A woman issues a parking lot PSA after a strange man approaches her car and asks her for a jump. Is she overreacting or right to be concerned?
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TikTok user Yvonne (@yvonnethegrace) shared a video detailing the experience on Feb. 11. It has since racked up over 976,400 views.
In her video, Yvonne explains that she had just gotten into her car and locked the doors right away.
A parking lot PSA
“Seconds after I locked the door, a guy comes up to my door and knocks—not on the window, but the door,” she says, calling it strange.
She says in the moment, she wondered if he had actually tried pulling on the door handle before knocking.
Already on edge, she hoped the man would just walk away. But he didn’t.
Yvonne says she cracked her window slightly and asked what he wanted. “He said, ‘Hey, can I get a jump?’” she recalls.
Feeling uncomfortable, she admits she lied. “I was like, ‘I just got back from the shop, I don’t know if my battery can take it.’”
The man seemed to accept this response and walked away. But what happened next had her questioning the entire interaction.
Yvonne watched as the man got into a car and drove off—despite just asking her for help with his battery. “You just asked me for a jump but got in your car and drove away,” she says, clearly unsettled.
She ended her video with a warning: “Portsmouth is a scary place, y’all.”
How to handle suspicious encounters in public spaces
While not every interaction in a parking lot is dangerous, experts say it’s always better to be cautious.
Locking your doors as soon as you get inside the car can prevent unwanted access, and avoiding unnecessary conversations with strangers—especially in isolated areas—can help you stay in control of the situation.
If something feels off, it probably is, so trusting your gut is key. When possible, driving away instead of lingering in a situation that makes you uneasy is often the safest choice.
Many users assured Yvonne that she wasn’t overreacting and that trusting her instincts was the right move.
“Not tripping. Your gut is your guidance, keep following it!” one person wrote.
Others shared their own habits for staying safe in public spaces. “I always lock the door immediately, it’s a good habit to get into!!” they wrote.
Some recalled similar encounters. “This happened to me at the gas station. I was planning to fill my tank completely. I stopped at $10, left, and called my mom.”
@yvonnethegrace ♬ original sound – Yvonne 🍒
The Daily Dot has reached out to Yvonne via TikTok and Instagram messages for comment.
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