Christen Hill

I was just going about my business, working this past weekend in my role as a Promotions driver / announcer for a local radio station, when some random guy with a penchant for reptiles decided to ruin it all......

I know I'm not the only one for whom an up close and personal encounter with a snake is a terrifying nightmare......you know, I wouldn't mind losing a leg to a shark but there's something about snakes that just scares me like nothing else.....

Maybe its that Dad put a red bellied black snake he'd just killed into the foundation concrete of my soon to be bedroom as a young child....or the fact that they bite....and kill.....(yes, I know...not all of them do)......or just that they're damn scary to some of us....

All I know is that its rude to invade one's personal space...whether you have an 8 metre python around your neck or not....manners people!

So here I am this past Saturday, trying to give away freebies to hordes of desperate people who aren't happy with just a drink....but just keep standing around waiting for more.......

AND I turn around from the back of the truck to the head of a HUGE snake literally 15 cm from my face......

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Yes I was there to promote the opening of a new pet store...great store too.....but did anyone ask me if i wanted to watch my life flash before my lives.....NO

So there I am....I let out an ear-piercing scream...and start to cry uncontrollably....
so not cool I hear you say.........well you try coming face to face with the inspiration for the House of Slitheren and get back to me?

So this guy obviously doesn't realise that some people have phobias...some people not only don't like snakes, they're #%!& scared of them......

Even worse though...the freaky people who still stand there demanding free stuff while I have tears rolling down my face and my whole body is shaking.....shame on you desperate souls who cant see that I've just endured the most terrifying experience to date in my life and all in front of a bunch of people who couldn't be bothered to spend a dollar on a packet of chips at the shop......

There...I feel much better now that i have managed to get that out.

Thanks however to the handful of normal earthlings who felt for me....and said rather loudly, "dude...you've got to learn that not all people like reptiles"........

Yeah. Not all people like reptiles. Even fewer people actually want one as a pet. If they do.....at least they know that hey...it can roam around their house.....just not mine....


Here: PROOF humans on the whole are afraid of snakes.....

(Fear of Snakes, Spiders Rooted in Evolution, Study Finds

John Roach
for National Geographic News

October 4, 2001
"Aaaaaaaahhhh!!!!!" The mere sight of a snake or spider strikes terror in the hearts of millions of people.


A new study suggests that such fear has been shaped by evolution, stretching back to a time when early mammals had to survive and breed in an environment dominated by reptiles, some of which were deadly. )