It’s not exactly a hard and fast rule. Basically what you want to avoid is setting up a situation where you are using her obligation to talk to you in a customer service capacity to force her to endure your romantic overtures. For example, bothering the waitress while she’s serving you. A better plan IMHO would be to just be friendly and make casual small talk to her during the meal. If she seems interested in engaging you in conversation, wait until after the bill is paid and everyone else is on their way out and then casually ask her out.
Uh…how many men have you ever heard ask “Why hasn’t she called?” (google it, you’ll see the he version of that quote is 3x as common) Men are at least as likely to avoid women rather than doing the respectful thing and informing them that there will be no romantic future between them. It’s basic human nature to avoid confronting people with unpleasant revelations, not a girl or guy thing.
As for the rest of the thread, let me echo the plead that you please don’t touch strangers. I find it more than a little disarming when strange little old ladies play with my hair without asking, so I sure as hell wouldn’t want a strange man touching me at work. While meant in a friendly way, I don’t think some people realize that being overly familiar physically can easily feel vaguely threatening, especially if the person being overly familiar is a lot bigger than you.
Nthing the call to not touch someone unless you’re 1000% that you’re welcome to do so, which isn’t going to happen at a time when she’s on the clock and required to maintain a sense of decorum with you, whether you’re a legit customer or not. You do not have a right to touch a stranger.
Yes, but it could very well be that in the case of a dude with so little sense that he corners a woman in a public place, her place of work, to berate her for not returning his calls, that she was trying to gently disengage from him out a sense that he was an irrational, inappropriate and potentially violent person. Which he proved to be true. Go figure.
I work in customer service and have only ever working in customer service. I hate it when customers ask me out. I have never once been interested in a customer romantically (even when I was single which was a long time ago) or as a friend, but many people have assumed I am.
That said I think if someone was trying to gauge my interest the most painless way would simply be for them to leave me their number and tell me to call with a smile. Don’t make me reject you in front of everyone, just give me the opportunity to get in touch with you/make plans if I want to - outside of my workplace.
And don’t fucking touch me when I’m just trying to do my job and be friendly to you. Of course it makes me uncomfortable! IME only weirdos with poor boundaries will do this to their server/barista/bartender/salesperson, and the behavior usually escalates.