“Daddy, I Didn’t Draw That” — Man’s Weird Feeling of Crossing Guard Escalates After Interaction

A father who was suspicious of the effervescent attitude a school's crossing guard had whenever interacting with his daughter believes he may've gotten some proof of the man's strange behavior. He posted about his interactions with the traffic safety worker in a viral TikTok clip.

The social media user, who goes by Mr. Martinez (@ambiguousmatt) delineated what went down in him and his daughter's interactions with the guard in question.

Several people who responded to Martinez stated that they too thought something was off about the man. Others thought he shouldn't have requested his daughter be polite towards the man.

"So there's this crossing that my daughter and I see every day on our way to school when I go to drop her off." He goes on to say that since the beginning of the school year, he and his daughter have always made sure to exchange pleasantries with the crossing guard and say hello.

This is despite the fact, Martinez says, that he had a "weird feeling" about the man in his "gut." The reason why his "dad mode" was "engaged," the TikToker says, is because the man "barely interacts with" him whenever they talk. Instead, the man focuses his attention on his daughter.

Martinez then goes on to act out the man's overly enthusiastic way of speaking to his child, and it's a stark contrast from the tone and temperament of the way he speaks to Martinez.

At first, he just thought the behavior was a "little weird" and "odd." However, his suspicions were confirmed when "something crazy happened" involving the crossing guard in question.

Martinez says that he and his daughter were "On [their] way back from school." Next, he narrates what went down: "He sees us walking up. And I always, always, always put her to the side opposite him, and this time he crossed over to her side, right. So I'm like get away from her, switch her over to the other side."

He explains why he did the switch up: "Cause I'm like that's weird, getting ready to switch her over to the other side. And he says, 'Oh hey guys, good to see ya.'" Following this, the crossing guard then tells Martinez that he "want[s] to show" his daughter "something."

Martinez obliges the man. "OK. So he takes his phone out and he shows her a picture of a drawing like a kid's drawing of Mario and Luigi that he framed. He said 'Look, I took the picture you gave me and I framed it.' What do you think of that? And I'm like that's, that's odd. And I was just trying to be nice, because you know we're in public and God forbid, I got, my daughter, nobody worry, I'm still gonna polite."

"And I'm like, 'Isn't that nice?'" He then instructs his daughter to thank the crossing guard for sharing the picture with her. "Then immediately as soon as we get far away enough, my daughter goes, 'Daddy I didn't draw that.' And that's when I knew, I knew something was off."

Martinez goes on to temper his suspicions of the man, but still persists in stating that there's something off about him.

"Now I'm not saying anything. This guy might be very, well-meaning. And unassuming, but you know, your gut, is hardly wrong. And that sort of interaction made me think to myself, I bet money that this guy acts that way to all of the children."

Furthermore, the TikToker went on to state that he would never act in the same manner to anyone who isn't an "immediate family member" or one of his "nephews."

"I'm not framing a piece of art given to me by another kid. I could totally be off base here, but, you know when your gut has a feeling, you can't ignore it. That just felt odd to me," he says at the end of the clip.

Several TikTok users who replied to Martinez's video believed he was reinforcing poor personality choices in his daughter by telling her to be polite to a guy who even creeped him out.

"Please, please, please make sure she knows she is never under any obligation to be polite to men who creep her out. She can walk on by without a word and feel just fine about it," one person said.

Another replied, "Don’t teach your daughter to be polite to strange men."

Martinez also wrote in the comments section that he would prefer to err on the side of caution when it comes to his child's safety.

"I’d rather be vigilant and wrong than passive and right."

While there were other users on the application who had theories of their own. "Here is my true crime opinion lol. He had a daughter, and ur daughter reminds him of her. Keep her away. True crime has made me very suspicious."

Whereas another said that the crossing guard was attempting to test Martinez's reaction as a father to see if he could potentially get away with something in the future. "He’s testing you as a Dad. To test your reaction. He was seeing if you would dig in and react. Easy prey if you don’t act like you care. You need to act suspicious if you witness something question it."