Week 5: Creepy Old Man #623

Throughout this week, I have been struggling to come up with an idea for my blog post. I tossed around a few topics in my head, but none seemed to be exactly what I was looking for. Not to mention, there have been some brilliant posts this week, and everything I thought of honestly paled in comparison. I know this is not a competition, but I cannot help comparing myself as an insecure person (see my Week 3 blog post). Anyway, enough with the woman-related struggles, it is now time for the music major and working college student ones! I have had an incredibly busy week filled with homework, so my blog post has been left for the night (or morning at this point) before, as usual. Unfortunately, my luck gifted me with a closing shift at Food Lion tonight as well, so I have even less time to do my homework before I start cutting into my sleep, which is also nothing new. The last time I worked a Thursday closing shift (which is to 11PM for reference), I came up with an idea and wrote part of my blog down on receipt paper in between customers. This time, however, we were incredibly busy with Valentine's Day being tomorrow. (I have never asked if people wanted their bouquets of flowers in a bag as much as I did tonight.) Thus, I had no time with my thoughts and did not have a game plan for when I finally got home. However, the blog gods were looking down on me from idea heaven when they sent me creepy old man (COM) #623.  

This particular creep only comes into the store late, usually from 9PM on. He tries his darnedest to stay until close, bothering anyone and everyone he can with his random, never-ending conversations. Interestingly, he is incredibly infatuated with the stock boys and male managers, perhaps because he can get away with more sexist talk with them than he could with the predominately female cashiers. He fails to see that literally everyone scrambles away from him and tries to avoid him when he enters the store, so he has to actively seek people out. Honestly, he makes me very uncomfortable, and the main reason why he gives me the heebie-jeebies will be mentioned later in this post. Tonight, he had four victims, which included but most likely were not limited to: an older gentleman, a middle-aged guy (who had his ethnicity guessed by him), one of my male managers, and little old me. I made the cut! After COM #623 terrorized our quaint establishment, the older gentleman came up to me and my supervisor complaining about how weird and annoying that man was. The poor guy was just trying to buy his milk, but COM had other plans and talked his ear off for a solid 15 minutes before he was able to escape and come through my line. If a sweet old man is bothered by this guy, it is fact that he is bad news. Unfortunately, I experienced that bad news firsthand when COM finally made it to my register. 

He began his rant about how old guys, like him and that poor gentleman from earlier, are "very wise and know a lot." Sure. COM then goes on to explain how he wished younger people would listen to him and his great wisdom. Meanwhile, I am responding with my usual "mhmms" and uncomfortable smiles that I often employ in these COM-related situations. He says something to the effect that young boys are "so bad today," and when he was younger, he only drank and got into a little trouble here and there. Surprisingly, he included that he would never do anything to hurt anyone or make anyone uncomfortable (more on that later). As the flow of hypocrisy keeps coming from this man's mouth, my head is nearly about to explode from the built-up cringe and internal screaming. I must, however, keep smiling and vaguely agreeing. (The customer, no matter how creepy and old, is always right.) Here comes the good part. COM complains that men today do not know how to treat women. That is a valid point creep, but your source is not reputable. He says, and I QUOTE, "Women should be put on a pedestal like they used to be...Men should take care of women like how they did back in my day." OKAY, BOOMER.  

Creepy old man #623 was too busy talking to the man that he deemed Puerto Rican to hear what I said in response to that nonsense. I quietly said that women can take care of themselves just fine, and I honestly wish that I had as resonant of a voice as him so he could have heard me. Oh well. COM went on his merry way after bothering a few more unassuming people, like my manager, for example. Throughout the remainder of my shift, I kept thinking about what he said and wishing I could have spoken up against it, without fearing his reaction. I would now like to discuss his faulty idea of how to respect women and provide a bit more insight about our creepy friend.  

COM #623 has been a Food Lion regular for some time now. He has been shopping much longer than I have been a cashier there, and I have heard stories about him from coworkers and other cashiers. There was a former female cashier, who I never met, that was very outgoing. COM responded well to this trait of hers considering he loves to talk. She would indulge him a bit by conversing with him, and he would often follow her out into the parking lot after her shift to continue the conversation. One time when he was out in the parking lot with her, he tried to kiss her. Yes, you read that right. THIS CREEPY OLD MAN TRIED TO KISS HER. Ever since I heard of this harassment, I have been extremely weary of (and disgusted by) this man. It is one thing to be creepy and annoyingly persistent, but he was physical with a much younger female. With this horrifying story now told, it makes everything he said to me much more layered and ironic. 

This creepy man's suggestion to put women on a pedestal explains how he views women. They are objects to him. One would only put an object and an obsessive idolization up on a pedestal, not an equal. His idea of respecting women is anything but and is very misogynistic. Similarly, men do not have to "take care of women" as if they are property that they have to look after and handle. These ideas of his are outdated and ironic considering his past actions. Additionally, his comment that he would never make someone uncomfortable or hurt them is exactly what he ended up doing to that young cashier. I am sure that she is very hurt and traumatized by what happened that day. She surely was not being respected and was objectified by this man. 

Although it was stressful, I am truly glad that I could not initially come up with anything to write about. I perhaps would not have thought to make a blog post about this situation if it were not for my need for a topic. By next week, this occurrence would have been a distant memory that I mentally filed away in my brain cabinet of creepy old men events. It is unfortunate that a metaphorical file cabinet like that has to exist in my mind, but that is just my reality of being a female who works in customer service. I wish I could say that that addition to my files would be the last, but I am sure I will have new files by the next time I work. There are already 623 separate categories in there; why not add some more and make it an even 700? Who thinks I will get to 650 by the end of the month?