Encounters of the Goth Kind

[Linen]

There is a huge outlet mall nearby that I haven't been to in a year or two. Today my husband and I went, because I wanted to look for shoes and also random knick-knacks. I was all decked out in my favorite black skirt, a black tank top with a red one beneath, my black Greek-style sandals, and of course makeup.

The first shoe store I was in, I saw a goth couple walking around. The girl was all decked out in a skirt & top also. She had the most adorable red knee socks. I wanted to steal them lol. The guy wasn't dressed up much. He was just wearing a screen-printed grey t-shirt, jeans, etc.

Anywho, we kept running into this same couple all over the mall (and this is a HUGE mall) . For 3 stores in a row, they came in right after I did. I asked my husband if he noticed that they seemed to be following us, and he said yeah he saw them. I swear they weren't actually stalking us, but it's a pretty funny coincidence.

I was just amused that the only other goths there went to all the same stores I did . Besides, the majority of people where I live dress preppy or redneck. I first saw them in a big shoe outlet store, then a new-age type store, and a lastly a clothing store (not HT). It was weird enough the second time I saw them, but after the 3rd I was like, "If they show up at the food court too I'm going to be suspicious" LOL.

So... tell about your encounters... coincidental or otherwise.

[Tha Duckman]

I was abducted.

[badteccy]

I once saw a goth.

[Umbrellacake]

Book stores are always a good place to meet people, goth and otherwise - but most I've approached or been approached by were of the persuasion. You'd be amazed at the conversation you can start if you have a habit of making unintentionally loud commentaries about different books with your friend.

[Linen]

Originally Posted by badteccy

I once saw a goth.

LMAO... where in the mirror? :P

[honeythorn]

Originally Posted by badteccy

I once saw a goth.

Wow! I am envious. Did you remember to check off it's type in the penguin "Illustrated guide to goths" ?

I have 4 left to tick and then I can send off for a free pencil case!!!

[Evander]

I remember the first time I watched the old Batman movie as a child. It was in black and white, so obviously that struck my soul deeply. Then the Penguin waddled in, fully clothed in aristocratic glory that struck my dark heart.

Actually, he had a pretty dashing parasol... I mean umbrella. Yeah, sure, umbrella.

Oh, and there was this one duck donned in darkly-tinted feathers at my grandmother's. We were immediate companions. It was eaten by a wolf.

As for REAL encounters (fiction is better; in fact, most people belong in fiction):

1. Well, approximately a thousand years ago at the Philly Zoo in the middle of summer there was some couple there... decked out in PVC, black-dyed hair and nails, and the lady kept a leash on her man (the lady also looked a bit like Ozzie Osbourne). Hmm, not really gothic as much as it was a display of masochism (98 degrees, really now). Of course, I was 8, though the only thing I spotted as odd was the "hey mom, he painted his NAILS black". Never mind the rest...

2. Not sure if this is a display of gothicism as much as one of extreme Poe enthusiasm. Well, I had an English teacher back in the eighth grade, who, looking back upon it now, was quite weird (never a bad thing!). ... back during the unit on Poe we had copious amounts of handouts concerning his biography, and when it came time to read the Tell-Tale Heart, the light had to be out and he donned a cape. Quite the enthusiast. He, of course, narrated.

Well, not any "true" (however that may be invalidated) encounters. It's a small world, and rather fortunately it even then cannot be conformed to my standards.


Mehhh, I'm way too wordy.

[badteccy]

Originally Posted by honeythorn

Wow! I am envious. Did you remember to check off it's type in the penguin "Illustrated guide to goths" ?

I have 4 left to tick and then I can send off for a free pencil case!!!

COOL!
Does it have Linus on it or some other delightful Peanuts character?

[Porphyria]

There's apparently another pregnant goth girl who is a patient at my doctor's office. I have no idea who she is, but the staff all seem to think we're friends.

[Linen]

Originally Posted by Porphyria

There's apparently another pregnant goth girl who is a patient at my doctor's office. I have no idea who she is, but the staff all seem to think we're friends.

LOL kind of like when people say, "Oh you went to XYZ High School? Do you know Jane Doe? Or John Doe? Or Jim Doe? You must know them, I mean, you went to the same school..."

Sheesh guys I was talking about the oddity of someone ending up in all the same stores, not just the fact that I saw them - period.

::sigh::

[Porphyria]

Originally Posted by Linen

LOL kind of like when people say, "Oh you went to XYZ High School? Do you know Jane Doe? Or John Doe? Or Jim Doe? You must know them, I mean, you went to the same school..."

Or when you go to another state and people are like "Oh, you're from North Carolina, do you know Soandso?" It's a big state, people. The chances of me knowing that specific person are a few million to one. Sometimes I say I know the person... just to tweak people's shit a little.

It's the same way with gothy-types around here. There are LOTS of people who, to the casual observer, appear to fit the stereotype. It's silly to assume I actually know all of them personally.

[Linen]

Originally Posted by Porphyria

Or when you go to another state and people are like "Oh, you're from North Carolina, do you know Soandso?" It's a big state, people. The chances of me knowing that specific person are a few million to one. Sometimes I say I know the person... just to tweak people's shit a little.

