That's right, I'm back already with blog entry #24
In this entry I'll share a few real life experiences with what I refer to as my Stalkers.
No, I don't mean that I have had an Atrox Stalker chasing me as I'm going to work. But, instead the creepy male customers, past and present I have unfortunately had to deal with.
I don't know what it is, but I seem to be a creepy man magnet. Apparently there is a glowing neon sign the hangs above my head, that reads, " Please, be my Stalker!" This glowing neon sign must be invisible to the "normal" people I come in contact with. But like a moth to a flame, it attracts the creepy stalkers.
Let's see... My first creepy encounter was 12 years ago. I was 17 just out of High School and working at my first Dealership. I started off filing the repair orders, and I was the phone operator at night before I started my career in Parts. Creepy guy #1 was a semi retired Shuttle/Courtesy driver. He worked part time and was old enough to be my father. This guy was one of those close talkers... you know the type that always feels the need to invade your personal space when he talks to you. That in itself was enough of a warning sign.. Plus the fact that his terms of endearment went from sweetie to hunny to hey baby and then felt the need to hint that maybe we should go out to dinner sometime! Uhm... how about NO!!! I made sure to tell the Service Manager about how uncomfortable this other employee made me... Seems I wasn't the only one to complain about him I believe he was transfered to another store shortly after.
At the age of 19 I moved 1100 miles south to sunny Florida! I was working for an after market Parts Store. During my time there I noticed one guy that kept coming in on a weekly basis for about 1-2 months and he always took his time walking up and down the aisles and just acted a bit.... suspicious...
Seems one day he finally gained enough courage to talk to me and asked if I had a boyfriend, which at the time I did. I answered yes and figured that was the end of that... WRONG!!
Seems this little Stalker didn't get the hint that I was in NO WAY interested.
I let a co worker know what I thought about this customer and she said she noticed his behavior too, and passed it off as a harmless crush.... Nope, He felt the need to take his crush 1 step too far. One morning I was scheduled to open at 7:30 with the same employee. We unlocked the front doors at 8am and I went out to my car for some reason... I forget why... and in the car next to mine was the creepy stalker #2.
I was trying to get what I went out there for and get my ass back inside... That didn't go as planned... he then stood in front of me and asked where I was going. I told him that I needed to get back inside the store. He then proceeded to say, "Not before you give me my present." and then leaned in to kiss me. I was scared to death but managed to push him away from me before he could and got inside as fast as I could to my co worker and let her know what had just happened and that I refuse to deal with him. She didn't want any trouble and fully understood my situation. The creepy stalker lingered in the store for what seemed like forever. I called my boyfriend and told him what just happened, luckily we lived 5 minutes away and he brought his father. I pointed the guy out to my boyfriend and his father calmly walked over to the creepy stalker and made small talk with him... Along the lines of..."So, that girl behind the counter is cute!" the stalker agrees and My b/f's father says "You see that young man over there? "Well, he was just informed of what you tried to do with his girlfriend, and I suggest you apologize to that nice young girl and never come in this store again"!! "I don't ever want her to call me and tell me that you were in here giving her a hard time!!"
That was the end of creepy stalker #2.
My present day Stalker... I was suckered into meeting this creepy guy within my first week of working at my current dealership. I didn't realize he was one of our wholesale customers. He had bought a car from us and was getting some work done and needed a ride back to work. I was the poor sucker to drive the courtesy van and drop him off. On the way there he seemed alright, nothing seemed out of place YET... A few months go bye and the 2 co workers got laid off and the other quit, since then he always asks for me. Which sometimes is nice that you build a certain level of trust and confidence with some customers...but not this one
His creepiness has evolved over the last few months. Every time he calls and I answer it's always "Hey baby, how you doin' "? And ends with him hinting that we should go out sometime... He's even told me that his first girlfriend was a red head and since then he's always had a "thing" for them... Well I suggest he gets his eyes checked... I've never been a red head. It's gotten to the point now where he calls just for the sake of hearing me on the other end. I kid you not!! Last Saturday he called during my lame Saturday shift to say Hi and let me know he was thinking about me and wanted to see how my day was... I told him business was busy... which it wasn't... and that I had a customer at the retail window to take care of... which I didn't... I'd much rather hear the sound of fingernails across a chalk board, before giving him the time of day...
