I was at the 3rd Ave bus stop with over-ear headphones on, hands in pockets, and a vacant/semi-jamming-out-expression on my face, one among many in a crowd of late-afternoon commuters. Two minutes into waiting for the 28 bus, Mr. Persistent approached me.
He initially got my attention by entering my field of vision ostensibly to ask for directions or about the bus route. Turns out instead that he just felt entitled to fling some unwanted overtures my way. He asked me if I had a boyfriend, asked for my phone number, and asked, “What’s so ugly about me? Huh?’”
After I repeated “no, thank you, just waiting for the bus” and “yes, boyfriend, sorry—not giving you my phone number” while attempting to walk away, Mr. Persistent would not let up and seemed completely down to follow me about the length of the bus stop to get the desired answers to such burning questions.
Luckily for me, two nice guys stepped in to distract him and to ask me if Mr. Persistent was bothering me. They began physically blocking him from me, and one fellow was patient enough to step in to get yelled at by Mr. Persistent until the bus arrived.
My impulse to beat myself up afterward about engaging Mr. Persistent in the first place was significantly reduced by the fact that there were folks who had my back and who were willing to diffuse the situation. Not sure if those two guys are Stranger readers, but this is just a “thank you” I’d like to throw out into the local universe and to those folks who knew what to do and did it without hesitation (and without further escalation or violence).
In the meantime, I hope Mr. Persistent can learn that “no” means “no,” and I hope he stops harassing captive audiences on the street.
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It’s amazing that in post-#metoo 2024, in mostly liberal, mostly enlightened Seattle, these thick-headed jackwads still exist. But they do.
Yeah, the “no” must mean “no” and not simply try a little harder. After the fact, I’ve had women tell me that they wanted to go out or were otherwise interested in me but that I didn’t try hard enough, and I’ve said, “no means no to me, and it should to you.” Otherwise, I am glad to hear this ended fairly well and that your faith in mankind was restored.
Trust the Stranger to mix up “diffuse” with “defuse.”
@2 Women who play games and play hard to get to test men to “try harder” aren’t worth trying harder for.
Well if you change your mind, you should totally hit me up. Why don’t I give me your phone number, what was it again?
999-867-5309.
u can call me
Anytime,
pervy.
J
Wow.
Does no one here, from OP to the commenters, know how to tell if a person is on drugs and/or mentally ill when they see or read about one? Or recognize how rampant both conditions are in Seattle?
YES, this behavior sucks–but let’s not pretend this was some rational “bro” in a bar who’d had a couple drinks and just couldn’t take a hint.
Same thing happened with “A Forced Engagement” a couple of weeks ago.
I can just imagine the next one: “Dear Naked Rude Guy taking a shit in the middle of traffic. What’s your problem?”