upworthy

tiktok video

via Josie Bowers / TikTok

Josie Bowers, a 19-year-old woman from Canada, shared the story of how she thwarted an intruder when she was 15. The viral TikTok video is a harrowing tale and a valuable lesson for everyone to learn. Josie was staying with her family at the Ocean City Hilton in Ocean City, Maryland, when the incident occurred.

She went to her hotel room alone to take a shower while her family was on the beach. After getting out of the shower, she was alarmed when she noticed a long wire with a hook at the end wiggling its way out of the crack at the bottom of the front door. The hook was waving around, trying to catch the handle to open the door. It's amazing that no one in the hallway noticed the incredibly suspicious activity.

The intruders eventually caught the handle with the wire and pulled it down to enter the room. Without hesitation, Josie slammed the door shut and put on the deadbolt. "My main thought was holy sh*t, I'm in a towel right now and someone is about to break in and get me," she said on TikTok. "So the door opens a crack, and I just slammed it back shut and put the deadbolt on."

After the door was shut on the intruders, they pretended to work for the hotel. "So they tell me your keycard is broken and we need to get into the room and fix your keypad for you," she continued. "And so I open the door a tad bit, to see if it was a worker. It clearly wasn't, they were in jeans and a T-shirt. Hilton keeps it pretty classy, not the attire."

@josiebowers10

Reply to @emmade1rey #part2

Josie then remembered a trick that her stepfather, who's a police officer, once told her: Never let people know you're alone.

"I yelled 'Hey dad, there's someone here to fix the door.' As soon as they thought that I wasn't alone – and potentially my dad was there – they ran, they were gone," she said. A lot of people freeze in such a stressful situation but Josie was able to remember her stepfather's advice and it made all the difference.

Given their reaction, it's pretty clear that the intruders must have followed her up from the beach or had some inside information to know that she was alone. They didn't want anything to do with her father. "So I think I'm very smart for this one, my stepdad is a police officer, he taught me never to let people know you're alone. I yelled 'Hey dad, there's someone here to fix the door.' As soon as they thought that I wasn't alone, and potentially my dad was there. They ran, they were gone," she said.

@josiebowers10

Reply to @lionacreates #part3 #oceancity

The TikTokker shared the video to show others what they should do in a similar situation and to remind them to never let anyone know they are alone.

"I'm glad I had this experience so I can teach people about it. Obviously, I'm safe but it could have ended up a lot worse," she said. "Be safe, you can get door stoppers, always put on the deadbolt."


This article originally appeared four years ago.

Doorbell camera catches boy's rant about mom's chicken

When you're a kid you rarely have a lot of say in what you get to eat for dinner. The adult in your house is the one that gets to decide and you have to eat whatever they put on your plate. But one little boy is simply tired of eating chicken and he doesn't care who knows it. Well, he cares if his mom knows.

Lacy Marie uploaded a video from her doorbell camera to TikTok her son. The little boy is caught on camera taking the trash out venting about always having to eat chicken. He rants all the way to the trash can, being sure to get it out of his system before he makes it back into the house.

"Chicken. No more chicken. Tell me you like, we have chicken every day. Eat this, eat that, eat more chicken, keep eating it," the 10-year-old complains. "It's healthy for you. Like, we get it. We have chicken every day."

Apparently the little boy doesn't think eating chicken every day is good for his gains at the gym as he says he works out. He does not care about lean protein and likely doesn't care about whatever science is behind chicken being a healthy food to consume for muscle development. He. Doesn't. Want. Chicken. And it seems like the commenters under the video are on his side.

"Give that man a steak," one person says.

"My dud has been married for 25 years and he's had enough," another jokes.

"Every single day of his years?! Really mom?," someone laughs

"I'm thinking you need to give chicken a break. He's been eating it everyday of all of his years," a commenter writes.

Even Sam's Club got in on the jokes saying, "chickens hearing this," with two eye emojis with an open mouth. Poor little guy, the internet is on your side, maybe you'll get some burgers instead.

Check out the video below:

@user484367054

10-year-old caught on doorbell cam venting!! #hilarious #nomorechicken #heworksout

This article originally appeared in March.

Internet

PR expert gives a fascinating insider breakdown of what goes into a celebrity public apology

"The words that you use need to rebuild and not create more agitation online."

PR expert gives breakdown of celebrity public apologies

At this point in time we're all pretty familiar with celebrity public apologies. Some big name makes a misstep, people ensure the celebrity sees their outrage and within a few days there's a public apology that feels sincere...sort of.

