I strolled into my local supermarket on a bright Thursday evening after a long day at work, with thoughts of what to eat on my mind, at the entrance I leaned over to get a shopping basket. I was greeted with the smell of roasted chicken on my left and freshly baked cakes on my right. I strolled through the store adding healthy and ‘not so healthy’ items into my basket.
“Excuse me”, “excuse me please”. I heard. I was engrossed reading the amount of calories on the packet of blueberry muffins that had taken my interest, as I turned around to see the store’s security man standing behind me – panicky, and trying desperately to get my attention.
“Yes” I said, as thoughts wondered, “What could I have done”. “Erm, erm, sorry to disturb you”, he hesitated. He continued: “If you see something on the shelf you like, what will you do”? “Excuse me”, I said. “I don’t understand your question”. I was confused. What was he talking about? He seemed hopeful, as he repeated the same question and I answered without being rude.
“I don’t know what you mean”. “Well”, he said, “Erm, erm, I don’t mean to disturb you but I have seen something I like and I thought I’d come and talk to you”. He continued: “I think you are very beautiful and I could not help but talk to you”.
I was not amused that this man was trying to chat me up when he was supposed to be on duty, it seemed too forward for my liking with his unintelligent chat up line and comparing me to something on the shelf didn’t help.
He introduced himself to me and asked for my name, which I told him; unfortunately I couldn’t give him a false name because that would be lying. I was trying to be as firm as possible without being disrespectful or discourteous, after all this was my local supermarket that I visited at least twice a week. I tried my best to hold my urge to express my true feelings. He was on duty for goodness sake, in his uniform with hat, security badge and all. He was supposed to make customers and staff feel secure, he was supposed to be looking out for everyone.
He kept persisting even though he was on duty, totally disregarded his job by running to catch up with me as I walked out of the store. It was crazy; this man followed me out of the store and started to call my name. I thought if I didn’t answer him, he’d get the message and go away, but he kept on calling my name. My pace grew, I started to walk as fast as my legs could carry me and to my amazement he was still following me and shouting my name. His voice got louder and louder as he continued to follow me so I had to stop.
“I don’t wish to bother you, neither am I asking for your number” he said, “But I assume you live around here and you will be visiting the store again soon”. He waited for a reply and I gave none, so he continued. “So, erm, erm, can I come and say hello to you when next you come”.
I was unwilling to answer but my thoughts stayed silent and ‘okay’ seemed to be the simplest thing to say, big mistake! A sense of discouragement gripped me every time I needed to go to the store and I would only go if really necessary, not because I was scared of him, but because I knew where his chat-up lines were leading to, which were of no interest to me.
He approached me again as I left the store on another occasion. Running after me again, he said: “I have been thinking about you and wondering when I would see you next. I don’t want to have to wait for you to come to the store again before I see you, so is there any way that I can contact you.” I knew this was coming, and I was trying so hard to avoid this question. I looked at him with a sigh of frustration. ‘I have to go’, I said.
I wondered if he ever noticed my irritable expressions and my continual annoyance. I could no longer hide my feelings and even though I had not confronted him, my face surely did.
On one friday evening, I was cooking for some friends and realised I had no rice “Oh no I thought, I have to go to that store” but why should I be scared to visit the store because of some man, I thought, with that I made my way to the store.
As I walked in I saw no sign of him; relieved I grabbed the item from the shelf. However he suddenly appeared in front of me with a smile of excitement. ‘Not again’, I thought. “Why are you posing?” he said.
“What?”, I thought. That was it, I was having no more of this, “Just leave me alone”, I said, “I am not interested and I will report you to management if you speak to me again”, with those words I walked away and to my amazement he did not follow me. That was the last time I saw him.
Moral of the story: As a born-again Christian, I always try my best to be courteous; I had hoped he would get the message. I know some ladies like to make it clear, with words like ‘it will never happen’. It sounds harsh, but in cases like this one it is most suited because some people just don’t understand subtle hints. I don’t think anyone should be ridiculed or disrespected for showing interest in you, but I would say give a truthful reply to a chat-up line, because trying to be nice doesn’t always pay!