Rant Time 3

Drug Store Predator|Story Time

Ever walk into a public space and see people who don't quite fit in? People who look odd? People who look suspicious and. . .scary? People who look like they're out to find some prey?
I have. Today was my first time being hit on by a random stranger after he stalked me around the drug store for ten minutes.
This story is on the mild side of r/letsnotmeet on Reddit, but it still was unnerving to me because I'm young and this has never happened to me before, and especially because I was all alone.
I was in Walgreens to pick up some cotton balls for the kids' cotton candy art project and some Sprite for my mom because she isn't feeling too good, and when I walked in, I saw a guy, maybe mid-thirties, scraggly beard and dirty clothes, hanging around. Standard, cliche predator. Whatever. This is a big city. Nothing new. Ignore him.
I walked towards to the Halloween section first (because we all know me) and went to the toy/craft section to look for glitter. The guy came behind me and was looking at the toys--but wasn't actually looking at them, if you know what I mean. He kept going behind me and I sidestepped out of his way each time.
I picked out a giant Uno card set for myself and left the section to grab the cotton balls. He was gone for a minute, but when I went back to the Halloween section, he was standing at the end of the toy isle looking at me. At this point, I was kinda creeped out and realized what was going on. I'm not dumb. He was following me
and looking me up and down.
I grabbed some small Halloween toys for the kids' prizes and went to the back of the store to get the Sprite. Grabbed the bottle of Sprite and made my way to the register. I just wanted to get out and back to my mom's car without dealing with him.
When I got to the register, the guy was in the candy aisle right behind the register and was looking around. I quickly put all of my stuff on the counter, punched in my mom's phone number on the PIN machine to get a discount, and stuck my debit card in to pay. Finally the gay came behind me with a single packet of gum. Gum. Looked around for ten minutes and only bought gum? That was at the front of the store? Right. I knew what he was up to. He was really close to me, like almost touching my ass, close.
The cashier looked really uncomfortable. So did I. As I was punching in my PIN number on the pad, the guy spoke up.
"Hey, I think you're really beautiful. Would you like to, you know, go to the Wendy's across the street with me?"
Complete with predator smile and that slow leaning closer to me. Fucking hell. He reeked of. . .something. Not sure what.
I was so flustered and I just said, bug-eyed, "No. No thanks."
The cashier was subtly beckoning towards the door, as a way of telling me to get the fuck out. She didn't have to tell me twice. I grabbed my bags (almost left my debit card in a hurry) and ran out. I could still feel that guy's stare going right through the back of my head. Or my ass. Not sure which.
My mom was parked right out front, so I threw all the bags in there, got in, and told her to get the fuck out of there. I told her, with short and panicked breaths, that there was a weird guy following me and I needed to get out before he saw what car I was in. Didn't even put on my seatbelt.
My mom took off, but she found this somewhat humorous. This has happened to her several times that she's used to it. But I'm not. I think it's disgusting. People say I look older than I am, but this guy was clearly a lot older than me. Even the cashier was creeped out by this dude. There was something terribly off.
I got out of that situation without having to rack him in his balls, but what if I didn't? What if I didn't have a ride back to work? He would have followed me.
Bonus: we drove through that parking lot again five minutes later and he was walking to the craft store. With no gum or receipt in hand. My mom said he's gross. It's more than gross. It's just downright nasty.
I'm grateful it wasn't an "if all else fails" situation, but it could have been worse. I was able to say no and get away. This isn't a story that people get worked up over or say "CALL THE POLICE" to, but it's genuinely scary.
I would've said something snappy like "my girlfriend wouldn't like that" but I was kind of frozen. It was just one of those flustered and blinding moments.
If this happens to you, do your best to subtly get yourself out. If self-defense is needed, use it. Call the police if all else fails. Too many perverts get away with shit like this.
I think I'm overthinking this too much, but it could've been worse. It's the first time that's happened to me, and it's not like you expect this to happen on the daily. You just hope it doesn't.
To the old creepy dude who tried to lure me, a teenage girl, on a date and who knows where after that, let's not meet. Again.
~
P.S. I told Elia about this and she wanted to chop his head off. Fuck, I love my girlfriend.
~
Sierra 🌙