Okay. Last night I was in Boston waiting for my bus to go home. I had gotten out of a meeting at 10:15pm, and it took about 15 minutes to walk to the bus stop, so this was about 10:30pm.
I was sitting on a bench, trying to blend in, listening to the people around me. I haven't taken a course on situational awareness or anything, but I'm pretty sure that just by growing up female, I adapted some of that anyway. So I hear this guy going around harassing people. I'm still sitting on the bench, hoping he doesn't notice me, thinking about what to do when (not if) he starts bothering me. I really wanted to kick him in the teeth.
So I'm staring off into space, just waiting for my bus. And he comes up to me and asks me what's wrong. He is obviously higher than a kite. Luckily for me, there's some guy with him who is trying to convince him to leave people alone. I say to the guy (I was panicking but trying not to look afraid), "You do not want to talk to me." Crap, now he really wants to know what's the matter (nothing is the matter, other than my bus is late and this guy is bothering me). I give his friend or whatever the coldest stare I can muster, to let him know that this is not alright. The friend is apologizing profusely, and he eventually coaxes the guy away from me. About 2 minutes later the bus comes.
So, these are my questions:
-What could/should I have done (if anything) to prevent this from happening, and what can I do in the future? It wasn't just this particular bus stop, no matter where I waited along the bus route, I would have been bothered by someone.
-Should I have made eye contact, or should I have just ignored him and continued staring out into the great blue yonder (next to impossible, but still possible I suppose)?
-Would pepper spray or mace have helped this situation, and if so at what point do I use it? Could I have just taken it out and explained calmly (yeah right!) that, "This is mace. If you do not leave me alone in 15 seconds, I will use it on you."
I feel almost the same as I did when my car was broken into, although I'm not panicking nearly as bad as I did last year (Wow that was just plain Bad, everything about that entire situation.) People say things to me on the street a lot, so I guess I'm used to it or something. That's disgusting. But it's a feeling of, now I'm more convinced than before I want/need a gun, even though I totally realize that just having one would not have been able to prevent this from happening. That's a weird feeling (for me).
Does anyone have any suggestions? (Or are you just going to tell me to get used to it, and that's all?)
I was sitting on a bench, trying to blend in, listening to the people around me. I haven't taken a course on situational awareness or anything, but I'm pretty sure that just by growing up female, I adapted some of that anyway. So I hear this guy going around harassing people. I'm still sitting on the bench, hoping he doesn't notice me, thinking about what to do when (not if) he starts bothering me. I really wanted to kick him in the teeth.
So I'm staring off into space, just waiting for my bus. And he comes up to me and asks me what's wrong. He is obviously higher than a kite. Luckily for me, there's some guy with him who is trying to convince him to leave people alone. I say to the guy (I was panicking but trying not to look afraid), "You do not want to talk to me." Crap, now he really wants to know what's the matter (nothing is the matter, other than my bus is late and this guy is bothering me). I give his friend or whatever the coldest stare I can muster, to let him know that this is not alright. The friend is apologizing profusely, and he eventually coaxes the guy away from me. About 2 minutes later the bus comes.
So, these are my questions:
-What could/should I have done (if anything) to prevent this from happening, and what can I do in the future? It wasn't just this particular bus stop, no matter where I waited along the bus route, I would have been bothered by someone.
-Should I have made eye contact, or should I have just ignored him and continued staring out into the great blue yonder (next to impossible, but still possible I suppose)?
-Would pepper spray or mace have helped this situation, and if so at what point do I use it? Could I have just taken it out and explained calmly (yeah right!) that, "This is mace. If you do not leave me alone in 15 seconds, I will use it on you."
I feel almost the same as I did when my car was broken into, although I'm not panicking nearly as bad as I did last year (Wow that was just plain Bad, everything about that entire situation.) People say things to me on the street a lot, so I guess I'm used to it or something. That's disgusting. But it's a feeling of, now I'm more convinced than before I want/need a gun, even though I totally realize that just having one would not have been able to prevent this from happening. That's a weird feeling (for me).
Does anyone have any suggestions? (Or are you just going to tell me to get used to it, and that's all?)
He says he wants her arrested for assault since he didn`t do anything. Meanwhile, the woman left the scene and there were no witnesses. Pity.