I was working the night shift at Anonymous Clothing Store tonight and it was going well. I was ringing up a lady who was telling me about taking naps with her dogs (huhn?) when I heard the little bing-bong noise that signaled a person walking into the store. I looked up and saw this tall man heading straight towards the registers. I looked over at my coworker, wondering if it was someone she knew because he was walking with a purpose but she glanced up and then quickly looked back down at the paper she was writing on. And that's when I felt this horrible dread at the pit of my stomach. I made eye contact with the man and smiled as I continued ringing up the lady's purchases. When he saw me looking, he stopped a few feet away from the register which put him at about the jewelry section and proceeded to look through the bracelets. Here's the thing, the store is 100% for women. It's not in an indoor mall, it's more like a shopping center. The other stores surrounding it are a pet store, food stores, a staples, a walmart, a craft store, Marshall's and a shoe store. A man in our store that is not with a woman is uncommon. At the late hour he came in, even more so. I'm a 37 year old woman who has never, thankfully, been a victim of any kind of serious crime. I am rarely afraid (except of the dark but that's because of the boogie man). I don't get nervous when walking to my car alone at night or in other instances but I'm also not stupid. I'm always aware of my surroundings and people around me. I also follow my instincts. If I have a bad feeling about a situation, I don't second guess myself. I motioned to my coworker, she's a young woman probably mid 20s, to either take over my sale or go ask him if he needed help. She made the decision to go talk to him. When she asked him if needed help, he said he was waiting for his ride. Again, having the other above options, to me it seemed suspicious that he would decide to wait in our store. he walked away from her and walked all over the store and looked everywhere, even up at the corners of the ceiling. Which made me wonder if he was looking for cameras. When I was done with the lady, I walked towards him as he was heading for our back room area which is employs only. I asked if he worked in one of the stores, he backed up a little and answered no. I smiled and asked him if he wanted to open up a store credit card and my coworker grabbed the store phone and said to him 'yeah, it would really help us meet our quota for the day!' He laughed (nervously, I thought) and headed for the door then ran out. I went to the front of the store to see which way he'd go but he was gone. I know what you're thinking. We weren't in any harm, the guy was an innocent guy just waiting for his ride but I disagree. The whole situation was bizarre. He wouldn't look us in the eye, he was fidgeting and the fact that he practically *cased the joint*... It was almost as if he got nervous when he saw a customer at the register and then us giving him all that attention made it worse. Now it was just my coworker and I in the store and we compared impressions about the situation. She had the same misgivings I did and couldn't believe I asked him if he wanted to open a store credit card. I told her it was a testament to my dedication. We decided to keep the store phone on our person and took turns as look outs. I don't know if we did the right or wrong thing in talking to him but I'm glad we remained calm even though I did nearly crap my pants.
