Edit: I do NOT give permission to anyone to use my story for anything, including podcasts, video, youtube, etc.

This was closing in on around 10 years ago. I've also since moved from where this happened with and don't have any of the saved docs that are/were related to it due to trying to forget about some of it. Despite that, a friend of mine tipped me off to this subreddit because she was a means of support during all of this, so here I am. I still bring it up occasionally to people to warn them of how creepy customers can be. 

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I was the friendly neighborhood video game store worker at the time, early 20's and also the only non-dude worker there. There were plenty of shy teen boys who would blush and stumble over their words when they talked, lots of 'I've never met a girl who is into video games as you' comments, etc. But also plenty of creeper guys that of course, always mistook my 'I'm paid to be nice to you and giving customer service' as that I was totally into them, and therefore my not being a huge bitch meant that obviously I wanted to jump their bones. /s

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Thankfully my co-workers would help nip that whenever they could, always telling guys when they were taking it too far/that I'm nice to everyone/having to be blunt that I'm being a good customer service worker, not a flirt - and to stop harassing me. 

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But there was this one guy that was just sooooo sneaky in how he went from a Creep to a literal nightmare. 

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It started off that all my co-workers thought he was a great customer and general 'great guy' because he was some kind of 'Big Brother' care taker to a bunch of kids that were mostly mentally disabled or had learning disabilities. He'd occasionally bring them to the store and buy them a new game/games for the console[s] they had at the home they came from. At first I too, let my guard down around this guy, because obviously a care taker of disabled children wouldn't be a creep, right? 

Wrong. 

Whenever the kids would be meandering around and looking at new games or playing the demo games we had in store, he liked to talk to us that were working at the time while he was there. It started innocently enough, but at first I just took that he was really charismatic and upbeat, which was nice to see with someone that helped with who could definitely be considered 'difficult' kids, [we saw our fair share of meltdowns in store with the kids he brought, but he was very good with them on de-escalating them when they did] but soon his visits became more frequent, and his 'charisma' started to definitely more lean towards straight up flirting. My co-workers even noted aloud that they had seen him come in more often than he did before. They hadn't yet put two and two together that it was because I had started working there. 

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There was one specific visit when he came in when I was the only one in store at the time [coworker was on his lunch] that the flirting suddenly went into high gear. I don't remember exactly what he said, but it was very, very forward, and made me balk; I couldn't believe what he had said. I immediately [albeit politely] shut him down. I had to keep it calm and cool because I also didn't want to rile up the kids. Despite this shut down, he didn't stop. 

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He started coming in more, using the kids as a reason to come keep trying to bother me. It became suddenly nefarious pretty quickly. Those poor kids had no idea, and legitimately thought he was giving them more attention/doting on them because he liked them. But that definitely wasn't the case anymore. He straight up told me [again, he was so sneaky and seemed like he always knew when one of my coworkers were taking a lunch, despite it was never at the same time] that the kids were just an excuse to come see 'my beautiful self.' 

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After this comment, I immediately told my coworkers and boss. They believed me, but at the same time didn't think it was very serious. However, I forced them to start using signals we'd give each other/call with a specific phrase if I needed them to come back to the store ASAP because the Creep showed up. I also asked if we should try and find out the organization he was going through with the kids to let them know what he said about them, but my boss freaked out about 'getting that involved.'

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Then one day, I had opened by myself, and it was super slow. So I was alphabetizing the racks of games out on the floor. We had a bell tied to our front door, but there was a side entrance you could come in through that was attached to a video/movie rental store. The movie store side had a sort of metal gate thing that you had to usually open a bit to get inside, so that made noise too. I was relying on that to alert me if I had a customer, and was 'in the zone' of alphabetizing because I didn't hear anyone come into the store. Then I heard [what I thought] was my coworker coming in for the day a bit early [not uncommon for them] give me a fake flirty compliment of 'hay there sexy thang' which was usually our way of goofing off with each other  when no one was around. He also knew how to open the side door without making a racket, as all of us workers did. 

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So I mock-flirted a reply back to the extent of 'Haven't I told you before that compliments will get you nowhere and everywhere at the same time?' and turned, only for my jaw to drop, eyes get huge, and I could feel the color leave my face - and I swear I could feel my organs get heavy inside my body. 

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It was not my coworker. It was the Creep, literally mimicking my coworker's goofy voice down to a goddamn T. He also knew the specific way to open the side door without making a noise. I forced myself to laugh [which honestly I think it sounded more like a dying crow] and was like 'Oh! I thought you were [coworker's name], I'm sorry about that. lololol'

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Only for him to reply 'I know you did, but I liked the response you gave me anyway' with a smirk. Queue the skin crawliest of skin crawls. I hopped up and scrambled back behind our cases that separated the workers and the customers so I could at least have some kind of barrier between us. I asked him where the kids where. He told me he purposely didn't bring them today, he was here to see me. I of course tried to feign ignorance at first and was like 'Oh, did you need to return something I sold you the other day?' but he laughed at me and again, super forwardly started flirting with me and asked me out. 