It's the same way with gothy-types around here. There are LOTS of people who, to the casual observer, appear to fit the stereotype. It's silly to assume I actually know all of them personally.

Yep. It would be funny if you asked someone wearing, say Abercrombie (sp?) and be like, "Oh, say, do you know this guy who wears khakis all the time, and like, collared shirts? I just figured you might, since, ya know, you dress alike."

[Porphyria]

I'm so going to ask the next old lady I see if she knows my grandma.

[Linen]

Originally Posted by Porphyria

I'm so going to ask the next old lady I see if she knows my grandma.

ROFL! "Hey, you're old... do you know my grandma, Betty Sue?"

[Renatus]

Originally Posted by Linen

LOL kind of like when people say, "Oh you went to XYZ High School? Do you know Jane Doe? Or John Doe? Or Jim Doe? You must know them, I mean, you went to the same school..."

Sheesh guys I was talking about the oddity of someone ending up in all the same stores, not just the fact that I saw them - period.

::sigh::

I get that alot I think more here in hte midwest than people outside the midwest do. To make matters worse I am terrible with names, I remember perhaps 30 names out of the 1500 students and people act like I must know that one particular person. Don't even mention Darkwave or the other waves, they strangely just don't exist here in the midwest. I had this one sort of nice girl during summer school asking me if I liked any of this large variety of music she mentioned, all of which I shuddered at the thought of or never heard of(well with a few universaly accepted exceptions). The Midwest is pretty much blind to anything not presented in the form of an mtv music video.

[honeythorn]

Originally Posted by badteccy

COOL!
Does it have Linus on it or some other delightful Peanuts character?

It's that little canary/bird thing that sleeps on Snoopy's kennel ^^

[NachtSorcier]

I don't think I ever saw a real goth before. When I was in high school there was this kid named Damien who always had his hair dyed black and wore black, pin-striped hip-huggers all the time, but he seemed to be more into the Misfits than Bauhaus.

People ask me all the time, "Hey, you're from Marietta, do you know so-and-so?" I say, "Yeah, he's still under my house, rotting and decaying." Fuck, I was an outcast, I don't know anybody unless they were notorious for something, in which case asking me is not a necessity. On the other hand, I can answer a lot of the "Do you know such-and-such guy in (insert city in West Virginia)?" because if you're part of the gay hook-up scene you learn of quite a few guys from scanning gay dating sites and such.

[Don't Look Behind You]

I get that shit all the time....and surprisingly from people that KNOW me quite well.
Just yesterday a friend of mine that goes to another school asked me "hey, there is this kid in my school he dresses in black and has long hair. His name is Thomas do you know him?"
HOW THE FUCK am I supposed to know someone that looks like about 50% of the guys you see on the street and has the name about 20% of them have??!!
The answe is then obviously :" Oh sure, I know about ten of him."

[Undead_Stagehand]

That kind of random stalking usually seems to happen when my family and I go on vacation. We met a couple at the Lake Agnes tea house in Banff, AB earlier this month. The next day, we saw them at a the beginning of a trail probably twenty miles away. Talk about coincidental.

I hate when at quiz bowl competitions, kids from other schools ask if we know so-and-so from this one school which has the same name as ours, minus the "valley." One, the majority of the team is geeks and misanthropes. Two, that's not our freaking school!
One would think that because people in quiz bowl are "smart," they'd have the intelligence to know the rule that "just because you work/live somewhere doesn't mean you know everyone there, too."
For those that don't know, quiz bowl is like Jeopardy!--buzzers and trivia, for points.

[Linen]

Originally Posted by Undead_Stagehand

That kind of random stalking usually seems to happen when my family and I go on vacation. We met a couple at the Lake Agnes tea house in Banff, AB earlier this month. The next day, we saw them at a the beginning of a trail probably twenty miles away. Talk about coincidental.

Weird. Yeah I've had incidences where I was at Wal-Mart, and then went to some other random store like PetsMart, and then the Dollar General, and I saw the same lady in all of them. I think those are stranger because the stores aren't even in a mall or even all on the same road.

[roserougesang]

Originally Posted by honeythorn

It's that little canary/bird thing that sleeps on Snoopy's kennel ^^

His name is Woodstock, by the way. ^_^

[Edward Strange]

It makes me snicker when I think of Snoopy, sat on his kennel in his WW1 flying hat, battling with the dreaded 'Red Baron'. ><

Anyway, something very similar happened to me in Cambridge, it made me feel very iffy because we were all wearing leather trenchcoats (we arn't feeding stereotypes are we...) so I did mine up all the way and took solace in my tie wearing. >_>

I saw that couple in Virgin Megastore, Game, Borders... I hope they didn't think I was following them!

[honeythorn]

Originally Posted by roserougesang

His name is Woodstock, by the way. ^_^

Really? Awwww I want a woodstock.....

[Geist]

About 12 years ago I was in a convenience store and saw some goths. I thought they looked very cool, and they were polite. What more can you ask from people?

[Corpsey]

I met a Goth lady the other day at one of my friends parties. She was bragging about how she went to The Cure concert.

Lucky Bitch.