My husband and I were getting some groceries on Saturday afternoon (4/9) in the Soviet Safeway. I had to ask a man to move as he was blocking the bread that I needed to get to. I asked nicely, “Excuse me, please, sir.”

He responded oddly but fairly politely: “Go on young ma’am.”

My husband and I moved on to the next aisle when the man walked up and between us. I didn’t really give it a thought – sometimes it is easier to walk between than go around. He came back down the same aisle and walked behind us both this time.

At this point, my antenna are up – is he lost, is he following us, is he looking for something he can’t find (we were looking at frozen pizzas, so there wasn’t a wide variety of items), did he lose track of the person he’s with?

We go to check out, and as we are in the self-checkout lane, he walks by, with a friend, points to me and says loudly, “There’s my girlfriend.”

It was upsetting, and I kept messing up the machine. I didn’t tell my husband what the man said (he was packing the bag and didn’t notice) until we left the store because I didn’t want to make a scene. I felt really awful; I tried to be polite to a stranger, and he decides that he can joke about us being in a romantic relationship because of it.

Submitted by K

Location: 17th and Corcoran NW

Time of harassment: Day Time (9:30A-3:30P)

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