So, I was grocery shopping tonight when I noticed a sort of creepy dude with no cart, no basket and nothing in his arms walking behind me toward a quieter end of the grocery store. I am highly aware of my surroundings so I noticed that I was alone with this guy in the pharmacy section. I did a few weird loops and movements and made some unpredictable moves. Then I didn't think about it again until I was checking out (I always, always use self check out, it's just my thing). I noticed the guy was walking out of the store with nothing. And he looked at me. And he looked at my like 5 pauses too long. My mind started racing immediately- cram my stuff into as few bags as possible to get the car loaded as quickly as possible. Who can I ask to walk me out to my car? I was looking for the cart guy who I recognized from shopping before and who I'd seen inside while I was shopping. No luck. As I'm walking toward the door I noticed the cart guy outside, whew- awesome. He's outside, my cars right there, perfect. Except as I'm walking through the door he is joined by a friend and they turn the corner and are out of sight. By the time this all happens I'm outside. I'm outside in a parking lot at night by myself after someone has seriously creeped me out. And for all I know the guy is outside too. It's then I notice that I stupidly parked my car on the second row of spaces and I cannot see it. And that's when I spotted a guy who I can only describe as very similar in type to JWoww's boyfriend Roger- that type. Tall, big, nice face. He's sort of half looking at his phone. I sized him up real fast and he didn't seem like the predator type. So I said "Excuse me, someone sort of creeped me out inside and I'm a little nervous, would you mind staying outside with me while I load up my car?" He was very obliging, and asked if the guy was following me, if I was okay. He told me you never know about people these days.
To be honest, I hate talking to strangers so I probably would have kept my keys in my hand and bolted for my car. But I think your solution is better -- it's totally legit, and probably always safer, to rely on your intuition, both to trust "Roger" and distrust the creeper.
ReplyDeleteEchoing Novice Wife here, always trust your gut. If you don't have a good feeling about the situation there is probably a reason. Never assume that you're the crazy one. The unfortunate fact is that there are predators out there in every neighborhood. A grocery store at night? Totally. How many stories can you think of where a woman was just picked up after walking to her car. Too many and that's scary. I would have totally chatted "Roger" up. Maybe would have just smiled and said 'hello' to make sure someone knew I was out there and could help if I shouted. I don't think you were wrong at all. If nothing else, you can be assured you were right in that "Roger" went right along with you and asked about the creeper. He's clearly a good dude with a mother, a sister or a girlfriend (JWoww??) and cares about women enough to know that there are other men out there who prey on women.
ReplyDeleteYea.. Once I was safely driving away I thought of "Rog" going home to "Jwoww" and feeling very heroic about what he did tonight. That pleased me.
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