Hey Pandas, How Have You Dodged A Bullet Either Literally Or Figuratively? (Closed)

1985: I was supposed to sleep over at a friend’s house, but had to cancel due to a stomach bug. That night she and her sister were stabbed to death by an acquaintance that was high on meth. Her brother faked being dead after being stabbed and survived. Her sister’s baby was found ok in a closet. The killer is still in prison in California.

mid-80s walking out to my car in mall parking lot. got a very uncomfortable feeling so turned to see a panel van following me. at first thought it was trying to find a parking spot but then i heard the side panel open. i was just about to my vehicle when i turned & saw a guy squating inside. i changed directions & weaved through the cars back to the store where i asked them to call police. gave description of van & stayed there until then arrived. when they came they told me that they had found the vehicle still moving in the lot and that one of the guys had a record for rape and assault. they told me that i may have dodged a bullet by listening to my instincts.

I had a diabetic low behind the wheel once.
My first wife and I were coming home from buying a car for her for her birthday. We had been out most the afternoon. We were going to eat dinner once we got home. Approx. 25mins away. I stopped at a gas station to get me my Diet Dr. Pepper and a couple Caramello bars. This is what she described to me as we were driving home, her following behind me: My JEEP Cherokee was going along normal, then violently swerved, braked, dodged a few cars, veered to the left median and up on the guardrail then back down, through traffic all the way to the right side of the highway, then spun out and finally stopping. I woke up to the paramedics checking on me. First thing out of my mouth was "damn it! How'd my pop spill?" All I remember are taillights of the cars in front of me. This was during rush hour traffic. I didn't hit anyone and I was unscathed. I matrixed the hell out of that bullet!

When I lived in Boulder CO a million years ago I dated a guy who was, ahem, a casual dealer of the illicit substances type. He died from an overdose several months after I broke it off (because he was a, ya know, dealer), and the article in the Daily Camera said his body was found, unresponsive and the police found a kilo and most of another kilo of a certain powdery white substance that is not snow on his person. Here's where it gets fun! His connection, literally from Columbia shows up at my apartment door a week later. I was introduced to him, once, very briefly, at a party on Halloween night which was about 7 months prior to this incident. He knocked, I answered, he shoved in a put a glock in my mouth and asked me where his uh... possessions were. I pointed to the article which for some reason unknown to me at the time, maybe I was just sad, I had cut out and placed on the coffee table in my living room, and which stated his possessions were in the Boulder County PD evidence locker. So, he walks over, reads it, swears, and puts his gun away. Then he says to me, "You really kept your cool under pressure. You want a job?" I said, "No...thank you. I think I'd rather just forget you exist." (and I really cannot remember what he looked like, what his actual name is, how old he was, it's all blurry). So, he nods. Says, "Do I have to tell you what will happen if you say anything?" Head shakes no... He leaves. I immediately go to the bathroom and explosively evacuate from all orifices simultaneously in the shower. I looked cool at the time, but the reaction of my body tells a different story. Seriously glad this guy was disinterested in me. I hope almost 40 years is long enough that I can vaguely state this without a return visit...

I think I may have dodged a bullet when just 17. I was still living at home, but some firm sought a girl to take care of 2 dogs and a cat on a tour to the middle east. I liked animals and thought it sounded exciting so I tried to get the job. The talk went well, but I didn't get it, and was disappointed. A few weeks later the news were telling about how the leaders of the firm were being prosecuted because of human trafficking in young girls.

I had a guy that was trying to talk to me and then my ex-boyfriend walked up and pretty much blocked the situation.

A year or two later I found out that guy had raped a girl. Literally dodged a bullet! Thanks to the ex!

It was the day before mothers day and my dad decided to take me out shopping to get mum a gift (typical last minute dad). We were supposed to go in to our local town, but just as we arrived, dad decided that he'd drive to my grandma's village (about 40 minutes away) and get her a gift too and drop it off. That day there was a terrorist attack in our town (Warrington, England), we would have walked right in to it, two kids were killed and lots of people with serious injuries.

Got into a fight with my older brother when i was younger. We argued,my gut told me to sit on the arm of the couch so I did,a few minutes later he threw the closest thing to him which were a pair of scissors. They hit my elbow and went in a few inches. I found out that had i not been sitting on the arm of the couch the scissors would have gone into my neck. So thankful I listened to my Gut.

Literally, myself and my wife, we having our last "us" holiday before we adopted our little girl. We went to Tunisia in 2015. On day two of our holiday we thought we would chill on the beach. Mid morning we walked down the coast to do some parasailing.

Whilst we were parasailing, the terror attacks took place and 38 tourists were killed. If we hadn't of gone parasailing at that time, we would have been on the wrong part of the beach at the wrong time. We were so lucky. The people who were sunbathing next to us were shot dead. Never forget and you never know when your time is up.

