# "Creepy men" at Walmart **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 27, 2019, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-men-at-walmart/836160 "2019-06-27T15:37:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2019, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-men-at-walmart/836160/181 "2019-07-02T15:05:22Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Creepyness doesn’t have anything to do with the color of your skin. Why would you single out an already unfairly profiled minority as an example? He wasn’t associating being black with being creepy, he was comparing the unfairly profiled minority categories. Whether that’s fair or not is a different discussion, but there’s no intent to label young black males as inherently creepy, as your statement seems to imply. > [@DrDeth](#): > > Because it does. “by some creepy dude”. Does it mention going on line and looking up his criminal history? Come on, the only way you are saying that guy is “creepy” is based upon how he looks. > > “Suspicious black youth” = 100% appearance, not how he was acting. > [@Moriarty](#): > > In my experience, people are deemed ‘creepy’ based on behavior, not appearances. Leering is creepy; heavy breathing is creepy; not respecting personal boundaries is creepy; weird small talk is creepy. > > People who are just dirty or smelly don’t rate ‘creepy’ when they are minding their own business. Gross? Sure, they’ll get that. Disgusting? Unkempt? Unappealing? Sure, all those. But ‘creepy’ is as ‘creepy’ does. Ding ding ding. We have a winner! “Looking creepy” typically ties into behavior, what they are doing, that makes them more than just looking out of place or dirty or wearing a trenchcoat in the summer. > [@Saintly\_Loser](#): > > My point is, these stories that circulate about creepy guys are mostly bullshit, the products of the same minds that assume I’m a perv because I’m older than the typical father of toddlers. The stories this thread started over were accounts of being followed, groped, and chased. Not stories of seeing an older guy with toddlers and assuming he’s abducting them. I think from further reading you agree that the first things actually happen, and far more frequently than the polite male is aware. > [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I work in a store. One of the cardinal, absolutely never to be broken rules is that if there is an disturbance the male aisle workers go to the scene immediately, and the female aisle workers call 911. We get the upper hand in such cases, and do not let it escalate. Sadly, I work in a store where policy is that hourly workers cannot confront assumed wrongdoers, but must get a salaried staff member. The most we can do is ask if we can help them. > [@](#): > > There was an incidence at the local grocery store where a little child was running around crying and everybody was ignoring him. I went up to him and asked “What’s wrong?” He was missing his grandma. I took him to the courtesy desk and they paged her, and she came running and thanked me, and chewed out the kid. > > It’s say that nobody will help a child in distress for fear of being labelled a pedophile. I do look at children and try to ID who they are with. I did have an incident with a very small child who looked confused, and I helped him find his parents. I was at work in my vest at the time. And it was clear the parent was just an aisle away, and the kid had wandered a tad too far and couldn’t see over the stuff in the aisles. But yes, it does cross my mind that someone could misinterpret my actions. > [@bordelond](#): > > Be that as it may … this thread can stand on its own, can’t it? **Dr Deth’s** first impression of that Facebook post wouldn’t stand out as odd among reasonable men that I know. Maybe mileage varies here, I don’t know. Assuming I’m a reasonable man, my first reaction was that the Facebook post does escalate from “being followed” to “grab a can of green beans and smack him in the face” and even “Choke him with a belt from the accessory aisle.” I also felt the hyperbole in that statement. Seeing some other posts of actual creepy behavior that was more than just seeing the same guy several times in a row, but had actual assaults involved, and I got perspective on the Facebook poster’s mindset. I do think that **DrDeth** is overreacting to the post. I don’t believe women are chomping at the bit to start assaulting men who _might_ be following them around a store. I think there’s simply an element of “Confront the creepy dudes rather than hope someone will rescue you,” in that meme. > [@Kimstu](#): > > Once again, **that entirely depends on exactly what behavior is meant by the phrase “acting creepy”**. > > If what you mean by “acting creepy” is some rando groping your ass or pressing his erection up against you in a Walmart, then no, physically assaulting the perpetrator to get him off you is not a crime. I think there are reasonable levels of reaction and unreasonable ones. If he rubs up against you or grabs your ass, a punch to the nuts is sufficient. No need to shoot him six times. If he’s chasing you out of the store and running after you, then pulling the gun is warranted. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepy-men-at-walmart/836160.md?page=9)