Stop and Stare

I hate it when people stare! I know that I occasionally do it too because I just can’t help it but I try my best to avoid or keep it to a minimum. Staring can be awkward turtle, creepy, and just plain uncomfortable. I feel that staring is a common reaction when people see something “different” or out of the ordinary.

Last night I went to dinner with some friends that I met in the dorms last year. With such a large group we had to take two cars. For once I wasn’t the one that got lost so we ended up at BJs super early. As I ask for a table of 8 at the counter, the waitress hands me a restaurant pager as a way to notify when we can be seated. Since it was going to be a 30 minute wait we all took the risk of going out into the gruesome heat and walking over to Target. We were in Target for a good 5 minutes before the pager let out this loud “bleep, bleep.” That’s when I realized we walked out of range and the “bleep, bleep” was a sign to tell us to migrate closer towards the restaurant. My initial reaction was to dash out of Target as fast as I could because everyone was staring and looking around to see what was going on. I was automatically singled out because I was different by carrying this device that wouldn’t shut up. But I ended up sticking around just to see people’s reactions. Most of the customers ignored the beeping and continued to shop, but I definitely noticed the irritation on their faces. When I walked down the aisle with all the hair products, I saw a girl that looked about my age having difficulty picking out what kind of shampoo she wanted. She would grab a bottle, open it, take a big whiff, and then put it down again. When she saw me she politely smiled, but then as soon as she heard the “bleep, bleep” and realized that I was the source of this horrendous noise, there was an immediate change on her face to a frown. She glanced over at me a couple of times and finally left without even grabbing her shampoo. A man from another aisle even yelled, “Turn that thing off!” From the time I entered to when I stepped out of the store, shoppers were staring and just giving me snooty looks because I was different from all the other shoppers. Being “abnormal” or looking and acting different than the majority or crowd can cause people to react by staring and making negative comments.