In a large city, no matter what time of day or night you go somewhere, there will always be other people. Sometimes that’s good, and sometimes it’s not.
Tuesday evening I went to Kroger to get boxes, but there were none. So I drove to lots of other places and scared people by going behind stores to pick up boxes that I spied with my eagle vision. That’s a joke–the eagle vision, not the scaring people, including a couple who was walking down an alley toward a small apartment. In the normal course of things, there’d have been no reason for a car to be in that alley, and I could tell they felt threatened. I quickly rolled down my window and told them I was just there to get boxes that I’d spotted. I could see that the woman still felt a little edgy, and I felt bad for scaring her.
When I got home, Tom and Tim packed up a storm and used up the boxes I’d gotten. So later, when Tim went to Kroger, I went with him, in case they were finally stocking the shelves and had some empty boxes.
The stockers were still at the stage where they were just moving stuff into the aisles, so I couldn’t get more boxes. What I did get was a pervert. This guy in a black coat who was talking to himself and carrying several balloons that he kind of hid behind, came up to me and said, “Shake my hand.” I was all, “Huh?” His gaze was fixed on my breasts, and I started backing away from him. He reached out and TOOK MY HAND.
Do y’all know me? Those who do know that YOU DON’T TOUCH ME, ever, without permission. I was appalled and said, “What are you doing? Get away from me!” Then I backed away and began maneuvering through aisles, around boxes, sort of looking for Tim. But Balloon Man kept spotting me and trying to meet up with me again, so I went to the front of the store and sat on a bench near where the security guard was. Then Balloon Man got in line to pay and kept staring at me.
Which is when Tim arrived and I fled to him and said, “You must stand very, very close to me and be my boyfriend.” He already knew why; he’d noticed Balloon Man, too. As we were walking out, with Tim staying between me and Balloon Man, I heard Balloon Man say, “There you are!” Tim and I hurried past him and got inside the car. When we looked back, Balloon Man was standing in front of the store with a cell phone up to his ear. Whatever. We took a different route home. And then I couldn’t go back later to get the empty boxes.
To that couple that I inadvertently scared, I’m SORRY!
Karma’s a bitch.
Did you tell the security guard. My Mom frequents a gun store (don’t ask)and they sell mace bracelets. Are you interested? Kuni is more then willing to go there and get one for my friends.
Ooo, I don’t like reading that. Glad you’re all right. Yay, for Timothy and the security guard!
Balloon Man was standing in front of the store with a cell phone up to his ear
(Bet you 5 cents he was making a Live Journal voice post. All the loons are doing it, these days.)
…and yay for you, too. I don’t know anything about self-defense, but I’m sure you did the smart thing. : )
Karma may be a bitch, but you couldn’t possibly have scared the couple THAT badly. It’s good to here that you escaped him and those, shudder, balloons. To close to being a creepy clown guy for me.
In this case, I don’t think it was Karma because of the couple being scared. That was not “intent” by you to scare them. It must be from something else.
Either way, that man was creepy. You handled it well. If I were in your shoes things might have been ugly. Real ugly. Or as Marika once told me, I might have acted stupid, without thinking. You always have your brain working correctly, Becky. It’s a great quality. I sure hope I get there one day.
You said what I was going to say, about the karma. It’s all about the intent.
Sorry you had to have that shite experience, Becky.
whhaaa?!
that’s extra creepy.
~smiles~ Oh yeah, this sounds familiar. I’m glad you had someone with you for quick protection, but if alone I’d go straight to the security guard or the service desk and have them call the police if necessary. It’s their job to protect their customers, and my job not to do something stupid like leave the store alone, unprotected, in the dark. Safety in numbers and bright lights, absolutely.
BIG delivery day today… I will have a stack of boxes for you after work. 🙂
You rock.
And she won’t scare you either…unless you’re into that kind of thing. 😉
Haha
“Do I frighten you?”
“No.”
“Would you like me to?”
It’s what I do. 😉
Oh gosh! That’s scary. I’m glad you got away from the balloon perv. What’s the deal with the balloons, I wonder–to hide his identity, or part of his kink? Too creepy.
Jeff! *tackles* Stop being so cute, it’s distracting.
Oh my. You should have popped his balloons.
With a chainsaw.
Ha! I like the way you think!
Now, were this the beginning of a Stephen King novel, cut to: Becky looking out her window to see Balloon Man, only now in clownface.
I couldn’t help thinking of Pennywise of It.
Becky, maybe you should file a police report about this. If that guy is weird enough to do something like that, he might be a danger to the community.
Well that’s just frightening.
Maybe he’s related to Crazy Coffee Lady. He’s Creepy Balloon Man!
Was this “our” Kroger or Disco Kroger? I’d suspect the latter, but ya never know.
Our Kroger.
Yet another reason why I miss groceryworks.com.