I was helping make supper by cooking ground beef, the beef my family bought when it was cooked it let out a lot of fat so we strained the grease out if it after cooking. It had just finished when my 5 year old brother walks in asking what I'm cooking. I tell him and go to get the sive out of the cabinet. I get a feeling to turn around and my brother is tipping the pan so he can see what's in it. Now my memory of this goes in slow motion because I can't comprehend how quickly I moved. I spun on my heel, and sprinted forward, grabbed my baby brother and scrambled backwards until we hit the wall. All we got were a few splashes that were warm, not boiling. The food was on the floor, but I'd rather that then a blind or dead brother! I just held him and cried. He had no idea what was happening but held still until I went to tell our parents what had happened.

Two literal events. I was a weapons instructor and although we did exstensive safety training without live ammunition before getting to the range I had a student experience an issue while firing, turn around while working the trigger with the assault rifle pointed at me and complaining it wouldn't work. Somepeole are just f*****g idiots.
I've had a round just crease the side of my head above my ear. Just felt a slight sting and heard a loud buzz. Proably the closest I've come to buying a farm :)

Not totally sure eif this counts. I'll say it anyway. This guy showed up out of nowhere at our church and kept on coming back. For some reason, my 9-11 year old self seriously hated him, so I made sure to stay away from him (there was a close call when I was using the bathroom once).
Fast forward a few years, and my mom tells me he wanted to marry her (she was pregnant, and the guy had literally worked on our house with my dad).
I still think he was possibly interested in me and not my mom. Either way, he had very creepy vibes, and Ihe was a bullet I was too happy to dodge.

My biological clock is winding down and in this stage of my life, I am SO GRATEFUL I never had kids.

Car crash in 1992 on an icy road. Was doing around 40 and taking it really slowly as I could see how bad the conditions were. I applied the brake and the car went into a spin anyway, hit a land rover coming the other way (this was a Ford Fiesta btw), the car started to roll then ended up back on its wheels on the grass verge facing the opposite way to where I was going. I got out of the car, had a cut ear (from flying glass) and a badly bitten tongue but when I looked back at my car it was literally a pancake. Even witnesses said that I looked like a "Rag doll being tossed around" during the accident.

Funny follow up story - A policeman who'd been sent out to measure any skid marks (there were none, the road was literally a sheet of black ice) slipped over on the ice and broke his pelvis, and ended up in the next gurney along from mine in the hospital while I was being checked out.

In 2006, when I was 17, I went out to Arkansas with an old boyfriend's family. We were shooting a .22 pistol and a .22 rifle. Stepdad was an old meth head and untrained with guns. I was taught gun safety and shot guns for almost a decade by my father. Dude keeps sweeping my body with the rifle and pointing it at me repeatedly. I get fed up and say, "The next time you point that thing at me, I'm going to rip it out of your hands and beat the sh** out of you." He does it again and I storm off into the house. The bolt gets jammed and he comes into the house. I'm so irritated, that I refuse to look at him and he starts hammering (with a hammer!) on the bolt. All of a sudden, boyfriend yells, "Hey! Quit pointing that thing at the back of my girlfriend's head!" "Oh, sorry man," he responds. Points it towards the kitchen and smacks it one more time. Gun goes off! Goes through the wall, through the kitchen cabinet, and breaks some dishes. Had to cover the damage with butterfly stickers and that man child was not allowed to touch another gun for the week.

Oh, yes, my time has come to share my own Bored Panda story.

This was about 10 years ago when I was in sophomore year of middle school. I was catching the bus to go to school in the morning. I was running late, and I saw the bus drive past. So I decided to let my parent drive me to school that day.

As we drove past, we noticed that the bus had crashed into several other cars, as well as people. As far as I'm aware, no one was killed but if I had caught the bus, I might not be alive right now.

Weird, huh.

I was driving behind a van that made a sudden U-turn.Suddenly, in front of me was a man standing in the middle of the street holding a gun on his right side. It took me a second to realize that I had a weapon too, my car. If he had raised the gun, I would have run him over. I swerved around him and called the police.

In college, I decided to become a teacher, but I dropped my classes when I was struggling to catch up with the work, plus my financial aid ran out and I had no money to pay for the classes. I got myself a part time job while thinking about when I want to go back to school to continue and if I really wanted to saddle myself with debt from loans for school.

Fast forward 6 six later, I'm still working (after a few job changes) and the COVID-19 pandemic hit, which made teaching at schools a nightmare and caused many teachers to quit after they had already dealt with low pay, Karen parents, and other issues. Kind of glad I didn't go for that career path.

Never been drafted, so dodged a bullet literally and figuratively

I worked nights at a home for the developmentally disabled. We were allowed to smoke in the back patio area, but not in the front of the home, as our management felt it looked bad. I occasionally broke the rule at night, as it's a small town, with no one to see. One night, around 2:00, I sat on the front porch, smoking. I saw a van pull into the driveway. Thinking it was my boss, I put out the cigarette in a potted plant and went back inside. Turned out it was the paper delivery. A couple hours later, I went back to the front porch. There was the plant, smouldering badly. A few holes had melted in the plastic pot. If I hadn't got out to the front to smoke again, I could have burnt the house down. After that night, I never smoked in the front again.