School parent deliberately coughing on me every morning

[Happyluce]

A school parent keeps deliberately coughing on me. We stand outside the gates and then in the play ground waiting to go in and they don’t cough for all that time. But As soon as they are next to me they fake cough really loud without covering their mouth or they deliberately clear their throat really loud behind me. This keeps happening every morning. I feel like it’s a way of trying to bully me without speaking to me. What would you do?

Ime the only thing you can do with men like this is to avoid them. I wonder if you have much longer with your DC at that school? Confrontation would perhaps only give him the attention he's seeking.

Is there any back story at all? Anything gone on with the children? Has his partner told him she doesn’t like you?
I would take steps to keep away from him e.g. by arriving after him. If you arrive after him and he still finds his way to be near you, you’ll be able to tell it’s deliberate. I would then ask to meet the head and explain that there is some intimidation going on and you would like some support so that you feel safe while you’re waiting for your child.

He might fancy you OP and is attention seeking. I’ve had this before, coughing is a bit weird but starting to whistle/sing/generally draw attention to themselves is quite normal for a certain type of man around a woman they fancy.

The motivation, I suspect, is sexual harassment, even though it seems strange to us. That's because we're not absolute creeps.

He definitely fancies you

Loudly call him out everytime he does it, asking him to please stop coughing over you every morning. It won't take long until people notice the pattern of him doing it and it always being near the same person and it become obvious it's targeted if he continues it once he's been shown up. Then you have more strings to your bow with others who can back you up. Even better if there's a teacher/your kids teacher there.

How is coughing near someone someone sexual harassment 😳. Can you imagine the phone call to police “I’d like to report a case of sexual harassment, they coughed near me”

Move away from him. Make sure you are behind him rather than the other way round.

I do believe OP, I just don’t think it can be that difficult to avoid him. And if he really does start chasing her around, then she has grounds to grind her heels into his toes or speak to HT.

Offer him a strepsil.

If he ends up behind you then just step out of line, smile sweetly and say 'I'll leave you to cough on someone else today shall I' and saunter to the back of the line.
He's either gonna stop with the fake coughing or annoy someone with enough bollocks to challenge him outright and loudly.

Very weird! Does he fancy you and this is some strange kind of courting ritual?

It's about the intention behind the behaviour. Do you think he'd be doing it to another man? He seems to be trying to get her attention and it's very likely that that's because of some sexual interest.

Can you cough right back? Like you are having a conversation in cough form. See what happens?

You can think of it as just regular old harassment if you want but it is because she's a woman.

I always used to say 'catch the cough' to my kids when they were tiny* - I've been known to say it to other kids and adults on autopilot sometimes . I don't think I'd be able to (or want to) restrain myself in your position.

*Because my kids would just put their arms in the air if you said 'put your hand up' - smart-arses .

Probably been asked but I've not got time to read through, but just wondered if you wear a particular fragrance or hair something?
My eldest is allergic to one of his DStepmums cosmetics (it's a dry shampoo) and we wondered what was triggering him around her, anyway we found out because I was given the same one, it's nice actually, soap and glory, but it fucks up his chest. Only that one, but maybe it's that?

Or he's a lunatic/doesn't want to slide into your dms because he's married/is a bully.

If he is a bully why is he targeting you? Are you quiet? Are you attractive? Are you doing well for yourself?
I wish we could just mace these fuckers, I really do.
I'd love that for you, he gets close and you just pepper spray the CF 😂😂

Are you extremely beautiful and he is coughing in stunned amazement?

Are only stunningly beautiful women harassed by men?
No.

How very odd! I think I'd say every time you are next to me you cough, is there a reason?

Sorry if asked before but Is he trying to get your attention?

He might fancy you or be trying to tell you something.

Good point

They're going through phases of assaulting fruit online atm.
Fucking animals. 😂

Loudly tell him "Cover your mouth please!". If he comes back with something, you could always smile and say "oops, force of habit" if you want to defuse it, or double down and tell him that it's disgusting to cough without covering his mouth and is there something wrong with his memory if he's learned nothing about coughing from the fairly recent pandemic.

Or "Nasty cough you've got there... Sounds like you've had it a while too - you might want to see a doctor."

Maybe he fancies you. Getting your attention.