To think this is just downright creepy

[mummabear1967]

Hi all.

My DS (19) has a part time weekend job in a retail store.

Last weekend, a male customer, who I believe must be at least in his 70s, approached DS and made a very uncomfortable and strange comment about him.

He had been in a few months ago and commented on DS’ clean finger nails - I think DS found this strange at the time but didn’t think too much of it and just said yeah that’s because I clean them daily.

Anyway, at the weekend this same customer made a reappearance and whilst DS was sitting minding his own business behind the till, he said to DS “oh you’re the guy with the clean nails - you look very neat and it makes you look sexy”

AIBU to think that this is 100% weird? DS is 19 and an elderly man says that to him in his place of work. DS was so shocked that he didn’t respond back but just put on a subtle fake laugh.

I just think it’s a bit creepy.

This is disgusting and DS should talk to his manager about it ASAP.

It is creepy and could be seen as sexual harassment. Help DS come up with replies e.g. "please don't make comments like that to me", "that's an inappropriate thing to say" etc and if the man carries on encourage DS to remove himself and speak to a manager.

Could be creepy or the older man could be cognitively impaired, does DS know the signs to look for?
Either way you could definitely do some assertiveness training with him, give him some tools to firmly rebuff unwanted attention.

@Darkestseasonofall yes DS is very shy outside his comfort zone so he would generally find it hard to speak up with people he’s not familiar with.

He is disgusted by this and wishes he had asked the customer not to speak like that but he was just so shocked and just didn’t say anything

Bleurgh, creepy and gross.

Exactly the sort of thing a lot of women and girls put up with all the time in customer facing roles.

Not right for either sex and should be dealt with by management.

Similar happened to my DD18 in a retail environment. Your DS needs to report the incidents to management and if customer comes in again, he should call a supervisor over. Also, yes, encourage him to learn from the incident and decide what he would say and do differently if it happens again. Females in retail etc have had to put up with this disgusting behaviour for decades sadly but also bear in mind age/cognitive function of the perpetrator might be a factor in this.