Today, two men in a car followed me into an underground car park, cut me off entering the ramp so they parked before I did, got out their car and were approaching me as I got out mine.
One launched into a rant about how I needed to use my mirrors. He counted them - loudly - at me, with a smile on his face. "One, two, three...you need to learn how to drive, sweetheart." The other one stood and watched. I couldn't have gotten past them. It went on for a couple of minutes. I was just frozen. I was scared, embarrassed, humiliated, confused. I can only assume he belived me to have committed some sort of driving infraction earlier on the road. I'm not aware of having done so. I'm usually a careful driver. I've never been in a prang and I've been driving almost 20 years.
They left and got in the lift up to the shop. I waited and went up a few minutes later. They were waiting in the shop outside the lift. He started counting at me, loudly, again as the doors opened. Smiling, laughing. As I walked away they got back in the lift. They had no shopping. Did they do the lift journey just to be able to humiliate me again?
They've committed no crime. It was all done in smiles and a casual tone of voice. But it's terrifying. This shit is terrifying. Two men in an underground car park is terrifying. Their physical size is terrifying. My helplessness and voicelessness was humiliating. All the things I wish I'd said I know I never would because you just don't know which men are going to crack and be genuinely dangerous - and one who'd reroute his morning to intimidate a stranger in a car park just might be that type.
I'm raising a daughter who'll have to navigate this shit one day. It's so depressing.