Given my propensity for spying on people's reading material I am not always in the right on these issues. But there's a difference between "glancing at someone's book for a second" and luxuriating in someone else's entertainment*, particularly while also breathing heavily and expanding to fill the space between someone and yourself. Actually, it was more the final two that caused me to actually get up (out of my window seat on a bus) and move away from one such Space Invader, who naturally wouldn't get up to let me out, and then acted all offended when I tripped over his feet.
I don't have many moments of but what are all these PEOPLE doing in my CITY?!?!?!!! but between this dude (because, of course it was) and the homeless guys trying to offer me romantic advice**, I have pretty much filled my quarterly quota of strangers who think I owe them my attention. I'm going back to my book and if possible I would like to crawl inside, thanks.
* How do I know he was reading over my shoulder? By the derisive snort he gave after I put away my book, opened my laptop and started writing an email describing being trapped on a bus with a "heavy-breathing creepshow." Yes I did, yes I did. He did stop with the heavy breathing for a bit after that, but...
** More than once, and not only that, one guy tried to dispense said advice at 5:30AM. Swell timing. I don't even talk to my actual boyfriend at that hour.
19 hours ago
2 comments:
Sounds like street harassment to me.
I carry little fliers around with me for just such an occasion. I haven't had to use them...yet.
Well, I think he was just being a regular jerk and not a street harassin' jerk. Not that that's better! Just that I didn't feel like I was the particular object, other than being more interesting than looking out the window. Those cards are not bad though.
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