But nuisance isn’t the same as “sleazy fucking jerk”.
No matter what, I don’t think the guy in the OP sounds like a “sleazy fucking jerk”.
< eyes FinnAgain suspiciously >
I don’t know. How old are you?
Personally, I think everyone over 50 and under 30 should be shot.
Shot and then electrocuted.
And then hanged.
And burnt.
Not the way Bricker’s wife would want it…
Yup, this.
Also, agree with what you said–the guy in the OP may not be a pittable jerk (or even a pitiable jerk), but neither is the girl. I dunno, to my mind, this is like pitting a homeless person for panhandling and then saying that the guy who doesn’t give any money is a douchebag. It’s an annoying social encounter. Sometimes you ignore someone whom you think is a dick, sometimes you’re the one being ignored.
I’m 41. I still don’t like sleazy old dudes trying to chat me up in Starbucks. 
Well, I’m coughcoughmumble**cough.
So, like I said, hi.
(Or should that be “hi?”)
Interesting how you go from “Hello” to *stalker *without a shred of evidence in between.
The girl in the OP evidently did and she was the object of his attention. She’s the one who gets to set her creepy guy scale.
Yeah, I agree. I also see lots of Dopers who talk about the Gift of Fear (book) and about trusting your instincts and remembering that sometimes it’s okay not to be polite. But when someone does this and leaves a situation where they feel uncomfortable, they get called a bitch for not being polite enough? I’m starting to realize why so many women feel obligated to be polite to all and sundry.
Sorry. They don’t take Starwood.
Actually you know it is ok to strike up a conversation with someone. It just comes across as super creepy if you are agressive about it. I’m a guy and I don’t like it when another guy is all smiling and talking two inches from my face and looming over me intently. Also if you don’t have the same energy level it makes for an awkward conversation.
Sorry, you bolded what? I don’t see it.
Now see, you must be too old. Otherwise, you would have said “Hai!”
< sniffs and looks away disinterested >
Stalker. 
Wait… I’m not supposed to follow you home and kill your cat?
No, you’re supposed to follow me home and stand underneath my window in a raincoat, blaring Peter Gabriel from your boom box.
Or something.
Of course it is, but it depends on the situation. Sharing an experience of the moment, certainly provides a non-gratuitous opening as when strangers are thrown together by the random workings airline seat assignments. Or another example is when you wind up in the slowest, longest line in the supermarket, having happened to buy popsicles, and the register tape needs to be replace (again), two customers ahead of you need cigarettes (again), and a third customer argues about pricing (again), so you say to the person next to you, “Damn, this always happens when I buy popsicles.” Or you could be watching a game at a bar or attending a concert. IMO it’s without some sort of common ground that such approaches can become gratuitous, and, to some, threatening.
Can we compromise and I’ll follow you home and kill your cat with Peter Gabriel?
My cat is Peter Gabriel and I’ve been wanting that sucker dead for years…
Did you get to see the thread about reclining seats in airplanes? Communication seems to be a rare commodity around here. Maybe she should have just sneezed on him to make him go away.
Hard to get a 3-page thread from that attitude.
I like the way you see through things. I think our OP was not exactly an impartial observer on this whole deal.
Because of your delicious boobs?
You eventually get to an age where you just take any kind of wood.