Then there are those that clearly either didn't listen to their PR people or decided to side step them. Those particular PR-less apologies feel disastrous and typically makes things much worse.

The truth of the matter is, people generally aren't taught how to apologize appropriately. Sure as little kids our grown-ups would say things like, "tell your brother you're sorry," sometimes guiding us to name what we are sorry for but that's about it. As you age your infractions evolve from apologizing for hitting your sibling with a toy to something more egregious like accidentally offending an entire community.

But with social media making viral celebrities every day, regular people are given the same opportunity to need to apologize publicly - minus the PR team. That's where Molly McPherson steps in.


Nothing about issuing a public apology sounds in any way delightful. It sounds terrifying, nausea inducing and honestly a bit humiliating to have messed up in such a public way that calls for public atonement. Since most regular folks on social media don't have PR people whispering in their ear, McPherson uses the recent public apology of an influencer to breakdown where they went wrong and how you should handle it. The video should probably be saved on every influencers phone, sort of like a "break in case of emergency" type of thing.

Lunden and Olivia who had been deemed #RelationshipGoals by their social media followers recently got into hot water after Lunden's old tweets surfaced showing frequent use of a racial slur. The firestorm swirled while they were on their honeymoon leaving them a PR disaster to return to. McPherson had a lot to say about what it's like to be in the room with the person needing to apologize before diving into the apology video the duo released.

"There's going to be a lot of denial and a lot of anger." McPherson says before pointing to Olivia's face on a green screen behind her. "This face, that's the face of anger. They're angry and they should be because someone curiously timed the drop on Reddit, those tweets, to hit the algorithm just as they were headed off to their honeymoon."

She goes on to explain that in many cases, the people she's working with either know who leaked the information or have a good idea of who leaked it. This is likely why there seems to be a disconnect between visible emotions and what's being said.

@mollybmcpherson

How to Craft a Social Media Apology: Lessons from Lunden + Olivia. Ever wonder how to gracefully deliver an online apology? A brief masterclass breaking down the do’s and dont’s of crafting an apology that works. Mistakes happen, but knowing how to correct them helps with the bounce back. #lundenandolivia #lundenstallings #tweets #crisiscommunication #prlady #pr #prcrisis #socialmedia #fyp #socialmediacrisis #influencer #greenscreen #masterclass

"It's not just understanding what you're going through but also understanding what the aggrieved parties are going through," McPherson states.

The purpose of understanding these initial parts of the apology process and implementing them is to set yourself up to regain trust later. McPherson then goes further in breaking down Lunden's apology step-by-step and providing further expert feedback on what to do differently. The entire video is eye opening on the behind the scenes dissection of the "perfect apology."

Couple investigating noises accidentally awaken a bear.

It's not uncommon to hear something outside of your house, especially if it's close to trash pick-up day. Raccoons and stray cats treat an overflowing trashcan like a holiday dinner, and even if you weren't sure if you heard something or not, the torn trash bags confirm your suspicion.

This is a pretty universal experience in America, so hearing a rustle under your house typically conjures images of a trash panda that got stuck. But for one family, the noises weren't coming from a raccoon at all. In a viral video on TikTok that has over 10 million views, a couple is outside looking for the source of the noises they've been hearing. The woman is filming at a fairly safe distance, while the guy investigates their crawl space.

Everything is going well. They hear what sounds like a hiss and with relief exclaim that it's a raccoon.

They were wrong. Like pee your pants, everyone for themselves, wrong.


As the man tries to move whatever is blocking access to the crawl space, he stands back and sprays something into the small opening. Another man is seen holding a broom to help shoo the little mask-wearing friend on its way, when the panel that closes the area starts to move, right before it busts open from the inside.

In that moment, the man forgot he had a wife and a friend. He ran as he yelled, "Oh, it's a bear!"

If you live in an area that frequently has bear sightings, it's important to remember that bears like to hide in dark cool places, like crawl spaces or under a pool deck. So secure your crawl spaces and other areas around your home that might make a bear think it's a good place to take a long nap. No one wants to explain why they hurdled their kids and stiff-armed their grandma to get back into their house.

Watch the video below:

@badthingswithfunnypeople

Didn’t see that coming!😂🤣#fyp #Fyp #fypシ #foryou #fyppppppppppppppppppppppp #viral #viralvideo #viraltiktok #foryoupage #funny #funnyvideos #funnyvideo #funnyvideos😂 #funnyy #ohno #bear #bears #bearsoftiktok #uhoh #uhohspaghettios #uhohgottago #crazy #crazystory4