Hello. I am a 15 year old teenager who loves grocery shopping with my family. Up until now….
It all started a couple months ago, when I locked eyes with a male co-worker who seems to be in their mid-20s. He didn’t look away, and he stared at me intensely while he fidgeted with the checkout divider. I didn’t think much of it, until he walked past me and maintained eye contact the entire time. I brushed it off, thinking I was just a paranoid little girl who is insecure. However, the next time I went with my parents, he stared at me again. And again. And it went on for months. I would always joke around with my friends and cousins talking about the “creepy guy” and how he would always stare me down. However, recently, it has gotten tremendously bad.
Yesterday, my cousin, who is a year older than me and is also a female, decided to go to Whole Foods with me to see what was going on. She originally thought I was exaggerating the incident a bit, until she witnessed what I witnessed. She mentioned that she saw him staring me up and down, over and over again, especially when my parents weren’t around. She was concerned, because he wasn’t being discreet about it at all. When I heard this, I wanted to projectile vomit all over the place and I also wanted to punch him in the balls. When she saw him in the act of glaring at me inappropriately, she gave him a death stare and flailed her hands around saying “What do you want?” Caught off guard, the employee immediately averted his eyes and pretended that nothing happened.
After getting food from the hot bar, we sat down to eat together with my parents, with the worker still in sight. (My parents at the time knew everything that was going on, but they didn’t really witness him stare me up and down inappropriately because he didn’t do it when they were around). When we were eating, I locked eyes with him and gave him a disgusted look; same with my cousin. However, he still kept glancing at me (trying to be secretive about it). What really creeped me out, however, was how charming and normal he acted towards his co-workers; he was so nonchalant all the time, that nobody would be able to tell that he stares down little girls. Also, despite giving him disgusted looks and stuff, he still continued. I was getting really uncomfortable and furious, so we made a plan. My dad was going to stay behind us while we exited to see if the worker would be looking us up and down; if he saw the guy looking, he would confront him. It worked, the employee took the bait and started looking me up and down and my dad saw him and caught him in the act.
My dad KINDLY and CALMLY approached him, saying, “We have noticed the past few moments that you are staring at our little girl inappropriately who is 15 years old. She is a minor, so please stop looking at her in a sexual way and leave her alone.” (My dad is VERY calm, he didn’t yell or anything.) The employee then got extremely nervous and started stuttering everywhere, saying “I-I didn’t mean it like that, I am sorry- I didn’t mean that… I-I-I” and he kept flailing his hands everywhere, with his voice shaking (we saw everything happen through the window when we were outside.) My dad calmly replied “Just please stop staring her down. Thank you.” And walked away, without causing anymore commotion.
Shortly after everything happened, we were freaking out and laughing our asses off at the same time, talking over and over about this event. My mom then had a live chat with the management of Whole Foods about the entire situation, and told them the name of the employee, the time the event happened, and that it has been going on for MONTHS. The management apologized, and said they would look into this situation to see what is going on.
I am glad I coerced my parents into reporting this incident, and bringing light to it rather than ignoring it, because he could be doing this to other girls as well. Who knows, maybe he is a serial killer too. I am not trying to be judgmental, but rather discerning. Something about him is extremely off; especially his body language. For instance, he acts completely normal around his co-workers and customers, and is extremely charming, but then he acts extremely inappropriately towards me, which makes me wonder who he really is. In addition, when my dad confronted him, all of his co-workers looked shocked, almost as if they would have never believe this guy to do what he has done. My cousin has grown up with an abusive father and other abusive male-figures throughout her life, and she said that she knows what a psychopath looks/acts like, and that this guy reminds her of one. That’s a huge red flag. And in case you’re wondering, yes, I do look like a 15 year old. Even younger. I am 5 feet tall, and I have a baby face. I don’t wear makeup, and I always wear baggy shirts with workout shorts. Perhaps maybe he assumes I am older because of my behavior, but that doesn’t make it valid to stare me down inappropriately like that.
I hope this inspires other people to report instances like this. Always trust your gut, don’t be scared of being seen as someone who is overreacting or trying to cause trouble. If your gut tells you that something is wrong, act on it.