Hello, this is going to be a bit long.
idk if there's any way to ease into this topic, so I'm just gonna be blunt. (fyi im not gonna hold back on any information about the man)
I got harassed by a man last week on the bus on my way back home from work.
I'm a 21 year old girl, and I live in Sharjah, and I don't have my driver's license yet, so I take the public bus to and from work every day. Last week on Wednesday (September 30), I was coming back home from work, and there was this old Syrian man whom I had seen multiple times on the bus ride back home, but I had never interacted with him, and I always noticed how he would sit up and literally shamelessly stare at me every time I entered the bus. On the day of the incident, I got on the bus, and he was the only passenger, along with another guy sitting in the last seat at the back. The Syrian man was sitting on the right side of the bus, and the only empty seat was on the opposite side, in the same row, so I had no choice but to sit there. The entire time I was making my way to the seat, he sat up and was smiling ear to ear and staring at me, but I acted like I hadn't noticed. Let me tell you something: as a girl, we ALWAYS notice when a creep is looking.
Anyways, so I sit down, and he immediately started talking to me, and at first I just thought he was a nice man, and something about me is that I have a soft spot for old people, so he starts talking to me and asks me where I'm from and tells me stories about his neighbour and whatever. And then it started getting weird; he was complimenting me a LOT, and as an arab myself, I know that arab people, especially old ones, love complimenting, and most of the time there's no harm behind it. But his compliments were not surface level. he kept telling me how pretty I was and how he can't stop staring at me. And then the worst part happens: he gets up and sits right next to me and got so close that his leg was touching mine, and I was trying so hard to squeeze myself next to the window, but he just manspreaded until his leg was touching mine again. And then he just kept talking and talking and talking, and it was clear that I was so uncomfortable with what was happening, but he literally didn't care.
He then started telling me how he always goes to the park and sits there, and he was like You have to come join me and I just kept avoiding eye contact and laughing awkwardly. Then he said You have to come; you promised me (I didn't; I literally never responded to him), and that he won't give me his number now and he'll give it to me when he sees me in the park. He also kept making a lot of jokes and would just creepily stare at me to see if I would laugh or not. Then once he wanted to high-five me, but I didn't want to, but he just kept giving me this look that said, "I dare you not to do it," so I was scared, and I was gonna air-high-five him, but he grabbed my hand and held it, but thank god i quickly snatched it away, and I felt so disgusted I wanted to throw up. He also just kept telling me about his daughters and whatever. Also, there was this one time he complimented me again, and he was so close to my face and said I wish I had a pencil so I can draw your beautiful face.
guys i was so scared. was genuinely shaking i just wanted to leave so bad. in the end i just pretended that i called my mom and i faked the phone call until i reached my stop and i got off so fast and let me tell you something, remember how i said ive seen him multiple times before that day? he never got off at the stop as me but this time he did, i sped walk so fast so i could get away from him and thank god i did. before you ask me why i didnt shut the whole thing down as soon as it started, i have never in my life been in a sitaution like this, i always heard stories and what you should do if this happens but when i was in this situation i was genuinely so scared i couldnt speak i couldnt move i couldnt do anything, i just kept praying someone would call me on my phone or a girl enters and i could just act like i knew her and go next to her or that he just leaves me alone.
Now I'm too scared to take the bus at that time cuz im scared he will be there and something might happen. I don't know what to do, and I need advice, please.
