WANTED: Paedophilic Creep Repellant
I am so annoyed. There must be something about me that attracts unwelcome attention from seedy middle-aged men. First the hairy old man outside of Kinokuniya, then the retarded looking pervert who hides behind book shelves to peek at me - and not only that , I've seen him, more than once, hiding in the adult fiction room and staring up at the skirts of girls studying upstairs in the reference room. I reported him but there wasn't much that anyone could do because he hasn't physically nor verbally harassed anyone - he just stands there and looks.
Now this one - I actually thought he was harmless at first - there wasn't any inappropriate behaviour at all until last Sunday. This man is about in his late thirties, I'd say. I have served him a couple of times and he would always be very friendly and chatty - which is what a lot of our patrons are like so I didn't think it was out of place in any way. A few weeks ago I checked some books out for him and he started enquiring into my shifts at the library, asking whether I always worked on the weekends. I said I did, and he asked whether I was a student at uni and wanted to know what I was studying. They all seemed to be normal questions, but his tone and countenance made me feel uncomfortable so I didn't answer them. Strangely though, after that he started turning up every single weekend.
So, I was working, as usual, last Sunday. The library was rather empty because all the university and Yr 12 students had finished their exams. I was shelving in the adult fiction room and was about to head back to the circulation desk when he stopped me and said 'Can I ask your opinion about something?' Thinking that it was going to be a library related question I enthusiatically said 'Sure' - but the question turned out to be anything but. He said, 'Do you think.. a man and a woman can ever be just friends?' I was caught with such surprise I didn't know how to react. I mean, people do not go around asking strangers questions like that, and it was nowhere close to what I was expecting. I had a complete mental blank. And what was worse, he had his the top half of his shirt buttons undone and I was extremely disturbed and disgusted. I must have stood there with my mouth open and a stupid puzzled look on my face for nearly a good minute, and he got closer and prompted 'So what do you think?' I stammered and tried to edged away and ummed and erred and mumbled 'Wh..? I can't.. I'm not umm in a position to discuss this. I have to go back to work.' and, very literally, ran.
I feel very ashamed of my inability to stay calm and respond with a witty put-off. I was really scared and I panicked. I just.. didn't know what to do and was completely freaked out. I really need to get myself together and learn to react calmly in such situations. Sigh. So I ran back to the circulation desk and my supervisor Helen and a library assisstant Anna were there and I told her about what happened and she went to confront the man but he must have left and she couldn't find him anywhere. When Lorna, the other assisstant, came back from shelving and heard what happened, she told us about how a few years ago she was stalked for a couple of weeks by a patron of the library who had approached her in a similar fashion but said much more explicit things and put pornography in her mailbox. She had the police involved but there wasn't anything that they could do because they didn't know who he was so her mum stalked the stalker and found out where he lived and luckily it stopped when the police visited him and gave him a warning. Basically, all that I can do is hope that he won't come back to bother me again. So there, We are all in desperate need of some quality paedophilic creep repellant. They should be supplied with the OH&S info kit for all library employees.
Now this one - I actually thought he was harmless at first - there wasn't any inappropriate behaviour at all until last Sunday. This man is about in his late thirties, I'd say. I have served him a couple of times and he would always be very friendly and chatty - which is what a lot of our patrons are like so I didn't think it was out of place in any way. A few weeks ago I checked some books out for him and he started enquiring into my shifts at the library, asking whether I always worked on the weekends. I said I did, and he asked whether I was a student at uni and wanted to know what I was studying. They all seemed to be normal questions, but his tone and countenance made me feel uncomfortable so I didn't answer them. Strangely though, after that he started turning up every single weekend.
So, I was working, as usual, last Sunday. The library was rather empty because all the university and Yr 12 students had finished their exams. I was shelving in the adult fiction room and was about to head back to the circulation desk when he stopped me and said 'Can I ask your opinion about something?' Thinking that it was going to be a library related question I enthusiatically said 'Sure' - but the question turned out to be anything but. He said, 'Do you think.. a man and a woman can ever be just friends?' I was caught with such surprise I didn't know how to react. I mean, people do not go around asking strangers questions like that, and it was nowhere close to what I was expecting. I had a complete mental blank. And what was worse, he had his the top half of his shirt buttons undone and I was extremely disturbed and disgusted. I must have stood there with my mouth open and a stupid puzzled look on my face for nearly a good minute, and he got closer and prompted 'So what do you think?' I stammered and tried to edged away and ummed and erred and mumbled 'Wh..? I can't.. I'm not umm in a position to discuss this. I have to go back to work.' and, very literally, ran.
I feel very ashamed of my inability to stay calm and respond with a witty put-off. I was really scared and I panicked. I just.. didn't know what to do and was completely freaked out. I really need to get myself together and learn to react calmly in such situations. Sigh. So I ran back to the circulation desk and my supervisor Helen and a library assisstant Anna were there and I told her about what happened and she went to confront the man but he must have left and she couldn't find him anywhere. When Lorna, the other assisstant, came back from shelving and heard what happened, she told us about how a few years ago she was stalked for a couple of weeks by a patron of the library who had approached her in a similar fashion but said much more explicit things and put pornography in her mailbox. She had the police involved but there wasn't anything that they could do because they didn't know who he was so her mum stalked the stalker and found out where he lived and luckily it stopped when the police visited him and gave him a warning. Basically, all that I can do is hope that he won't come back to bother me again. So there, We are all in desperate need of some quality paedophilic creep repellant. They should be supplied with the OH&S info kit for all library employees.