Journey mercies

Alpha, this is what really makes me a modern day damsel in distress!

I think I'm being harassed, or at least that's what my colleagues say. For the last 3 days I've been kindly escorted to the train station because I happened to mention in passing to a colleague about how lately I've been bothered on my way to the train station after work.

It so happens there is a chap, a Middle-Eastern looking chap, who seems to get off the train that comes just before my train. When he does, he happens to walk past me when we are both walking through a short narrow lane that everybody walks on to get to the train station because it's a shortcut.

And when he passes me, he seems to veer as close as he dares towards me and just as he passes me, says in a soft but breathy voice, "Ooo... baby..."

Like, YUCK!

He has done this at least 5-6 times when we do happen to cross paths and when I initially just ignored and kept going my way, has come to the point that I always watch out for him when I take that said train.

So anyway, I told this to my colleague and she went into a fit about how it's harassment, and another male colleague was listening and declared he'll walk with me and tell the chap off. I was a little surprised at the intensity of the response I've had as I usually just brush these things off (unfortunately get enough unwanted attention that I can't go reacting to everyone of it).

However, it has occurred to me that I needed to be very cautious with this slimy character. If I have to walk to station alone I will just have to take the long way round, and my colleagues have been very nice to escort me since then.

Yesterday, me and a colleague got to the station early, before the slimy character's train came. She queued up to get a ticket and the train came, and the chap got out and I pointed him out to her but kept my face away from him.

Today she told me that he was looking at me as he left the station and I started to get more concerned. Because now I'm not just some random girl he leers at but someone he watches out for.

I'm no lily-heart and not easily cowed. But this dude is seriously creepy. So today, I finally went to talk to a colleague of mine, Dennis. Like Dennis the Menace. Dennis with super-duper inflated biceps. Dennis the body that looks like it'll crush you to powder Dennis.

Another English chap offered to come with me and he'll tell him off and tell him to stop bothering his "wife", but I mentioned to him that it could be likely he doesn't understand any English except "baby" so I thanked him for his offer, but Dennis is my man. Those biceps is a cross-cultural language.

But I kept telling Dennis tat he was meant to just look scary, and not be violent. Unfortunately, I finished some stuff late, so by the time we got to the station, my train just arrived and no sight of the creep. And I think Dennis is more than happy to put his muscles and Jujitsu skills to practice because he already offered to walk me next week until he delivered a message to the dude.

Err... in case parents are worried, the police headquarters is 5 minutes walk away from the train station! So if there is any funny business with him, he'll have to contend with a lot of gym-and-martial-arts-loving colleagues in the office and the police.