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Keep in mind I was the only one in the game store, and the worker in the movie store side [which was a huge ass store btw] was wayyyy far away. Even if I for some reason needed to scream for help, there was no way anyone would have been able to help me in time. I don't do 'flight' in the 'fight or flight' option, so I started to get a bit of an adrenaline rush in preparing that I might need to fight if he didn't take another rejection well. So again, I rejected him. I told him that I wasn't interested, as nice as he seemed [gag], and I had a S.O. He only smirked again and said 'I have a Significant Other, too. That doesn't mean anything to me. They don't have to know about us or each other.' 

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I was fucking floored. This guy was not taking no for an answer, and he's a cheater [I honestly wasn't all that surprised at that part tbh]. At this point I'm also getting really angry. I'm gripping the register so hard my hands are turning white [I remembered this clearly because I ended up making my hands sore after] and I said to him really firm/blunt [but still polite because I was afraid he could somehow get me in trouble because I was at work] that again, I'm not interested, and I'm not a cheater, and that I especially needed him to stop doing this with me, because it makes me highly uncomfortable, and I'm just trying to do my job. 

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Thankfully I think the worker on the movie side sensed something was up and came over, purposely shaking the door to make lots of noise and was like 'HEY, [my name], HOW'S YOUR MORNING BEEN?!?!' [while staring intently at the Creep from behind because they then realized who it was] That seemed to do the trick for the time being, because Creep then said 'I'll let you get back to work' with the fucking smarmy-est smugness in existence and left. 

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Once he was out of the store and in his car/away I started just yelling my head off about him to the movie side worker and immediately called my coworker who was supposed to come in soon, AND my boss. [The movie worker was the assistant manager on their side of the store so they also discussed it with everyone on their side to try and keep an eye out for him] We had a meeting about it and it was agreed that the next time Creep was in the store, kids or not, he would be warned by either the manager or assistant manager that if he didn't leave me alone/only discuss actual game/store/sale information in the store if I happened to be the only one around, he would be banned from the store.

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Then, the Creep didn't show up for awhile. I thought maybe, finally, he took no for an answer and moved on. It had been a little over a month since he was last there that I reported, and my coworkers said he hadn't been in on my days off, either. It was summertime at that point, it's TX, and our AC broke. It was goddamn miserable, and I had to work for a few hours by myself because someone had called out for the gateway shift between me and the closer for the night. I had my uniform sleeves rolled up, was trying to roll up my pants up to my knees, and I had my hair pulled up. Now, I've had an undershave [aka the lower half of my head hair is shaved, but the upper half is a full head of hair that when down, can hide the undershave easily] forever, and usually I don't have it up/exposed at work juuuuuust in case a customer or another store manager had an issue with, but it was unbearable this day and I had it pulled up fully exposing the undershave to give my neck/head some kind of relief from the sweatshop my store was. 

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I was price-labeling newly released games that were on display behind the register, so I had my back to the movie-side of the store, because again, there was the bell on the front entrance and the gate thing in the middle to warn me if someone was coming. I also didn't really have my back turned for long periods at a time because I'd pause, look around, and keep going. 

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I was leaning back against one of the cases as I was labeling because there was a fan we had blowing behind the registers and trying to get some air up my folded pant legs [lol] and apparently let my guard down for just a smidge too long. Next thing I know, I feel a hand sliding up the back of my neck, caressing it, and then cupping the back of my head [this is all the undershave area btw], and sort of rested their thumb and index finger up under and around my ponytail/the beginning of my hairline of 'regular length' hair in a very 'I could easily grab you by this hair right now' relaxed position. While this only lasted for, maybe, a second - it felt like time slowed and it went on for years. I'm pretty sure I had hairs turn instantly white after that. 

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I whirled around/jerking away as violently as I could and used the game in my hand to immediately break the connection between the hand and my head, and glared at whoever thought doing that was some kind of prank. You guessed it, the Creep. He sarcastically was shaking his hand like I hurt it [that I smacked with the game] and said 'I didn't know you assaulted your customers.' I was so instantly furious and so nauseous that he touched like that [despite it was just the back of my head, it was incredibly violating]. I couldn't get words to form, I was so ready to lunge over the cases and beat him to a pulp. So he said 'Nice haircut. You into that kinky stuff? I like that. I also liked what you said to me last time when you thought I was your friend --- I wanna hear some more' in which that was what I needed to snap back into reality to start yelling at him, top of my lungs. I don't even remember what I yelled, I'm sure it sounded like I was possessed and speaking some demonic language. But it was effective as it immediately sent one of the workers from the movie store running over and him running out. 

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I called my coworker that was coming in later, and my boss. My boss called the district manager, who advised to call security for the shopping center we were in. We got a pretty crap shot of his face from our store camera [it was cheap and poor quality], but it was all we had to post at the front of the store fronts that he was a banned customer/report if someone saw him immediately. The security guards for the shopping center were all updated at that point as well as to who to look for. Everyone [both the game and movie sides] all worked together to make sure I wasn't alone for any shift, and made sure I had rides to/from my nearby apartment to the store [I lived walking distance.]