And he called again today... He was out in a customer's car taking it out for a test drive and wanted to call to ask about my day. The usual blah blah blah, ending with a sorry I have to go. *CLICK*
I have told the last 2 managers about him, just so that somebody knows. I don't think it's being taken seriously. My last manager would answer the phone and of course the stalker would ask for me.. instead of covering for me... nope I get " Your Stalker is on line 1 for you."................ Thanks
I seriously don't know what it is with some people... last time I knew NO means NO. If you dropped hints to someone you liked and they NEVER made the initiative to call you, or attempt to spend time with you, wouldn't you take the hint.... and think, maybe they are NOT interested.
I just want to go to work everyday and do my job. I take enough crap on a weekly basis, from a few "know it all" customers... I don't go to work to be sexually harassed by the customers. I am fully aware that I'm a female in a male dominant industry... That doesn't mean I want to go out to dinner with you, or want to have a personal/intimate relationship with you or even want to talk about the big block motor you rebuilt and how fast it can go from 0 to 60 mph.
If you thought I was that type of girl, You are sadly mistaken.
Don't get me wrong now guys... I know that you're not 100% at fault here. I have seen 1 case where a female customer was harassing a male technician. Yep Yep.... This happened in the same store I'm at now. We have a customer we'll call Barbara and our Master tech Andy.
Seems Andy fixed whatever problem Barbara had with her vehicle and since that day a few years ago.... She always requested that Andy work on her car... No one else was to touch it.... We see that from time to time. Well, Barbara would do what she could to sneak in the shop where Andy was working and want to stand around and watch him work... which btw is a big NO NO to you customers. Customers are NOT allowed in most shops unless they are with an employee.
She even went as far as offering him a Free Massage.... She claims to be certified... and was willing to go to his house...( yeah, I'll bet). Even with poor Andy it was a running joke, everyone laughing but him.... I remember one day he happened to see her pull in and he made a bee line to the men's room in the shop... He waited there for 20 minutes and made sure she was gone before coming out. This lady is scary looking. I'd run and hide too if I saw her coming.
A bit of advice for those stalkers out there... if there is someone you have taken an interest in, and they tell you they have a wife/ husband, bf/gf Please take the hint and move on. If you still feel the need to buy them a gift like a cup of coffee or even send them flowers at their place of work... DON'T
Most place I've worked for will not allow their employees to accept gifts from customers and you could get them fired. Instead, let their manager know that you think they are doing a good job.
If anyone can tell me how to turn off my glowing neon sign, I'd be most grateful
In this entry I'll share a few real life experiences with what I refer to as my Stalkers.
No, I don't mean that I have had an Atrox Stalker chasing me as I'm going to work. But, instead the creepy male customers, past and present I have unfortunately had to deal with.I don't know what it is, but I seem to be a creepy man magnet. Apparently there is a glowing neon sign the hangs above my head, that reads, " Please, be my Stalker!" This glowing neon sign must be invisible to the "normal" people I come in contact with. But like a moth to a flame, it attracts the creepy stalkers.
Let's see... My first creepy encounter was 12 years ago. I was 17 just out of High School and working at my first Dealership. I started off filing the repair orders, and I was the phone operator at night before I started my career in Parts. Creepy guy #1 was a semi retired Shuttle/Courtesy driver. He worked part time and was old enough to be my father. This guy was one of those close talkers... you know the type that always feels the need to invade your personal space when he talks to you. That in itself was enough of a warning sign.. Plus the fact that his terms of endearment went from sweetie to hunny to hey baby and then felt the need to hint that maybe we should go out to dinner sometime! Uhm... how about NO!!! I made sure to tell the Service Manager about how uncomfortable this other employee made me... Seems I wasn't the only one to complain about him
I believe he was transfered to another store shortly after.At the age of 19 I moved 1100 miles south to sunny Florida! I was working for an after market Parts Store. During my time there I noticed one guy that kept coming in on a weekly basis for about 1-2 months and he always took his time walking up and down the aisles and just acted a bit.... suspicious...
Seems one day he finally gained enough courage to talk to me and asked if I had a boyfriend, which at the time I did. I answered yes and figured that was the end of that... WRONG!!
Seems this little Stalker didn't get the hint that I was in NO WAY interested.
I let a co worker know what I thought about this customer and she said she noticed his behavior too, and passed it off as a harmless crush.... Nope, He felt the need to take his crush 1 step too far. One morning I was scheduled to open at 7:30 with the same employee. We unlocked the front doors at 8am and I went out to my car for some reason... I forget why... and in the car next to mine was the creepy stalker #2.
