Somebody's Watchin' Me

I don't know if it's a result of the full moon this week, or if I suddenly look completely different but over the last week or so I've been being watched/stalked/accosted/whatever you wanna call it by a bunch of foreign men. I don't normally care since I've been approached by non-American men many times in the past, and they've always been really cool. Had a few good dates and what not, so this is not a case of xenophobia. But something this week is just different and these men are breaching all kinds of American "holla at a girl" customs and I'm left scratching my head in bewilderment.

I think it's time for me to boycott the gas station that I usually go to near my home. I usually stop in there on my way to the gym to pick up a bottle of water, and I'm there twice a week to fill up my gas tank--a 60 mile round trip commute makes the twice a week fill up necessary. So since I'm in there for some reason or another at least 4 times a week, I guess I'm considered one of the regulars. I recognize the people that work there and so forth. But lately, over the last week or so, one worker seems to ALWAYS be there--Middle Eastern dude. At least when I'm there anyway. Tuesday night I went in to get a bottle of water for the gym and he said, "Ahh yessss, beautiful lady friend. When you come in here you make me happy. Soooooo happy. I mean all of me is happy. When you off work? We go out sometime, yes? I would like your phone numbers". I just wrinkled up my face and walked out. Then last night I stopped to get gas on the way home and the same dude spotted my car and ran...I mean ran to the pump to talk to me. He pushed my hands all off the pump and said, "Get back in your car, I pump the gas". I swatted at him and told him I could handle it. He looked crazy in the face for a minute then frowned and walked back. Umm, ok.

Last night at the gym, I was on the treadmill working it out when two African dudes come out of nowhere and get on the treadmills on either side of me. Mind you, there were at least 25 other free treadmills in the place. I don't take well to people getting next to me when there is free space elsewhere. Don't intrude on my workout bubble. But they started talking between themselves about me like I don't speak English or something. Talking all loud about "look at that ass" and the typical nasty man stuff. Ehh. But then one said to me, "In my country you'd be my wife and we'd have babies". I heard him, but pointed at my headphones and pretended like I didn't hear him. So he tapped me on my shoulder, I looked at him and he said, "you have the body of a good wife. Hips to have babies with". I was done. I said, "I don't know about where you're from, but in my country, saying stuff like that can get you hurt. That is not a compliment". I got off the treadmill, told the front desk person to keep an eye on them since they were harassing me. I went to the weight machines, and here they come looking at me all googly eyed and lustful. They didn't say anything else, but I made the rest of my workout quick and hauled ass home.

This morning, I was up extra early so I went to the grocery store to get some fruit to snack on at work and one of the workers...Brazilian maybe(?) said to me, "Yess, you are here early. I wait for you on the weekends because your face is so beautiful I cannot forget it". Yall, dude knows my daggone grocery shopping schedule. WTF!? That's not a sexy thing to say to someone, and I'm pretty sure some dude from around the way wouldn't say mess like that. I rolled my eyes, got my fruit, and kept it moving. Ewwwwwwww.

I don't know if it's a cultural thing, but these dudes need to learn to holla right. As much as I hate it, I'd rather deal with "ay bay bay" or "pssst...shawty" than knowing some sketchy ass men are watching me. *shudder*. Full moon be damned. But just because I can, here's the video "Somebody's Watching Me" by Rockwell and Michael Jackson: