My mom and the state troopers...
So there are actually a lot of crazy stories from when my mom worked as a waitress in a country diner. She worked the graveyard shift, which meant she dealt with a lot of truck drivers passing through, and drunks coming in after the bars closed.
Now, these stories take place when she was in her late 20s into her early 30s. She is 5'5", it's before she had kids (maybe she had my oldest brother) so she was thin, fit, and quite attractive. Interesting fact, she has worn bifocals since she was in grade school. Anyway, all this is to say that she, visually, was not much of a threat.
Despite this, all the drunks and truck drivers loved her and she kept them in line cause they were also a little afraid of her.
The diner was the only thing open late at night, so if you were out and about after midnight, you ended up at the diner. This included the state troopers. She knew all their names and breakfast orders and how they liked their coffee. She was very, very good at her job.
My mom was working when a group of teenagers came in. They were messing around after they finished eating and started pouring syrup all over the table and opening the sugar and sweetener packets, dumping ketchup... you know generally making a mess.
My mother grabbed a couple rags and napkins, put them on the table in front of the teens, and calmly said "you will clean all of this up before you leave."
The teens, as you can imagine, did not take her seriously. They started laughing and gathering themselves up to leave.
One of the state troopers was at the counter drinking coffee. He got up and went to "help" my mother. The state trooper was 6'9". My mom said he had to duck to get through doorways.
So here comes this giant of a man and he starts to say "is there a problem here?"
But, before he finishes, my mother smacks him with her order pad. Now, this is old style order pad, think more like a smaller clipboard with a brick of paper attacked. There is an audible noise as she connects.
My mother: did I ask for your help?
My mother: do I look like I need your help?
ST: ...no ma'am. I just thought-
My mother: when I need your help, I will let you know.
My mother: now go sit down and I will decide if you get breakfast today. I'm done with you.
ST: yes ma'am. Sorry ma'am
The state trooper, giant that he was, sheepishly returned to the counter and contemplated his life choices as he stared into his coffee cup.
The teenagers looked back and forth between my mother and the fully retreated trooper in complete shock.
My mother turned back to the teenagers, pointed at the rags and said "start cleaning. If these aren't enough I will get you some cleaner."
The kids all muttered "yes ma'am" and scrambled to start cleaning.
They cleaned up the mess and left a healthy tip. The state trooper avoided the diner for the next couple nights.
I mentioned my mom was really good at her job, right? Well, she got a lot of tips. A lot. As in, she might leave with $1,000 or more in cash stuffed into her apron for the drive home on an average night.
So, one night she had a migraine and left work a little early. She wadded up her tips in a roll in her apron and then rolled up her apron so it looked like she was just carrying it home to be washed and not like it held over a $1,000. It is maybe around 4-5 in the morning, the sun hasn't even started to come up, and she is driving on back country roads alone.
This is when she notices a car following her... its headlights are off.
My mom, understandably worried, makes an unnecessary turn to see of the car is really following her. The car follows and now she is definitely scared. She thinks someone might be following her home from the diner knowing she has cash (This is pre cell phones, remember). There are no street lights, so she can't see much of the car behind her, but she knows it is following her. She drives away from home and towards a place she know has street lights. She starts speeding to get away.
That's when the car's police lights come to life to pull her over.
My mother stops her car, gets out, and walks right up to the trooper's window. There are two of them in the car. A younger, newer one driving, the senior officer in the passenger seat. My mother knows both of them, by name. And the senior trooper is a regular at the diner.
My mother proceeds to shame the both of them right there on the side of the road.
"What the hell were you thinking, following me with your lights off? Do you know how scared I was? Did you think about what you were doing at all?"
The senior trooper muttered something along the lines of "I didnt recognize the car, and your shift doesn't end for-"
My mother had no time for his excuses, "I was going home early cause I had a migraine. These things happen. I don't care if you didn't recognize my car. You don't do that. You don't follow a woman like that. What is wrong with you?"
"You were speeding." The younger officer piped in. This was a mistake.
"A dark car, lights off, is following me down a dark country road in the middle of the night. Of course I started speeding. What is wrong with you?"
The senior trooper repeated under his breath "I didn't recognize the car."
My mom, who had no time for his bullshit, "I dont care if you didn't recognize my car, you had no business following anyone with your lights off like you did. Is this what you are teaching this boy. To stalk women at night? What is wrong with you?
The cops didnt have much of a defense for this. The younger repeated "you were speeding."
My mother glared at him before looking at the older one and saying "I will be going home now. I will be driving what ever speed I feel like, and I better not see either of you in the diner for at least a week."
She got back in her car and drove home. When two days later the two troopers came into the diner, she kicked them out. The younger trooper thought she was kidding, but the older one had a bit more common sense. She ended up banning them for two weeks, and in the first week she even banned other troopers from buying coffee to go for the shunned ones.
My mom is not to be messed with.