I was on the train, minding my own business, when a man sat directly across from me. He didn’t say a word—just stared. His gaze was so intense and unbroken that it made me deeply uncomfortable. I tried to ignore it, but the longer it went on, the more uneasy I felt. Eventually, I got off the train a few stops early just to get away from him.
About five minutes later, my phone rang. It was my husband, clearly in a panic.“Were you just on the train?” he asked urgently.“Yeah, why?” I replied, still a bit shaken.He shouted, “Go back to the station right now! You just ran into my boss and didn’t even say hello! He called me and sounded really upset about it!”
I froze. “What are you talking about?” I asked, confused. Then my husband sent me a photo—and my blood ran cold. It was the same man who had been staring at me. The one I had just tried to get away from.I told my husband the truth: his boss had been creeping me out. He stared at me the entire ride without saying a word, and it felt threatening. But instead of being concerned for how I felt, my husband brushed it off. “He’s just awkward,” he said. “He probably didn’t mean anything by it.”
Then came the kicker:I’ve been working toward a promotion for months,” he added. “This isn’t the time to offend him. Just go back, say hi, and smooth things over. He’s probably still near the station or walking to the office.”I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I told him I’m not going to play nice with someone who made me feel unsafe. I’m not going to smile and pretend everything’s fine just so he can impress his boss.
Then I hung up.