I park at the same parking deck every weekday since it’s pretty well priced. Every day for about 2 weeks when I left the lot, I saw the same guy. The first time he talked to me, he said something like “Long day?” I smiled and said yeah and nodded.
From there he started saying he wanted to see me smile and staring at me every day. He’d stare the entire time I paid for my ticket and it was starting to make me really uneasy. I thought it would stop since he didn’t say anything about it one day, but it picked right up the next day. I was starting to get anxious and stressed, and ended up panicking and driving away while he was in the middle of saying something.
I decided to directly tell him to leave me alone the next day. I was nervous, but resolved to do it. While I was paying for my ticket that day, he walked up and just kinda looked at me. He didn’t say anything, and I considered just driving away, but I wanted to speak up.
Calmly, I asked him to stop telling me to smile and said it was really making me uncomfortable. He quickly said okay and nodded, acting like he didn’t want to listen to anything else I had to say. I think he was mad that I drove away the previous day, and I’m kind of thankful that I did. I think it helped show that I didn’t like what he was doing.
This guy was taking advantage of being right there the entire time you pay for a ticket to stare and make these comments at me, and I’m probably not the only person he’s done it to. I hope he’ll think before he makes these unwanted comments to anyone else.
I didn’t complain to the company since he made an indication of respecting my wishes. I don’t plan to park there any more since I don’t want to see him again, but being able to say something took such a weight off my shoulders. I didn’t even realize how much this was affecting me until after I said something.
Optional: Do you have any suggestions for dealing with harassers and/or ending street harassment in general?
A person don’t have to say or do something lewd or sexual for your feelings of discomfort to be justified. It’s 100% okay to not speak up, but if you feel safe doing so, tell them to stop what they’re doing, or complain to their employer if possible. You may feel really relieved afterwards.
– Anonymous
Location: Uptown Charlotte, NC
Share your street harassment story for the blog.
See the book 50 Stories about Stopping Street Harassers for more idea
