[QUOTE=Tuckerfan]
you should start asking seemingly innocent questions about things like heart conditions, who is or is not in his will. Play up the whole, “Well, you’re an old guy and are probably going to kick off pretty soon, aren’t you?” angle. Make him think you’re a golddigger, who might be willing to consider doing something to accelerate the death process if you’re in the will. That’ll probably get him to leave you alone.
[/QUOTE]
No.
I disagree strongly with this advice. Seriously. I too work as a cashier, and if a creepy customer (of any age) started coming in and staring at me, and then asking me what my work schedule was, the absolute LAST thing I’d wanna do is engage this person in conversation of any sort, let alone bring up personal questions about HIM and his life. What he’s doing is a kind of trolling, and by responding to him with anything other than a distant polite smile, you are feeding him, and he will never go away.
And it’s worthwhile to point out that finding out when you work is the first step in stalking (that “staring” thing is also a tipoff), and you may find yourself kidnapped in the trunk of his car some night when you get off work, heading to who-knows-what grim rendezvous, with his cute little babushka-doll wife in denial of her husband’s “activities”. Female cashiers do get abducted at gunpoint, and by guys who the neighbors all swear afterwards was “just the nicest, quietest person”.
And don’t go, “Oh, Mom” at me and roll your eyes, because it does happen.
So do NOT talk to this guy at all. Just smile politely and ignore his conversation. If he presses you to tell him when you work, say, in polite puzzlement, “Why would you want to know that?” and if he continues to press you, say firmly, “I can’t imagine why you’d want to know that, and I’d prefer that you talk to my manager about it.” It’s okay to seem rude when the other person has crossed the boundaries himself; there’s no Miss Manners Rule that says you HAVE to answer his questions about youself–and your personal life, because the next question is guaranteed to be, “Do you have a boyfriend?” And if he starts asking that, then, sweetie, it’s time to start packing some pepper spray in your purse, and checking out the parking lot and the back seat of your car when you leave work.
And if he continues to stand there and stare at you, definitely have your manager AND security go over to him and put the fear of God into him. A good starting point for them would be to ask him his name and address, and make him show them some ID. They can say, “You’ve been harassing one of our employees, and we wanna know who you are.” That puts HIM on the defensive, and there’s no reason why he shouldn’t be. If he truly is just a harmless old kook, then it won’t hurt him to understand that he has crossed a line, and that staring at female employees and asking them when they work is not allowed in today’s cultural climate. If your manager is afraid of offending a customer, then you need to find a different job, with people who are more sensitive to the needs of their female employees, who ARE vulnerable to being abducted at gunpoint.
Do not ignore your instincts. Don’t say, “He must be a sweet old man, it’s just me that has issues with something indefinable about him, he’s just a little eccentric, I need to get over it.” That guy who abducted and buried alive the little girl in Florida was a kooky, seemingly harmless old man in his 60s who lived down the street from her. Trust your instincts–if they’re screaming, “Creep”, then don’t talk to the creep.
And, frankly I’m amazed that your workplace, whatever it is, doesn’t have a “No Soliciting” rule. Even a paying customer doesn’t have the right to buttonhole other customers. Why hasn’t your manager told these people to knock it off? Even sweet little old ladies can grasp, “Don’t pamphleteer here in the store.”
