16-year-old asked a Starbucks employee to walk her to her car after two older men catcalled her — what waited around the corner terrified them both
Sometimes that uneasy feeling in your gut is worth listening to, even when you can't explain where it's coming from. That's the lesson Instagram creator Savannah Phillips learned when trusting her gut at 16 almost saved her life. She drove to Malibu after an argument with her mom, and around 4 p.m. on a Sunday, she stopped at a busy Malibu Starbucks surrounded by families. There, she was catcalled by two older men who appeared to be in their 50s or 60s, and that's when she asked a teenage employee for help. She shared the story on Instagram under the handle @thatsavchick on September 19, 2026, and what happened when they reached her car showed just how important that instinct had been.
As Phillips walked into the Starbucks, two men catcalled her, leaving her uncomfortable. Although she considered going back to her car, she went inside and ordered a coffee. When both men disappeared, she asked a 17-year-old employee to walk her to her car, and he agreed. But when they turned the corner, one of the men was standing by her car. The employee immediately put his arm in front of her and yelled, “What the f*** were you going to do? Get out of here. What are you doing?” Seconds later, a van pulled around the corner, and someone opened its rear door. The man jumped in before it sped away.
Phillips said she was left shaking after the men drove away, and people nearby quickly came over after hearing the commotion. Several asked if she was okay and offered to call her parents, but she explained that she lived in West Hollywood and was far from home. One mother then asked if she had enough gas to make it back, and when Phillips realized she needed some, the woman offered to follow her to a gas station with her husband and children and pump the gas for her.
Looking back, Phillips said it was "one of the most terrifying moments" of her life. She wished she had remembered the Starbucks employee's name so she could thank him, but she never saw him again and avoided that Starbucks for a long time because she was traumatized by what happened. Phillips ended her story with a message for anyone who finds themselves in a similar situation: "It is never embarrassing to ask for help." She said that especially when your gut is telling you something isn't right, it's important to listen to that instinct and get help rather than ignore it.
A gut feeling may not tell the whole story, but it can encourage people to be more cautious when something feels off. In a related story, a woman named Megan noticed a man standing beside her car after she had seen him near a Target entrance. Instead of ignoring the feeling, she went back inside and asked a store employee to walk her out, and the man appeared to back away once he saw she wasn't alone. The experience left her convinced that listening to her gut had been the right choice.
For more of her content, you can follow @thatsavchick on Instagram.