Just before my 17th birthday I started working at Tesco on the checkouts, it was my first job and I was loving it. About a week after I had this man came through my checkout, quite tall, (but then again I am only 4’11 so everyone is tall to me) and I wouldn’t say he was fat but he was quite stocky he had strong arms but a bit of a belly, I would say he was maybe late 30’s early 40’s? He also kinda seemed not right if that makes sense? Maybe a but autistic.. Anyway he came through my checkout and started chatting to me saying he hadn’t seen me in here before and asking when I had started, I just thought he was a friendly customer so chatted back to him, he paid for his shopping and left. Every week when he came in I noticed that he would ALWAYS come through my checkout but before he would come through he would walk around the aisles next to my till for about 45 minutes to an an hour and every time I would look up he would be staring at me and then would quickly look back at the shelves. A couple months later it was my 17th birthday so I had booked the weekend off work so that I could do something with my friends. When I came back to work he did his usual wait until my checkout line was empty and there was nobody around and then he came over (he would always have a basket but would only have like maximum of 5 items but would always be in the shop well over an hour) and so I started scanning his items and he said to me “I came in to see you because I had something to show you but you weren’t here, but then I remembered it was your birthday so that’s probably why you weren’t here” this immediately sent alarm bells going off because I had never told this man when my birthday was or that I had even had any time off - I never gave out anything personal to any customers! So I was like how tf did he know it was my birthday and it really creeped me out. Only then he went “so how old are you now? 17?” And again I was like wtf because yes in theory I did look my age and he was probably just guessing but I had never told him how old I was! Anyway after this I started noticing him come in more and more frequently, now multiple times a week and always staring at me from aisles and always coming through my checkout, so I mentioned it to some of the older women on the checkouts and this one woman said she had noticed it too and to be careful. Anyway, it then got to the point where he was coming in multiple times a day and coming through my checkout and being really weird, he said to me the once “You live on (insert name of my road) don’t you?” And I was immediately really freaked out because I often would walk to and from work usually at night as well after I finished shifts at 10pm and I started thinking what if he follows me or watches me walk home what if he’s planning to do something, so i panicked and was like “no that’s not my house that’s my uncles house” and he went “no it isn’t, I see you go in and out all the time” and I went “yeah I visit my cousins a lot” and he went “I know it’s your house” and laughed. This really freaked me out because I had never seen him outside Tesco so how did he know where I lived, he had obviously been watching me. So after this I ended up telling some of the shift runners who told me to just ignore it and that he’s a weirdo and to just be polite but don’t talk to him (which is what I tried to do anyway!) so the next day he then comes in and says to me he stopped his car to let me cross the road but I didn’t see him so he waved at me but he doesn’t think I saw him, again I was like wtf why is he stopping his car and waving at me! So again mentioned to the team leaders that I didn’t want to serve him and he was really creeping me out. A lot of people on the checkouts had also noticed how he was and always kept an eye out when he came through my checkout. The one time this woman came through my checkout and was buying some holiday clothes and she was telling me how she was going away the week after so was buying some new bikinis for the beach, after she left he then came through my checkout and said “Oh I thought you were going to put one of those bikinis on and model it, you’d make a good swimwear model” this comment literally made my skin crawl and I panicked, I didn’t want to serve him anymore so I pressed my security button on the till and my manager came running over and I got up and said “I need to go to the toilet” and I ran off. I went into the toilet and I was shaking and crying because I was just so disgusted, he was really scaring me. So when I came out my manager was waiting for me and asked what was going on and why did I press my security button when I was only going to the toilet, and I broke down to him again crying and told him everything that had been going on. He told me not to worry and they wouldn’t let him come through my checkout and they could ban him if they needed to. After this he then continued to come in multiple times a day and whenever he came in my manager would always clock him and would hover around my checkout to scare him off, only the one day he tried to come through my checkout even though my manager was standing there and my manager said to him “excuse me sir can I move you to this