What Things Are You Very Cautious About?

EVERYONE PLEASE TAKE

NOTE!!!! These are some potentially life-saving tips! Thanks Katherine, good job!

Originally Posted by katspixiedust


Also, when Brendan was living in on-campus apartments last year I'd have a bit of a walk from his place to visitor parking (which was in a dirt lot right next to the woods) so when I'd have to walk to my car late at night I'd literally FORCE him to walk with me and then drive him the short distance back to his place. There was no way I was walking alone out there!
Along the same lines, if I have to walk pretty much anywhere by myself late at night I always have my cell phone open and to my face as if I'm on the phone. Not many people would want to attack someone who's already on the phone!

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This is kind of sad but I'm very cautious of people, it takes me a long time to fully trust someome.

I am extremely cautious about keeping my doors locked. At all times, even when we're home & it's a pretty sunny day. If the garage doors are up, I keep the pedestrian door leading to the house locked. My daughter knows why.

Hammie knows how to turn doorknobs --- the basement door is really light and he can do it. Also he can open the screen door. All they have to do is hook a claw the right way, lean to the left --- and boom! Out they go onto the deck. It's only happened ONCE and thankfully I was there. So it's locked!

I also drive with my doors on my car locked. One time while stuck in traffic on the way to work, a trucker came up to me and stuck his arm in through my sunroof; I was jamming to tunes so I didn't see him come up... he gave me his business card and said "if ya ain't married I'd like this dance!". Well after that I was spooked enough to drive with my doors locked, and when I'm in traffic? The sunroof stays closed to the point no one can get their arms through.

I'm also very cautious about candles... I LOVE CANDLES and have like 25 or so in each room of my house. I love the candlelight & the smell so they are always burning. However; last Autumn I had one burning in the garden window; the cats had always avoided the candles, never went near them - I usually keep them up where the cats cannot knock them off or get near them? But this time, Snickers got up there and with his hugely fluffy tail --- put his tail into the candle! Whoa! I was so scared!!!! He went running, it burnt off some of his tail fur... and the house stunk kinda bad ... burnt hair.

So I'm extra cautious with my candles now.

Another thing about driving... WEARING A SEATBELT. I will NOT drive without my seatbelt. I knocked my head bout 2 yrs ago and wasn't wearing a seatbelt. And, when I have passengers? I don't put it in 1st til they have their belt on. My daughter knows, but sometimes I'm sort of amazed when adult passengers get into my car and don't buckle up. So I read them the riot act. And we don't hit "go" til they're belted.

The one thing I'm not cautious about is talking to people or making eye contact... I always say HI and HOW ARE YA to strangers, I read somewhere that if you make eye contact and talk to the person, then it lets them know that YOU know they are there... so they can't sneak up on ya. I walk a whole lot around the city I work in and get harassed at times, and I make it a point to say HI and such.

I'm cautious about eating bad food. If it smells the least bit "off" I do NOT GO near it. I pitch it. I have had food poisioning a few times from 'bad stuff' and ugh, it always puts me in the ER with dehydration. Not fun eh.

I'm cautious about motorcycles. Driving around them, I mean. They are NOT bad people, bikers, as a matter of fact I totally envy bikers and wish I had a motorcycle. Anyway when I see bikes riding along on the highways & bi-ways, I am very cautious around them cuz I know how free it feels to be on one and sometimes they weave in, weave out between cars. So I'm cautious about them and make sure I keep my distance, respectfully.

Originally Posted by clixpix

Spelling! Even on these boards I'm over cautious. Every time I write a post, I preview it for spelling. If I've made any changes, I preview that too. If I'm unsure of how to spell a word, I'll open a new window and check it on dictionary dot com.

Yes, I'm going to preview this one too. Yes, I also notice everyone else's typos, though I judge them much less harshly than my own!

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I tend to notice grammatical error.

Call me crazy or paranoid, but if I'm in a store, and someone just happens to be walking the same way as me, behind me, I always just be alert... just in case. When I was little, a boy I knew was almost kidnapped at Wal-Mart. A man came up behind him, and grabbed him. He started yelling, and crying for help, and everyone just looked at him, and went on with their shopping. Talk about scarry! Luckily the guy got scared and let him go. His mom was so mad that nothing was done. Not even by the employees! So, I'm kinda cautious about that. You just never know with people these days!