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But that wasn't the end, and it somehow got worse from there. For the security report and to log it with the company, my boss pulled up the account the Creep used to buy his games/had his membership card under. We quickly learned it was a fake name. The phone number given wasn't active. And we didn't ever have to ID him or have a credit/debit card on file because 1. he always paid cash and 2. he always bought rated E games for the kids he brought in. [Keep in mind this video game store chain also no longer exists and they were never really on top of keeping up with the newest technology or security measures]. 

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All of us tried and tried and tried to remember the name of the company/group he worked for for being a mentor/caretaker of the kids, but we couldn't. He had worn a shirt related to it one time, but mostly it was just sort of a 'known' thing that he had mentioned from time to time. We also couldn't really call various groups and ask about him with a fake name, and if I wanted to try and call/email around to the ones that were located where I was in TX to give them a picture, I was told the police would have to be involved/it might go legal. I was poor and honestly just wanted to be done with it, so I didn't push it that far, hoping that everything else done so far would resolve it. 

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Then the calls began. Calling the store from different numbers, different people, usually kids, asking if I was working. Except for they never got my name right. It became very obvious they were scanning to try and see when I was working, but the Creep didn't seem to remember my name. [I also stopped wearing a nametag after that because fuck that], but he'd make CHILDREN call the store to seem innocent since my coworkers/management knew there were kids who loved interacting with me and I was their 'favorite' [and I had favorite customers too of course]. My coworkers would say 'no one named [wrong name here] works here' and they'd always follow up with 'she's the only girl that works there, you know who I mean' but my coworkers started telling whoever called that there was more than one girl that worked there, but none with the name they gave. Then they'd always hang up immediately. 

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I had one coworker who was so angry for me [B, if you're out there as a redditor and recognize this story/this part - I miss you dude] that he started saving the numbers that called the store and then would call them from essentially a burner phone after his shift and while he never got an answer, would leave threatening messages. After he started doing that, the calls lessened and eventually stopped. 

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It was during all this as well, that some of the teens/cool af customers noticed the signs we had of the Creep and asked about it. They were horrified for me and all made me want to cry from trying to band together to help me out. The regular teen customers especially - they all lived nearby as well [there was an awkward moment when I realized quite a few of them lived in the same complex as me when I was trying to use the community pool and noticed them all start going to the pool more often when I was using it - I used it less after that lol] and said they'd keep an eye out for me especially if they happened to see me going to/from work. They knew exactly what the Creep looked like since multiple times they had seen him around when they were there hanging out. 

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Then it was one night a little while after I had gotten a ride home, there was a knock at my door. I saw that it was the police. I answered, startled, and the officer started asking me questions about the Creep. Apparently, some of the kids who said they'd keep an eye out were good on their word and saw the Creep slowly riding around my apartment complex in his car while they were hanging outside, not long after I had closed the store and gotten a ride home, seeming like he was trying to find out which building I was in. They immediately called the cops and tried to block him in until they got there, but he probably recognized them as well and sped out. They were able to get a vague description of his car [it was night time and he had all his lights off - like a goddamned creep] and at least a partial plate number, but it unfortunately never amounted to anything. 

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The cops came to the store the next day when the store opened to meet with the security guards and exchange information and file a full report [I gave them what information I had at my apartment obviously, but they needed to follow up with the guards and the info they had]. I sobbed when I saw the kids come in to check in on me and hugged them all, as they very easily could have gotten themselves hurt/killed trying to help me out. The police I talked to [who followed up with me a few times with unfortunately no info, they kept running into more fake names and info, and they didn't ever find the car he was seen in] confirmed that when they also asked some other people in the apartment complex, people had seen that car before and that behavior more than once on different days. He was waiting to catch me going to my apartment. 

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Thankfully, that was the end of the Creep saga, at least as far as I know. I never found out his real name [if I did, I'd have pressed charges if possible], and he never was seen going into the store or other stores of the same chain ever again. Most of the kids that he had brought in also never came back. There was one that I specifically remembered coming in that I [trying not to bombard her] asked his new guardian [?] if she knew the name of the previous guardian/caretaker the kid came in with/the name of where his group home was with before. Unfortunately the kid was unable to really speak or comprehend even basic questions so couldn't be asked/didn't respond to the sign we had up with the Creep's picture, and she said that he had just come into a new care house and she didn't know of where he was before. She said she'd try to also find out for me, but nothing came of that, either. 

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I always wondered if he ever took advantage of, or hurt those kids. I really hope not. It's something I mentioned to the police, but I don't even know how much they were able to do being as all info we had about him was fake. 

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Shortly after all that died down I moved, and while I stayed at that store for awhile longer, I eventually transferred to a closer store to where I lived, only for eventually the company to start to go under. 

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TL;DR - Customer from where I worked was a super creep and ended up stalking me. 

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So, you know. Creeper Customer Stalker Man - let's not meet ever, ever, ever again.