empty checkout, we’re just trying to reduce queues” and he looked my manager dead in the face and went “no I’m fine here” and my manager went “no you need to move to this checkout” so he reluctantly moved to a few checkouts over, but as soon as my manager turned around and walked off, he then pretty much ran out of the queue and back down an aisle, he waited until my line was empty and again tried to come through only as he was unloading his basket my manager came over and was like “oh Wendy needs your help with the cashing up can you go give her a hand” and so my manager jumped on the checkout and I walked off to one of the shift runners who said to me “it’s okay we know what he’s doing, don’t worry” but the guy looked so pissed! Anyway every time he came into the store, before he was done shopping the shift runners would come and take me off the till and give me little jobs like going and putting stuff back on the shelves but you bet he would be there following me around the store, the one time I was emptying all the bins from underneath the checkouts and he came over to me and said hello, I ignored him and carried on moving up the checkouts, he followed me up and went “are you avoiding me??” And I ignored him and he went “IM TALKING TO YOU” and the tone in his voice scared the life out of me. I ignored him and walked off. He then put in a complaint about me to the main desk and said I shouldn’t be so rude to customers. This man was honestly the most obsessive man I had ever come across, soon after this I got a new job and left Tesco without telling any of my colleagues where I was going in fear they would accidentally tell him and he came into that place to stalk me. I also out he was a care taker at a secondary school, it really scares me and I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he does this to young girls at the school. I’m expecting one day to turn on the TV or read in the papers that he’s a serial killer or something! But I always dread to think what would have happened to me if I didn’t leave.
I'm sorry that happened to you and sounds quite scary, but could I please recommend you consider your words in future? Just because someone is a bit "not right" as you say doesn't mean they're autistic and vice versa. A freak can be that way just because, they don't need to have a condition to be so and flippant comments like that can be quite damaging.
I actually am autistic and was assaulted by a freak in front of all his mates just because he thought he could get away with it since I was quiet! Nothing wrong with him, he was just a disgusting pervert.
Either way, hope you're doing a lot better now.
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So carrying on from my last post, full story:
I had just moved to a new area and was then living in Cumbria. I was in year 7 and just turned 12, no friends no nothing, quiet, never really fitted in with my peers thanks to the (as of then undiagnosed) autism. My first day of school this guy and his group of friends (they were 15-16) began harassing me because I was new and quite fat for my age (you don't tend to see many new people there, it was a very isolated area and thought they would have fun with me making inappropriate comments about my body) before that I loved school, after this began not so much...
I used to have to get a bus with the other kids that the school put on, so only us kids and the driver on it. The harassment began as soon as I'd get on the bus. In the morning they would sit at the front so you had to go past them.
First it began with name calling, throwing things at or on me like fizzy drinks, making comments about my 'big fat tits', what cup size was I etc. Being young and with the condition I have I didn't tell anyone, instead trying to force myself to throw up or trying to break my arm or something to not have to go into school. This went on for about four months but felt like forever.
It all ended when one morning as I was getting off the bus at school he slapped my arse and then proceeded to reach to grope me between my legs while he and all his friends laughed. Later that day he approached me during break and went to grope my breast and I punched him in the nose in front of said friends and he left me alone due to being whalloped by a year 7 hard enough to send him reeling back.
Someone must have reported my punching him as my teacher asked me a day or two later what had happened (She was late 50s to 60s) and when I told her everything her response was 'did you punch him hard' and after my reply 'good' but I think she knew nothing more would come of it.
The school never did anything to him regarding the assault and I've never told my mother about it, too ashamed.
There have been other, worse incidents but that always stuck with me due the complete lack of care they seemed to have in that area, especially the school.
I hate to think what it might have escalated to if I hadn't punched him. That group were known for being up to no good, I believe one of them set fire to the local church after they robbed it and I think another was convicted of assault.
Suffice to say I'm glad I no longer live there.
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