Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Aldeer General Forum Eating at a Restaurant

lol. Same

You don’t have to be hyper vigilant but I wouldn’t parade around totally obvious either.

Wow, didn't know there are so many door watchers like myself. We sit next to each other and across about 50-50%, however , I'm facing the door 100% of the time.

we always sit across from each other and i will always face the direction we came in from.

in the mid 2000s i worked at a millwork and went to lunch at a chinese restaurant about a mile from the shop. i was the last one to walk in and asked a guy to move so i could face the door. he said no and i ended up sitting at a table adjacent to them with another guy that didnt want to be crammed in a booth. the next day the place was robbed at lunchtime by two guys with guns.

another similar story was at the beach on vacation (last week in june) i ran to the grocery store to pick up a few odds and ends. after putting all of it in the room i walked to the pool area where the wife and kids were. i went to get in the pool and i still had my pistol. i walked over to the chairs where her pool bag was and slipped my pistol in the bag and got in the pool with the kids. wife didn’t see me put it in there and found it a little while later and asked why did i bring my pistol to the pool?? we get back to bham and within a day or two, i see the story on the news where they had put the hotel we were at on lockdown the previous night bc a guy with an AR, ran through the pool area. i almost knocked the door off the hinges to the bedroom going to show her my phone 😂😂😂😂

stay strapped!!!

I haven't "ate in" in several years. Our food trucks are GREAT, prices are good, and products fresh. Red meat comes from the freezer or local butcher if I need a dose of beef.
Living life paranoid worrying about watching the door and all that fun stuff ain't for me. Spotting a no good shooter would be tough here, all the white people look alike
Almost 90% white with 8-9% Hispanic with some others coming in at less than 1%.

No offense intended with this question, but have any of you "door watchers" ever experienced anything that made that type of vigilance necessary, or is it just peace of mind? I have never cared about that and can't think of one time when anything dangerous has happened in a restaurant I've been in.

I have never had an incident in a restaurant where watching the door would have possibly prevented the way things went down. I have, on a few occasions, decided to leave based on the seeing people come in that just immediately made me uncomfortable.
I’ve had way more instances where I saw someone I knew walk in and those became shared table situations and good memories.

The one time in the last several years I left my weapon in the truck and went in and ate a guy got mad and started throwing things. Popo was called but he had already gone. I told myself never again.

Col.Coopers color codes (White,Yellow,Orange,Red) why I stay in yellow out publicly. No haven't had to defend myself from Moghadishuisns or queso dip bandits but it's better to have and not need than need and not have. PSA has Magpul Glock mags on sale for $13.99.

Hell... I'm a Marine. I know when to be concerned about some shit goin' down.

This. If DoA is with me and it is just us, my back is to the door. If I am with other people I prefer to face the door myself. Although since he usually is looking at his phone when we eat (he says I take long enough and doesn't want to slow me down with conversation while from years in the military and law enforcement eats like he may not have time to finish it before he has to go) I don't know how much benefit there is to him facing the door these days.

I bet you are fun at parties

For me, it is also so I can see if anyone else I know is coming in so I can engage in social pleasantries any so anyone I am meeting can see me if I don't just wait in the parking lot.

I always sit facing the front door. I’ve made people was with before that sit before me to swap. Maybe it’s an institutional survival thing or what I have no idea. Maybe ADHD but I watch around me everywhere I go

I must be the most carefree person on ALDeer...

Never in a restaurant. Was in a Dollar General one time and I was between an old lady and a crack head in line and they were having words over something. He threatened to shoot her and then raised the shirttail on his yellowed wife beater to show her an old ancient and rusty .22 magnum. I made up my mind right there I was going to shoot that clown if that gun left his waistband. Thankfully for him it didn't.

You just never know nowadays and it's better to be prepared.

Now that I'm retired, I carry every day. All the years I worked on a Military Installation, no weapons were allowed. Even with a permit.

Nowadays I keep a 270 Handi Rifle in my backseat, and a 40 on my hip. Hope I never need either one of them.

I would wager the farm that, in cases we see on the news where bad things happened somewhere and people were killed, it was the first time it happened there and to them. Had those people not waited for it to happen the first time, the outcome may have been different. I've never had a serious wreck but I still put on my seatbelt when I get in the car.
But to answer your question, yes, I've had an incident. It was in a parking lot outside a large retail establishment at night. I was prepared then and the fact that I was prevented a group of Amish from doing harm to me and those with me. Fortunately I didn't have to kill any of them.

I watch the door and I make eye contact with folks who walk in. There have been times where I thought somebody may be up to something and the eye contact I made with them seemed to let them know that at least one person was paying attention to them.