History Main / DontSneakUpOnMeLikeThat

* Occurs very early on during V4 of SurvivalOfTheFittest when Reika Ishida approaches Kris Hartmann from behind and tries talking to her. Startled by the voice, Kris immediately responds by spinning round and shooting Reika in the chest. In v3, according to [[AllThereInTheManual his profile]] Carson Baye once punched someone in the face for walking behind him. This is probably a ShoutOut to the ''Manga/ElfenLied'' example above.

* A basic equine safety rule is to NEVER approach them from directly behind. That's their blind spot, and their first instinct will be to kick at whatever is in that blind spot just in case it's a predator.

* In GrrlPower, Sydney reacts badly to the resident teleporter. She's gently encouraged to respond to surprises by putting her shield up rather than by socking people in the face.

* Apparently in the {{Mistborn}} series, an experienced Mistborn will flare all their metals when startled, and an experienced Misting may do this too with their one metal. However, sneaking up on an allomancer isn't easy, especially when they're burning tin, so it's unlikely for someone to sneak up on them by accident.

* In David Gunn's ''Literature/TheAux'' book Maximum Offense, Sven explains the "first second rule" to one of his auxiliaries: When you wake someone up and they hit you within the first second, it's uncontrolled and you shouldn't hold it against them. He's shown applying it equally with him and his subordinates.

* In David Gunn's ''Literature/TheAux'' book Maximum Offense, Sven explains the "first second rule" to one of his auxiliaries: When you wake someone up and they hit you within the first second, it's uncontrolled and you shouldn't hold it against them. He's shown applying it both ways.

* [[LastOfHisKind Yorick's]] reunion with his mother in ''YTheLastMan'' went more or less "She contemplates another night in a lantern-lit White House office two months after the {{Gendercide}}, he steps out of the shadows behind her with a crack about security, he ends up on his back via adrenaline-fueled shoulder throw."

-->The mantra from ''Film/TheDaysOfOurYears''

* In ''EndersGame'', Ender has a reflex self-defense reaction to Valentine touching him, showing how deeply he's been changed in his years at Battle School.

* A tragic example in ''TheSilmarillion'': [[spoiler:When Beleg Strongbow tries to rescue his friend Túrin Turambar, Túrin assumes it's another orc come to torture him, snatches Beleg's dagger, and kills him. Unsurprisingly, Túrin has an attack of [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone guilt-induced]] [[HeroicBSOD catatonia]].]]

* William Gibson's ''{{Neuromancer}}''. Case forgets to knock when dropping in on Molly.

* ''MysteryScienceTheater3000''. Crow learns from ''Film/TheDaysOfOurYears'' that when getting someone's attention while they're blowtorching something, they should use gentle pressure. Crow forgets, startles Mike and gets charcoaled.

* On ''CougarTown'', Laurie's soldier boyfriend Wade surprises her by popping out of a recycling bin, and she reacts by punching him.

* In HappyEndings, Jane really hates surprises. When her husband tries to surprise her with a list of future surprises she elbows him in the face.

* ''BloomCounty'', "The Great Bloom County Snake Massacre". Several main characters set out to kill a snake at the local swimming hole. In one strip Binkley was carrying a club when the groundhog Portnoy came up behind him, touched his shoulder and said "See anything?" Binkley, scared out of his mind, started wildly swinging the bat around and knocked Portnoy unconscious.

* The "Berserk" disadvantage in ''{{GURPS}}'', in addition to everything else the disadvantage entails (rabidly attacking every enemy on hand with whatever weapon is on hand), also conveys this, treating anyone trying to restrain the character, friend or enemy, as an enemy. Earlier editions nicknamed the berserker rage "the Doom of the North" for this very reason.
* The Berserk disadvantage/complication in ''{{Champions}}'' works like this.

* Occurs very early on during V4 of SurvivalOfTheFittest when Reika Ishida approaches Kris Hartmann from behind and tries talking to her. Startled by the voice, Kris immediately responds by spinning round and shooting Reika in the chest. In v3, according to [[AllThereInTheManual his profile]] Carson Baye once punched someone in the face for walking behind him. This is probably a ShoutOut to the ''ElfenLied'' example above.

* In ''HannaIsNotABoysName'' Veser meets the main characters this way in a haunted theatre. This is lampshaded on the next page.

* In ''Series/{{Angel}}'' the title character does this to often humorous results.

* This was apparently what happened when Dick Cheney accidentally shot his friend Harry Whitington during a quail hunt in 2006.