Coffee Shop Harassment
I was sitting in a Decatur coffee shop a few weeks ago after a very stressful day writing notes for a project I had to complete before summer’s end. I walked up to the counter to refill my coffee when a man approached me and grabbed my leg from behind, saying “You have very nice thighs, let me touch them some more…in private.” I smacked his hand away, told him to leave me alone and said “would you do/say that to your mother?” and promptly went back to my seat. The coffee shop was full, other people had seen this go down, and the baristas had told him not to harass me, so I assumed that would be the end of it. I sat back down and not twenty minutes later the man returned right behind me, asking me what I was reading, how I was doing, and again started touching my legs and stroking my hair from behind. I was so humiliated that I yelled at him to please please please leave me alone, that I had mace, etc, along with various profanities. He just shrugged and grinned, then shuffled out of the coffee shop.
About five minutes later I looked out the window only to see the man pointing inside at me, talking to another man who I’ve had previous encounters with, all of which have included some degree of harassment. They were both laughing and making lewd gestures of some kind. I reported all of this to the baristas, who sort of shrugged it off but told me the most they could do was kick him out of the store. I left very soon after that shaken and frightened and disgusted, and haven’t seen him in the area since.
One Response
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I’m sorry you had to experience that and I am even more sorry that you were not assisted more directly by the staff. Thank you for sharing your story.