Direct Karma Experience

[chowderpope]

I wanted to share something I experienced within the past few years that is so odd, I'm not convinced it is coincidence.

I was shopping in a major retail store late at night and was passed by a group of young teenagers. Their apparent leader seemed to challenge me by approaching, greeting ("Wassup dawg?" or whatever) and offering a fandangled handshake. I didn't accept the handshake but stared him down as the group walked away. He turned his head while walking and met my stare with a cocky smirk.

I can be Napoleonic to a fault, and in this situation I was infuriated. I waited in my car outside the exit of the store and when the group came outside I barraged them with curse words and insults while flipping the bird. Then I sped off. Admittedly, it was not my finest hour.

The very next evening I was working my shift at a fast food drive-thru window and a crude and belligerent man of about 40 ordered food and drove through. He was on the offensive even before reaching the window. As I handed food to the car in front of him, he yelled insults at me, telling me to hurry up and calling names. When he reached the window I had already been excited enough to point my finger at him and scrutinize him for his behavior as a way to stand up to the bullying.

His motive was getting a free meal but obviously he went about it the wrong way. I absorbed a heavy string of threats and insults before making the mature decision to take his money and give him the food.

I was completely drained by the encounter and had to take a break in the back to regain my composure.

To give the story some context, I can't remember the last time I cursed anybody out prior to the retail store incident. And I can't remember a time I was so blatantly cursed out before or after the fast food window incident. These are two very rare episodes which happened so closely that I can't rule out the potential of this being a direct karmic result.

As a funny side note, on the morning after the fast food window incident, the man returned and complained of the service the night before and received a free desert from a manager. This guy was really hard up for some free grubs!

[Rin]

I was shopping in a major retail store late at night and was passed by a group of young teenagers. Their apparent leader seemed to challenge me by approaching, greeting ("Wassup dawg?" or whatever) and offering a fandangled handshake. I didn't accept the handshake but stared him down as the group walked away. He turned his head while walking and met my stare with a cocky smirk.

I'm kinda confused, I don't see the part where he "challenges" you He approached you, asked you how you're doing doing and offered a handshake... then you response by ignoring him and swearing him out from a distance. Is there something you left out?

As for your later experience, I don't think that was, strictly speaking, karma, karma is an incredibly complex subject, and one which I don't pretend to fully understand, but I'm fairly sure it's not just the universe's version of "eye for an eye." Sounds like either random chance or some kind of law of attraction thing (I've definitely noticed that when you act in a certain way, you attract people to you that act in the same way, or the same actions from people around you - but that doesn't necessarily have to involve metaphysics).

[chowderpope]

Thanks Rin I was actually hoping you would comment.

It seemed to me that he was messing with me in order to show his friends how tough he is and amuse them. Since he was smirking and all of his friends had grimaces as well, it didn't seem like a friendly gesture at all.

I see what you mean about karma being more complex. I suppose it spans many lifetimes and wouldn't work so immediately. Because of the striking coincidence, I do think some weird energies were at work.