She had done, and apparently has over the last few months repeatedly. It's not just her, either. They have "regular" harassers and tend to run interference for each other when one comes into the shop. They have a buzzer they can push in an emergency, and security shows up pretty quickly, but that only works inside the shop. Two weeks ago they had to send one of the girls home in a cab after work, same situation, different pervert. Another night recently one of the security guys walked home with one of the girls.
Yesterday she had to basically throw the guy out of the shop. When he would not leave, she called security. Who "gave him a talking to." That seems to be pretty much all they do. Even when they catch someone shoplifting, and they have some serial shoplifters, they don't do anything unless they swipe something really expensive. If they repeatedly harass the staff, they get "banned" from the shop. But that doesn't always stop them from coming in.
Last evening's guy was on about all the drugs he had in his house, and did she have a boyfriend, and how she should smile more, and where did she live, etc. She gave him his change and said "goodbye, sir" and he kept on asking personal questions. He did not cross the line into overtly threatening her, but she got "I bet you walk to work. That means you'll have to walk home tonight, doesn't it? All by yourself" stuff. She told him he needed to leave the shop then, and he wouldn't go. She was afraid he was going to be waiting outside the shop when she got off work. But he was not, thankfully.
Apparently this one was another older guy ("older" being maybe 50?) and drunk. They do seem to get a lot of drunks in there in the evenings, looking for more booze and cigarettes. Unfortunately, a lot of it is just the location and the nature of the shop. They do have a lot of turnover in the staff - the younger women don't stay long. The older birds are bulletproof.
I, personally, wish she would quit.
I wore my Army jacket and boots when I went over there, which make me look a bit larger than I am. I find that the Army jacket tends to be one of those unusual things here that throws people off guard just a hair. Even though I'm old now. I'd liked to have gotten a cup of screaming hot tea, but they'd already shut the machine off. Hot tea in the face is also a decent deterrent, when one is being pestered and it goes over the line. But usually, I've found that if it's just one drunk guy, there being two people instead of just one trying to get home unhasseled, it works.
Still wish I had my baseball bat. Or, actually, some days, my .45. Oh, well. It's still safer here than in the States. Probably because very few people have access to a .45.
