@sampaul Reminds me of when I was 10 years old and got lost in Disney Land. I was sitting in front of some store, crying, when a scary looking biker dude wearing tiny Mickey Mouse shades approached me.
He asked me if I was lost, or at least I assumed so as my English was garbage at the time. After I answered with a yes, my heart almost flew out of my chest in fear when he took my hand and went into the store to report it. Thanks to his kind actions I was able to reunite with my parents that day.
@sampaul Have a similar story. Went to Madrid, New Mexico (the same town from the movie, Wild Hogs), which is a classic biker stop. We walk onto the patio of the restaurant we usually stop at and my daughter points out a monster of a biker with an eye patch and says, "Look Dada! A PIRATE!!" He gave her a big smile and started laughing. You get away with a lot of crap when you're a kid hahaha.
@sampaul I had the unfortunate luck of knowing a piece of shit who did terrible things to his little girls.
The local chapter of BACA (Bikers Against Child Abuse) got wind of what this dirtbag was arrested for and day after day, these big burly biker dudes filled the courtroom as a show of support for the kids. They'd escort the kids in and sit with them, giving them the safety and confidence to testify and face their abuser.
Seeing that was a brief reprieve in an otherwise soul-crushing situation.
@sampaul In my experience bikers are pretty cool dudes. I was at a gas station in the middle of no where. Some biker dudes walked in. The last guy was a huge biker dude. He came in yawning. We made eye contact and I started yawning. I was kinda paranoid that we made eye contact. He busted out laughing saying he didn’t mean to make me yawn.
@sampaul Hey, never judge a book by its cover and all that.
I'm 6ft 4in and heavily tatted from the neck down. I've had a few people over the years say I look intimidating and honestly that was not the look I was going for. In reality I'm a dad to 4yo who I love more than anything and i act goofy as hell around, I'm soft as shit and I'm a nurse. My wife (who is tiny at 5ft 1in) works in construction. This tends to get a lot of laughs out of people, because you know, stereotypes and all that.
@sampaul Kids love to do this, I swear they purposefully pick the biggest, meanest looking fuckers they can find.
My kid saw a huge thug looking guy with an eye patch get into a lift with us. I could feel it coming, but there was no way to stop it. She put one hand over her eye and held the other like a hook. "Arr" she told him.
@sampaul Your story reminds me of a time when my daughter was about 4, and we were sitting in a restaurant. She suddenly loudly asks,
"Dad, what's that black man's name that I don't like?"
I practically did a spit take, and replied, "What? What are you talking about?"
"You know, that black man! He has all those white friends with guns!"
"Wha-.... Do you mean Darth Vader?"
"Yeah, that's him. Darth Vader. I don't like him."
@sampaul A few of the guys I work with are big time bikers. They always have kid events like fishing tournaments, car shows, etc. I’m prolly the most straight laced vanilla dude in the world, but they couldn’t be nicer to me and my kids.