Originally Posted by ash_bct

Locking doors! I am ultra-paranoid of people just walking into my apartment. More than once people have come to our apartment building *hearing* about a party and have tried my door. Also I have an issue with what would I do *if* someone came in? I am on the 3rd floor.... So yes, locked doors!

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I usually keep my door unlocked during the day (while I'm home), and will lock it up at night. When I go out, I always lock up.

Originally Posted by Kellyyfaber

I'm really cautious about my doors being locked. I had a stalker walk right on in my house about 4 years ago. My roomate left our back door unlocked when she came in at like 4 in the morning. He didn't bother me or anything but he told me about it the next day and described my house in great detail. I've been really freaked out ever since. Sometimes I even have to get up after I've been asleep for hours and check them again, even though I remember locking them. Living in our new neighborhood has helped a lot, though. It is very very well lit and along with the police, we have a 24 hour neighborhood security patrol. Another thing I'm really cautious about is cleaning up after I prepare raw meat. I'm almost compulsive about it, I pretty much sanitize everything in the kitchen afterward.

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Oh my God Kelly! It's amazing you got through that so safely. Being stalked is one of the scariest things that could happen to anyone and SO MANY people are being stalked without their knowledge of it! I'm glad you're safe now and can see why you'd be so cautious about locking doors!!!

Originally Posted by darkeyedgirl

One time while stuck in traffic on the way to work, a trucker came up to me and stuck his arm in through my sunroof; I was jamming to tunes so I didn't see him come up... he gave me his business card and said "if ya ain't married I'd like this dance!". Well after that I was spooked enough to drive with my doors locked, and when I'm in traffic? The sunroof stays closed to the point no one can get their arms through.

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Wow Steph, I bet that was scary beyond belief. That's a very good, cautionary tails about sunroofs!

I'm paranoid about burning the house down. Sometimes I may check 2 or 3 times to make sure my rollers are unplugged, heaters off, stove off, etc. I really don't like doing it but I can't help myself. As far as being car jacked, robbed, or locked out I really don't even think about it. Just the fire thing.

Oh and I have a car fire issue too. When I was younger my exbf bought some old car to restore and one night we were in it and it caught on fire and it was soo scary we had to get the fire dept to put it out and stuff. It was the biggest fire I'd ever seen in my life, with windows busting out and stuff. Now everytime I smell smoke while I'm driving I panic, and it's common around here for people to burn garbage and stuff so my fear is a pain in the butt.

Originally Posted by Kellyyfaber

Another thing I'm really cautious about is cleaning up after I prepare raw meat. I'm almost compulsive about it, I pretty much sanitize everything in the kitchen afterward.

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OH! ME TOO! VERY MUCH!!!

I am like you about keys! I also have a thing about making sure my purse is zipped so nothing falls out of it.
Making sure the house is locked at night, stuff like that.
Making sure my kitties are safe......

I could go on and on about what I am cautious about, but the number one thing to me is MAKING SURE MY CATS DON'T GET OUT!!! I lock the door in case the wind blows it open even when I am just outside.

Wow, Darkeyedgirl, you and I have several things in common! I am cautious to the point of being anal when it comes to food. Everything is investigated thoroughly before being consumed. Fast food? Uh, hardly. My husband used to get frustrated with me (like if something would sit out for more than half an hour, I won't eat it unless I can reheat it to the point of being super hot), but now he just accepts it and laughs at me. Can't help it, I'm paranoid about getting sick.
I, too, am overly cautious when driving around bikes. They have absolutely no protection, and I want to make sure I have enough time to react.
I always lock my car doors when I'm driving as well. You never ever know what people will do nowadays.
Our house is always locked, even though we live in a very safe area. My inlaws never lock their doors, even through the night. I just can't sleep if I think our doors are unlocked.
Now, this is a little weird, and I will be the first to admit it. Ever since I was a child, I've had issues with the power going out. No matter when it goes out, I know. If it goes out in the middle of the night, I wake up. I don't know why, I just have anxiety about it. So, I must always know exactly where a working flashlight is. I know, a little strange and perhaps childish, but I cannot get past it. Also, if I go camping, I must always sleep with a flashlight in case I wake in the night. I seem to have an issue with being able to see what's around me.
Which brings up my issue with tents. I cannot sleep in tents very well because of the fact that you can hear everything around you but can't see it. Scary for me! So, this goes back to the flashlight.