I was trying to get what I went out there for and get my ass back inside... That didn't go as planned... he then stood in front of me and asked where I was going. I told him that I needed to get back inside the store. He then proceeded to say, "Not before you give me my present." and then leaned in to kiss me. I was scared to death but managed to push him away from me before he could and got inside as fast as I could to my co worker and let her know what had just happened and that I refuse to deal with him. She didn't want any trouble and fully understood my situation. The creepy stalker lingered in the store for what seemed like forever. I called my boyfriend and told him what just happened, luckily we lived 5 minutes away and he brought his father. I pointed the guy out to my boyfriend and his father calmly walked over to the creepy stalker and made small talk with him... Along the lines of..."So, that girl behind the counter is cute!" the stalker agrees and My b/f's father says "You see that young man over there? "Well, he was just informed of what you tried to do with his girlfriend, and I suggest you apologize to that nice young girl and never come in this store again"!! "I don't ever want her to call me and tell me that you were in here giving her a hard time!!"
That was the end of creepy stalker #2.My present day Stalker... I was suckered into meeting this creepy guy within my first week of working at my current dealership. I didn't realize he was one of our wholesale customers. He had bought a car from us and was getting some work done and needed a ride back to work. I was the poor sucker to drive the courtesy van and drop him off. On the way there he seemed alright, nothing seemed out of place YET... A few months go bye and the 2 co workers got laid off and the other quit, since then he always asks for me. Which sometimes is nice that you build a certain level of trust and confidence with some customers...but not this one
His creepiness has evolved over the last few months. Every time he calls and I answer it's always "Hey baby, how you doin' "? And ends with him hinting that we should go out sometime... He's even told me that his first girlfriend was a red head and since then he's always had a "thing" for them... Well I suggest he gets his eyes checked... I've never been a red head. It's gotten to the point now where he calls just for the sake of hearing me on the other end. I kid you not!! Last Saturday he called during my lame Saturday shift to say Hi and let me know he was thinking about me and wanted to see how my day was... I told him business was busy... which it wasn't... and that I had a customer at the retail window to take care of... which I didn't... I'd much rather hear the sound of fingernails across a chalk board, before giving him the time of day... And he called again today... He was out in a customer's car taking it out for a test drive and wanted to call to ask about my day. The usual blah blah blah, ending with a sorry I have to go. *CLICK*I have told the last 2 managers about him, just so that somebody knows. I don't think it's being taken seriously. My last manager would answer the phone and of course the stalker would ask for me.. instead of covering for me... nope I get " Your Stalker is on line 1 for you."................ Thanks
I seriously don't know what it is with some people... last time I knew NO means NO. If you dropped hints to someone you liked and they NEVER made the initiative to call you, or attempt to spend time with you, wouldn't you take the hint.... and think, maybe they are NOT interested.
I just want to go to work everyday and do my job. I take enough crap on a weekly basis, from a few "know it all" customers... I don't go to work to be sexually harassed by the customers. I am fully aware that I'm a female in a male dominant industry... That doesn't mean I want to go out to dinner with you, or want to have a personal/intimate relationship with you or even want to talk about the big block motor you rebuilt and how fast it can go from 0 to 60 mph.
If you thought I was that type of girl, You are sadly mistaken.
Don't get me wrong now guys... I know that you're not 100% at fault here. I have seen 1 case where a female customer was harassing a male technician. Yep Yep.... This happened in the same store I'm at now. We have a customer we'll call Barbara and our Master tech Andy.
Seems Andy fixed whatever problem Barbara had with her vehicle and since that day a few years ago.... She always requested that Andy work on her car... No one else was to touch it.... We see that from time to time. Well, Barbara would do what she could to sneak in the shop where Andy was working and want to stand around and watch him work... which btw is a big NO NO to you customers. Customers are NOT allowed in most shops unless they are with an employee.
She even went as far as offering him a Free Massage.... She claims to be certified... and was willing to go to his house...( yeah, I'll bet). Even with poor Andy it was a running joke, everyone laughing but him.... I remember one day he happened to see her pull in and he made a bee line to the men's room in the shop... He waited there for 20 minutes and made sure she was gone before coming out. This lady is scary looking. I'd run and hide too if I saw her coming.
A bit of advice for those stalkers out there... if there is someone you have taken an interest in, and they tell you they have a wife/ husband, bf/gf Please take the hint and move on. If you still feel the need to buy them a gift like a cup of coffee or even send them flowers at their place of work... DON'T
Most place I've worked for will not allow their employees to accept gifts from customers and you could get them fired. Instead, let their manager know that you think they are doing a good job.
If anyone can tell me how to turn off my glowing neon sign, I'd be most grateful
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