Hey everyone!
Hope you're having a nice Thanksgiving holiday.
Just wanted to share with you a stalker like experience I had. Something that's never happened to me before.
Ok. So Wednesday I took the day off to relax and take care of some errands before the Thanksgiving holiday. Things started off just like any other day I've been out. I stopped at the local tax collector to pay my property taxes, made a quick stop at the gas station to fill up, and then headed to the mall to have a late lunch and do a little shopping before picking up some cakes I ordered at the local bakery. Now this is where things got a little weird.
After I finished eating, I walked over to JCPenny to check out their sales. As I was walking around one of women's clothing sections, I decided to cross over to another section when I heard a guy say "excuse me" as I passed in front of him. I wasn't really paying attention when he said it because I thought he was talking to someone else so I just kept walking and started browsing the clothing racks. As I turned to look at some clothes, I could see in my peripheral vision that, in the distance, he was looking at me and that's when I started to suspect something was up.
I got a good look at his face and then I remembered seeing him while I was eating my lunch. The food court was setup so that it was separated by a center walking area with food vendors and tables on both sides. I was sitting on one side while he was sitting on the opposite side talking on his cell phone while sort of facing my direction approximately 20 to 30 yards away. At the time, I didn't think much about it, but then it hit me when I encountered him at JCPenny. At that moment, I realized this guy was following me and so I knew I may have to cut my shopping trip a little short. I didn't panic and just kept browsing the various clothing racks hoping that, as long as I was there, he wouldn't approach me if there were other women around.
I continued to browse the clothing section, and I then lost sight of him for a moment, so I walked back to the clothing area towards the entrance way to the inner mall. As I was browsing, I noticed him again standing at the entrance way talking on his cell phone. At that point, it was my suspicion that he was waiting for me to come out and so I knew it was time for me to bug out. I had to find a way to get out quickly without him seeing me and so, to block his view, I walked behind a tall clothing rack, turned, and walked into the jewelry section. Then, I took a left hand turn and exited outside to the parking garage. I didn't look back, for fear that he knew I knew he was following me, and so I just kept on casually walking and walked back over to Sears on the adjcent side.
As I was walking through Sears to get to the parking garage where my car was parked, I looked around and then all of a sudden I said to myself "OH CRAP!" because, in the distance, there he was again coming from the left in the walkway perpendicularly to me. I was about to run into him if I didn't act quickly and that's when I noticed he was about to pass a 3 foot wide pillar at the corner of where our walkways meet. Fortunately, he didn't see me because he was doing something on his cell phone, but I didn't want to take a chance of crossing his path again so, as we got closer, I quickly cut the around corner on the opposite side so he wouldn't see me as he passed the pillar. I continued on, exited the store, and walked into the parking garage over to my car. I looked around to make sure he wasn't around and then I quickly got in my car. I took a few breaths to gather myself, then I started up my car and left.
I still had some time to kill before going to the bakery and so I stopped at Starbucks to have a little coffee, dessert, and to relax for a bit. As I was enjoying my coffee, I just kept thinking back about that guy. I had no idea who he was and why he followed me from the food court, but for him to tail me around like that was definitely creepy. I wondered whether he was going to try and pick me up, whether he read me or not, whether he was going to try and solicit something, or whether he's some predator, but I didn't want to stick around to find out because I was already starting to feel a little nervous and so my gut instinct said to get out of that situation as soon as possible.
Once I finished with my coffee and dessert, I felt a lot calmer. I then got in my car, drove over to the bakery, picked up the cakes I ordered, and headed for home.
After that experience, now I really know what it's like to be a GG and stalked by some creepy guy. Who knows, maybe he just wanted to give me a compliment, but for him to follow and watch me like that definitely brought up the red flag. Too many times I've heard of news reports of GG's being abducted, and later to suffer an unfortunate fate by some perpetrator, so we have to be very careful and never let down our guard. If you're out shopping by yourself this holiday season, be observant, and always keep a watchful eye wherever you are because you never know where or when you'll cross paths with a potential predator.
Looks like I need to start carrying my concealed weapon more often.
Hugs!