We lost power last night. I have no flashlights but I do have a zillion candles. It was mighty pretty, no electricity, candles burning all over the house --- in "uncatreachable" places!

So I'm buying flashlights tonight.

Re: being cautious about food, I think nowadays with mass-production and (especially) in fast food places, people are sorta careless. The two things that caused my worst-ever food poisoning were Creme Brulee from a nice italian restaurant (I thought it was *supposed* to taste sour? so I ate the whole thing), AND then of course mom's 3-week old German potato salad leftover from Christmas. Once again, as a 15 yr old teenybopper with an iron stomach, I ate the whole plate, and I thought, "gee this is sour".

*puke session*

I think everyone in every city everywhere should lock their doors at night. PERIOD. With all the sex offenders running wild and all the freedom they have, you better believe I lock my doors. And well I am prolly the most paranoid woman on planet Earth when it comes to my cats. I check the screens on my windows & stuff so I make sure they don't get out.

I agree with all of these posts!
We live in a bad, but usually quiet neighborhood, & someone actually DID walk into our apartment looking for someone else! I was behind the counter doing dishes & got defensive immediately, ready to break a coffee pot over his head-it was pretty freaky.
A tip for the ladies that I haven't seen here..when you are approaching your car in what you consider a dangerous situation, use your car as a mirror to see what is behind you.
Aside from the things mentioned here, I'm also paranoid about sick people coughing flu on me-you know, the people who don't cover their mouths.

Hmm. Maybe I should worry more ...

I do double-check spelling and grammar. I used to be paranoid about calling in sick to work, etc., but now I'm not because, hey, people get sick and I use maybe three sick days a year, tops.

I always bleach the area after cutting meat. I always unplug irons and curling irons when I'm done using them. I lock car doors when driving depending on the area. I'm very careful to check behind my car for neighborhood kids before pulling out. If the door's been open, I make sure that I can find all the cats. I make sure ground meat is thoroughly cooked and that raw meat juices never make it onto anything we eat, though I'm pretty fearless about food otherwise. If you don't wear a seat belt, you don't ride with me. I am careful not to trip over my cats. If I hear a kid screaming in a store, I will try to determine if they are just giving their parents a bad time or if they are really in trouble.

None of this stuff really causes me a lot of anxiety; it's just precautions that are part of my daily life.

I'm very cautious about the food. Like leftovers-if not eaten within a few days-into the trash. Or eating out, I don't care how fancy the restaurant is, if it doesn't look or smell right, I'm not eating it or letting the kids have it.

Also seatbelts and carseats. My cousin lost a 3 year old child in a car accident-she was actually in a car seat but it was back before they were very good . My kids always sat in car seats when they were little! (The youngest is 5 and just graduated to a booster seat! Here in Illinois kids have to be in some kind of car seat until age 8-which is ridiculous! )

As far as door locking goes, I am out in the country in a safe area, and not a big fan of locking doors, especially by day when we are home. But I would be terrified without a good sized intelligent dog to keep my family safe. She makes me feel safer than any door lock !

But I heard some of you say you lock the door when you are driving. I just got an 01 Taurus, which locks the doors when I drive! Unless a door is ajar, then they won't stay locked. Which worries me a bit-what if I am driving somewhere unsafe, like in Chicago, and jumped in the car quick, or left the trunk a little open. And the doors won't lock?!?!?! I know it will never happen, but....

Interesting thread!

Oh, and cat hair in food! I have a dog and three cats inside currently, and needless to say we get a lot of hair. I'm not saying I'm a slob, but reality is I'm sure my kids have eaten more than their share of cat hair! But when I fix food to take to work, or church for a pot-luck or carry-in, I am SO CAREFUL to scrub every cupboard (in case stinkers have been walking up there) and remove any possible hair from the area!

I never want to be one of "those people" where everyone is afraid to eat what they brought! And although I know a stray cat hair here and there is not at all harmful to my family, I would not expect anyone else to feel the same!