I was down in Tucson last week doing a job near the university and drove past this old coffee shop where me and my old crew lead used to grab breakfast before early shifts. That guy was tough as nails, like he'd yell at you for leaving a rake out but then buy you lunch if you were working hard. I lost touch with him after I left that company to start my own thing, and I keep going back and forth on reaching out. Part of me thinks, man, he was a good mentor and I owe him a lot, so I should just send a message. But then the other part of me remembers how he handled conflict, like he'd hold grudges over dumb stuff and I was the one who quit without really saying goodbye. Did any of you track down an old boss or coworker and have it go well, or did it just stir up old drama? I'm stuck on whether to send that Facebook message or leave it alone.
Last month I was dead set on finding my foreman from a job site in Austin back in 2022. Guy named Hank. He was a hard boss, always on my case about measuring twice. I wanted to find him just to tell him he was right about a framing mistake I made that cost us a day. But last week I ran into his old partner at Home Depot. He told me Hank passed away from a heart attack six months ago. Kinda changed my whole reason for looking. Now I just want to find his family to say he taught me something. Anyone else ever look for someone and the reason shifts halfway through?
I spent like 2 years trying to find my buddy Marcus from the 2014 Tuesday Night Bowlers league. I tried searching his name, checking LinkedIn, even asked around at the old alley... nothing. Then last month I just posted a blurry team photo from 2014 on the town's "You Know You're From Smallville" Facebook page, no names even. Within 6 hours some random lady commented "that's my cousin's ex-boyfriend's brother, I'll tag him!" and I had Marcus messaging me by the next morning. Has anyone else had luck with just throwing old photos out into random community groups?
I paid $30 to run a Facebook ad looking for my old college roommate Dave from our dorm in Phoenix, thinking it would be a funny way to find him. Instead, three different guys named Dave messaged me claiming to be him, and one even tried to sell me a used couch. Has anyone else tried spending money to track someone down and ended up with total chaos instead?
I paid $200 for one of those premium people search sites to track down an old high school buddy, and all it gave me was a wrong address from 2014. Then I found him in ten minutes just by asking a mutual friend on Facebook. Anyone else had bad luck with those paid search tools?
I was looking up old school directories on the Wayback Machine last night and found his name on a ballot from 2022, which is wild because I still remember him eating a whole sleeve of saltines during a pop quiz.
After he walked out I realized I never got his name, and now my machine is making that same clatter again, has anyone ever tracked down a random helpful stranger from a public place?
I was scrolling through Facebook last night and a memory popped up from October 2019. It was a photo of me and four other guys from my computer science class at City College. We used to meet at that dingy library basement every Tuesday and Thursday at 6pm sharp. One guy, Sam, always brought a bag of pretzels and we would split it while cramming for exams. I haven't talked to any of them since the pandemic hit and classes went online. Last I heard, two of them moved out of state and one changed his number. Has anyone here actually managed to track down an old study buddy after years of no contact?
I finally tracked down Mike from 11th grade chemistry class last week. We used to skip lunch and mess around with old car parts in his garage. Found him through his sister on Facebook. Turns out he moved to some commune in Oregon 5 years ago and now he's selling essential oils and talking about 'frequency healing'. I just wanted to see if he still had my old socket set. Has anyone else had a reunion go completely sideways like that?
I tracked down Sarah Miller in Austin TX last month, the girl who taught me how to ride a bike without training wheels back in 2005. We swapped three messages about old times then she stopped replying completely, even left me on read after I asked if she remembered that time we both fell into the creek behind her house. Has anyone else had an old friend totally disappear after getting back in touch and did you ever figure out why?
I ran into Jake at a Fred Meyer near my place, he used to sit two desks over at that tech startup we both hated. He looks totally different now, shaved his head and seemed way more relaxed than the guy who always stressed about quarterly targets. Has anyone else had a run-in with an old coworker where they barely recognized them, and what changed?}
He said all the big brands come from the same factory anyway, so I saved $8 a change for two years before my engine seized up. Has anyone else had bad luck trusting old shop advice like that?
I finally noticed how faded and weird my favorite denim jacket from 2019 looked compared to my buddy's same model, and he said he never washes his denim only spot cleans it and sticks it in the freezer. Now I feel like an idiot for tossing it in the machine every other month has anyone else ruined a good jacket this way?
The seller swore it was from the 90s but the fabric felt like a shower curtain and the zipper broke on the first pull. Anyone else get burned by one of those 'thrift flip' scams?
I've been trying to track down Jenny Kowalski for like 8 years, the one I lived with freshman year at UNLV. Tried Facebook, LinkedIn, even paid for one of those people search sites and got nothing useful. Last week I was at the downtown library and saw their public computer reservation list and figured why not try searching library records, turns out she works at the circulation desk there now. Has anyone else had luck finding people through random public spaces like libraries or community centers?