Don't touch me!

[rerant]

I have my ears spaced to 14mm.
Today a customer came through my line, and as I had my hair up my ears were obviously visible.
So what does he do?
Proclaim, "Hey, there's a good place to keep your pencil," and GRABS MY EAR!
Ok, first off, what part of "personal space" do you not understand? Secondly, DON'T TOUCH ME!
I pulled my head away and said, "Umm, would you mind not touching me, please?"
His response was a rather rude, "Well you don't have to be to touchy about it."
Actually, yeah, I do.

At my work our registers are open because we always have large carts full of furniture coming through so we need to be able to get at everything. This leaves customers wide open for violating our personal space.
I can not count how many times I've had to ask people to step back because they were standing no more than two inches from me.

Even when I worked the Self Serve department yesterday I had people leaning over my shoulder to look at the computer and getting inches from my face.
I will never understand where people's head is at when they think this is a proper way to behave in a social setting.

Thankfully I once had a woman scold her husband by saying, "Get out of the damn way! Mind the girl's space, would you? I don't think she wants some old man breathing down her neck while she's trying to work."
If only I could find that woman and keep her by my side every day.

[myswtghst]

I can't even imagine doing that to a stranger. Heck, I feel rude asking about piercings/tattoos if I haven't formally met the person, and I'd be doing so in a friendly, where-did-you-get-them-done-cuz-I-like-them way.

[marty]

I hate that. I have my eyebrow pierced, so one time this teenage girl comes up to me at work while I was on the floor and asked, "Did that hurt?" and pokes me in the face.

I was too pissed to reply, and I think she got it because she disappeared like a fart in the wind.

[myswtghst]

I have multiple holes in each ear, nothing more than a 14g, but I do have my tragus pierced, so I've gotten questions about that. Questions, I don't so much mind. Touching it will get your hand smacked away without me even thinking about it. Took forever for that stupid thing to heal up initially, and my ears like to get re-infected every once in a while no matter how good I am to them, so I do not need your germs adding to the problem.

[rerant]

... and my ears like to get re-infected every once in a while no matter how good I am to them, so I do not need your germs adding to the problem.

That's another reason why I didn't want him touching me.
I got an infection from acrylic jewelry I was using to space my ears (I never had problems with acrylic before) so the thought of him passing his germs to my ears made me want to drop kick him in the neck.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

That's awful.

Next time that happens you should scream "NO TOUCHY!" as loud as you can.

Or next time, if you see the person reaching out to touch you, pick up their item (if it's small enough and you can do so) and hold it at arms length while pretending to examine it.

It's called the "grab and block". I've had a couple opportunities to try it.

[rerant]

That's awful.

Next time that happens you should scream "NO TOUCHY!" as loud as you can.

As an afterthought I considered yelling, "HELP, I NEED AN ADULT!"
Next time, though. Next time.

[Blade_Raver]

Next time someone does that be like "oh, that looks like a perfect place to put an (elbow or knee) then either elbow him in the jaw or knee him in the crotch...

Then be like "I'm sorry, I had a panic attack and felt threatened."

[Retail Associate]

If only I could find that woman and keep her by my side every day.

How much is it worth to ya? I'll do it!

.

I need a new job.

.

[powerboy]

As an afterthought I considered yelling, "HELP, I NEED AN ADULT!"
Next time, though. Next time.

Family Guy, nice.


I done that once with my last boss/buddy. And we had like 5 customers in. He came over to do answer the phone, while I was cashing someone out. We all got a laugh out of it. Ahhhhh, y'all had to be there.

[PepperElf]

I have my ears spaced to 14mm.

lol took me a while to figure out what you meant.
i just have regular piercings myself - 2 per ear - though my upper holes close up a lot cos i usually don't wear earrings there.

and there's nothing like having someone touch you... telling them "no"... and them trying to spin it as if it's YOUR fault now, because their egos get bruised.

one of my co-workers would do that. we had an argument about work and then she tried to touch my leg while talking, while i was angry...and i hate being touched and flinched out from her grip. her ego was pretty bruised... and yep she tried to spin it as if i was being disrespectful. she didn't write me up, but i'd have laughed if she had - our counseling paperwork has room for us to make our own statements and i'd ahve written that in.

same co-worker (ironically kinda a friend but not so much anymore)... and another incident. we were in a large group of people and she saw a guy whom she decided had a crush on me. so she pushed me towards him. i dont like being shoved (and i was *NOT* interested in the guy) and sidestepped and pushed her arms off of me. again i was in the wrong because i was being "too sensitive" ... and this time when i told her "I don't like being shoved around," she hissed at me, "You're not being shoved!" ...and it struck me that she was treating me like one of her kids. and I was only 5 years younger than her.... wtf?

Some people's egos just don't let them learn which co-workers can be touched and which dislike it.

My current place... the good supervisor touched my back or arm once and i was in a bad mood and flinched. He said, "Sorry I forgot you don't like that," and dropped the subject. No ego issues whatsoever.

and... prolly not surprising... but there's always exceptions for people who are really trusted or those you're use to.

[MTNLaurelPoacher]

*takes out engineers scale* Darn 14 mm, thats pretty cool. Some tattoos are piercings are not intended as "conversation starters" or an open invitation to poke and proud. Still... grabing your ear, screaming in pain , and yelling you stretched my piercing would be funny. (but the managers would never understand)

[gunsage]

What you do is modify your register so that there's a small, oh, I don't know...about 4"X4" square hole about standard crotch height from the floor in your register. Why? Well, your panic button should do two things. One, obviously sound a silent alarm that notifies authorities, etc. Two, a GIANT wood block shoots through the hole like a battering ram...you see where I'm going with this, I'm sure.

I suppose a third function would be automatically highlight a portion of the cameras so that it can be forwarded to America's Funniest Home Videos, but that's purely optional.

Me: "Ay! That's my personal space!"
SC: "Oh whatever, I'm an asshole and will do as I please."
Me: "Ay, you like CDs?"
SC: "Huh?"

*Panic button pressed*
SC: *THWAP!*
Me: "See deez nuts!"

[TryNotToBeThatOne]

The one time that I had someone grab my ear like that, after reaching adulthood anyway, it was my own mother. Even then, I protested. A total stranger?

"Hi, can I have your name please? I'd like to know what name to give to the police when I charge you with assault."

[chainedbarista]

he called you rude after you said please? wtf? he somehow thinks it's not rude to touch a complete stranger? nice set of morals, bud.

you were polite; i wouldn't have been...