary of your significant others forgetting you in the middle of nowhere.
The reddit post by u/dyslexiyeah is a stressful read.
Prepare yourself.
It all started with a perfectly normal road trip need: having to pee.
"Last summer. We're on a road trip from New Mexico to Mexico. We have a Honda Element converted for living in, so I crawl in the back to nap while he's driving. He stops at a gas station in the desert of Arizona and while he's pumping, I get out to use the bathroom."
When she got out of the bathroom, she noticed he wasn't there.
"Come back out, don't see him, and walk around the parking lot to have a look. I jokingly think to myself that maybe he drove off not knowing that i got out to use the restroom, but brush that off. I sit on a bench outside twiddling my thumbs, realizing this may now actually be the case. I reach for my phone to call him, but of course my phone is in the car."
Already, the nightmare fuel has started.
"This is still a nightmare for me as an adult."
"I used to visit my mother's family in Poland with her. We'd be traveling by bus and my mother would get off at every stop we made to smoke and use the toilet. I was always so worried she wouldn't come back in time and I'd have no means to tell the bus driver because I don't speak Polish..."
"Yeah my parents did that to me when I was 6. No cell phones and I had no idea where we were supposed to be going."
"This used to happen to me as a kid all the time but I used to carry a book with me literally everywhere so I would just find somewhere to sit and read until my mum picked me up. It happened once at a mall when I forgot to bring a book and that intense boredom was the worst I've ever felt at being left behind"
And then the worst part was that when she sought help, others turned her away.
"I go back inside to ask the cashier to use their phone, but she says they don't have one. Obviously they do, but whatever. So I start asking random people in the store to use their phone, which makes people visibly uncomfortable because we're in the middle of nowhere and they think I'll steal it I guess. I go back outside and continue asking strangers for their phone."
"Crazy how the store managed to call 911 without a phone! Must be magic"
"I honestly don't know why small businesses in the US are such jerks about this, what are you going to do with their phone? You are standing right there, with them, with you in full view at all times at the counter."
"I would have liked it when after the police arrived, she would have opened the store doors and screamed in "no phone, huh?"
Finally, she managed to get a hold of a phone, but to no avail:
"I realize I don't know my boyfriends number by heart so I just call my phone repeatedly, hoping he'll answer. He doesn't. I use one person's phone to log into my facebook to find my boyfriend's number, but alas, his phone is dead when I call."
And then the situation got desperate:
"I resort to explaining to everyone whose phone I ask to use my situation. Some don't believe me, others feel really bad, and one man offered to buy me a hotel room for the night in the next town over thinking that my boyfriend left me on purpose and I was just being modest. It's been about 2 hours now. The store clerks through the windows have been looking at me suspiciously for a while, I'm still sitting on this bench in the desert, and have no idea what to do and start bawling my eyes out."
The situation goes from bad to worse when the cops show up:
"A cop car pulls up and the officer comes to me and lets me know the store clerks called them because I've been loitering, haggling people for phones outside of their store and crying. I explain my situation and she's as confused and sympathetic as all the other people. She tells me I can't stay there so she can either take me to a truck rest stop in the town over or go to the police station. I ask her to take me to the rest stop, although she's not convinced that my boyfriend legitimately left me there on accident."
"Lesson learned, always keep your phone on you, at least."
"I think it's best to just tell the person you're with "hey I'm going <to the bathroom"
"I am really not sure that is the lesson here. I think the lesson is for the business and people to trust others in need."
"There used to be a time before cell phones.... So things like this would happen, and businesses would let you use a phone if you needed one."
"And also not call the cops on you for „loitering" which I think is just a thing in the US."
But finally, the happy ending shows up.
"We're driving down the highway when on her radio another cop says he's at the gas station and there's a guy there looking for his girlfriend. I just crack up and she does too, flips the car around and takes me back. And there my boyfriend is standing outside of his car, banging on the windows and nearly crying because he couldn't believe he'd actually done that."
Thank goodness.
And it turns out that our mysterious missing boyfriend was just as much a victim of misunderstanding as our protagonist.
"He said he was passing some really cool scenery far into the drive and went to wake me up to see too when he realized I wasn't in the car, flipped it around and drove faster than he's ever driven in his life to get back to the gas station. And that he wondered why so many people kept calling me, but didn't feel comfortable answering my phone. He thought for sure that was the end of our relationship and the trip was ruined."
But thankfully, all was well.
"Great boyfriend you have there."
"this isn't sarcasm, this was meant genuinely because the boyfriend wanted to wake up OP to see the beautiful scenery, realizes what happened, drives faster than ever back to the gas station, CRYING."
"And didn't want to answer her phone because he respected her privacy."
"That must have been scary as heck, but makes for a great conversation starter once the PTSD wears off"
"I can't believe so many people didn't believe you. That's ridiculous..."
And we speak for all readers when we say, "phew!"
Thankfully the boyfriend and OP seem to be going strong to this day.
For small business owners reading this...reconsider letting customers use your phone! Especially if accompanied by CRYING!
The movie Clerks is available here.
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