"Point that thing at me and I'm calling the police!"

That's what a bald headed, middle-aged man said to me as he walked up to my right, where my camera was slung over my shoulder, hanging against my hip. There I was minding my own business, with both hands occupied, holding open a copy of the 'Metro' and was actually reading it, when this wacko came up to me from behind and delivered the 'threat'. I was stunned for a moment and was caught, not knowing how to reply. As I mustered "But I'm not even holding my camera!", the man of average height, dressed in full black walked away, out of earshot. That's the first incident.
Then on another occasion, I saw the potential for a nice pic as I was emerging from Kenmore T station, walking up the flight of steps which would bring me from darkness into light. As I looked up, I saw two toddlers standing at the top of the stairs, and my immediate instinct was to bring my camera to my eye quickly and make a shot. However, before I could snap, I saw through my viewfinder, the mother of the kids quickly pulling them away from my line of view and I could hear her saying something like, "quickly move away!" Of course that totally ruined that potentially nice pic and I made one shot and continued up the steps. As I passed them, the mother rebuked me and said, " You shouldn't be taking pictures of kids randomly!" I muttered a soft sorry but again, I don't think she heard me.
Thereafter, I was a little hesitant to shoot people face-on and laid off it for awhile. I related these incidents to my PJ Prof and he made me share the stories with my class and opened it for discussion, about some of the difficulties of shooting on the streets.
Here's the pix that almost was...
You can just see the mom's finger motioning her daughter to move towards her and out of my sight. The pix would not have been a winner anyway cos that man suddenly came into the frame. Geez, got scolded for nothing!