I remember doing a shift at my work experience placement in a bookstore and some grown man (he was starting to grey around the beard) came up to me while I was stocking the shelves. He was asking if I always worked in the History section and I said no, I stock all over the store (duh?) and suddenly went from zero to a hundred by asking “What time do you get off work? Can I take you for coffee?”
The feeling was instantaneous - hot and cold at the same time. Your stomach curdles and chills while your skin heats and feels like it’s melting away. My whole face turned red and all I wanted to do was vomit. “I am fourteen years old.”
He looked embarrassed as hell.
“What? No, you can’t be.”
“… BUT I AM. I AM FOURTEEN YEARS OLD.”
“Bullshit, where’s your ID?”
“SIR, the only ID she has is from her JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL.” My (male) manager had walked up behind me (he later said he heard me say my age the first time around and came running over). “She’s a minor. She doesn’t have to show you anything. Can I help you with something? Do you need help with a purchase?”
The word ‘minor’ set this guy off and he started ranting about how I was leading him on. Another customer (probably in his 20s) overheard it all, looked at me and back at the guy, obviously determined that I was not in my twenties, sneered and went “Gross, dude” - which, yeah, but that set this creep off even more. My manager and another male employee ended up walking him out.
I will fucking love that manager until the end of days for stepping in like that - but unfortunately nothing will take away that cold, gut wrenching feeling a young girl gets hit on by a man twice her age.
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