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517

It seems like (and this is constant, I can recall this dozens of times) I will show up somewhere be it a checkout line, return line, get gas, go into a store come out and the place is all the sudden packed when it was dead empty when I got there. It's weird.

Today I was returning some stuff at a big box hardware store and the place was dead. We walked up right to counter and the guy immediately starting helping us. We had to wait for a manager to approve the return and between that call the made and us leaving (like 2 or 3 mins) a line of 20 people appeared behind us. It went from just us to 20 people. I counted. This happens all the time. Does this happen to anyone else or some other kind of strange shit with the NPCs? I'll get gas and not a single pump is in use and then when I leave there is a line of cars waiting for a pump. I'll go to the self check out at the grocery store and all of the sudden a line appears. Did the whole fucking store decide to checkout at the exact same time?

I have no explanation for it.

It seems like (and this is constant, I can recall this dozens of times) I will show up somewhere be it a checkout line, return line, get gas, go into a store come out and the place is all the sudden packed when it was dead empty when I got there. It's weird. Today I was returning some stuff at a big box hardware store and the place was dead. We walked up right to counter and the guy immediately starting helping us. We had to wait for a manager to approve the return and between that call the made and us leaving (like 2 or 3 mins) a line of 20 people appeared behind us. It went from just us to 20 people. I counted. This happens all the time. Does this happen to anyone else or some other kind of strange shit with the NPCs? I'll get gas and not a single pump is in use and then when I leave there is a line of cars waiting for a pump. I'll go to the self check out at the grocery store and all of the sudden a line appears. Did the whole fucking store decide to checkout at the exact same time? I have no explanation for it.

(post is archived)

[–] [deleted] • 14 pts

Oh, that's the feds following you. Don't worry about it, it happens to a lot of us.

[–] • 5 pts

I feel almost sorry for the losers assigned to follow me around.

[–] • 4 pts

Yeah you're pretty fucking boring. Hurry up and shoot a minority so we can arrest you and make the news. Need our 15 mins of fame.

[–] • 1 pt

You mean you need YOUR 15 mins. I'll never make it that easy.

[–] [deleted] • 3 pts (edited )

If they are wearing khakis and carrying tiki torches, definitely fedPCs

[–] • 8 pts

If you haven't worked retail, boy are you in for an awakening. It is fascinating how the crowds of people have a cyclical beat to it. Same with traffic, all of a sudden its dead.. then boom! traffic jam.

[–] • 6 pts

Ask em for a quest

[–] • 5 pts

That's not a bad idea. Might take awhile though. Most NPCs say things like "I AM ERROR" or "THIS STORE OFFERS BUM DEALS" and do nothing else.

[–] • 4 pts

All the time. It seems to happen to a lot of people. I expect that there are many factors that lead to it occurring for most of us that can explain it. From the region you live in down to the timing on traffic lights, the types of businesses in the area and their distances from each other, as well as locations of gas stations and the distance to interstate exits.

Have you ever seen the movie "Truman Show"? That messed with a lot of people at the time because it played off of that "nobody is around until I show up as if everyone else only exists to populate my world and I'm the only one that's real".

[–] • 1 pt

I lived near a popular beach and would watch the traffic come in on a one way street day in and day out. You could separate out the types of people that would show up during the course of the day based on what time they came to the beach. Parking in the area was always a shit show, the smart well off responsible types would come in the morning eager to get parking. Then as the day would go on, the crowd just got darker and darker, at about 4-5pm the people pulling in would usually be firing shots at some point soon after. I feel like this phenomenon is similar, but less identifiable because it wasn't linearly observable like on the single one way street.

[–] • 3 pts

I get the same thing happening to me. We always in our family would say that "we brought in the business"

[–] • 2 pts

You're noticing.

Keep looking.

[–] • 2 pts

No but whenever I go to checkout some asshole always gets there first and spends 20 mins returning some shit that he never should have bought in the first place.

[–] • 1 pt

always the most complicated return ever. there's probably 20 of us waiting by the time he's finally finished and he just turns around and counts us like a retard. MOVE ON, GTFO.

[–] • 1 pt

You live in the Truman Show?

[–] • 1 pt

My personal thing is when I actively park some, any, or everywhere, or when I return to my vehicle to depart, someone is in the process or parking next to me or entering their right-next-to-mine vehicle to leave. No matter if I choose the South 40 of large lots or in get in close. Daylight, darkness or the wee hours. City or rural. Rain or fucking shine. This has been a quirk in my world for decades. So much so, that it's a running observational joke amongst my circle of family and friends who experience it when they're with me.

[–] • 1 pt

same here I seriously thought it was just me

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