A man ogled me today at Home Depot.
And I didn't appreciate it.
I stood at the end of the door knob aisle, waiting for Pam to find me, when a Home Depot worker walked by, leading a man with a shopping cart around these displays of kitchen sinks.
When they came by me, I did the polite acknowledging head nod in their direction, and both replied in kind, but then it got weird.
The man pushing the cart just wouldn't let go. He kept smiling, so I did my best to look away, possibly at the ten cards of paint samples I had in my hand, pretending that I had rooms I wanted to paint, when I really took them for bookmarks. I ventured a look at him, and he stood nearby, throwing very deliberate looks in my direction. He slightly bumped his cart into the worker too, so I knew I didn't imagine it. The worker reacted, apologizing for being in the way when it really wasn't his fault.
Finally Pam found me.
I tried my best not to sound too eager or nervous as I approached her. "Let's go!" I said.
She was smiling as Home Depot tends to make her do that. Really. She's a regular Tim the Toolman Taylor but with more efficiency and actual fixing things. "Why?" she asked, reading into my hurry. "What's wrong?"
"Um." I could sort of see the guy over in the next aisle. "I have to go home, because--" and I threw my voice in that direction and in a considerable volume louder-- "I'm in high school!"
Pam looked perplex. "What are you--"
"We should go now because I have so many HIGH SCHOOL THINGS TO DO! I'M OUT SO LATE FOR BEING IN HIGH SCHOOL!"
Pam had a fake smile plastered on her face. "What are you doing?"
I looked over at the man in the aisle to make sure that he wasn't looking at us, then I leaned towards her to whisper, "That man over there kept looking at me, so I'm trying to make him feel like a pervert by pretending I'm in high school."
Pam looked over at the aisle, then at me. "You're weird."
"What?"
"If he was blatantly looking at you, then he's well aware that he's a pervert," she said.
"Oh."
She also pointed out that I was wearing my college t-shirt.
Shucks.