CONTENT WARNING: Stalking/Harassment of a minor
This story reminded me of what once happened when I was a preteen, waiting in line at a water park. Honestly, every time I see or hear about a line cutter, this incident comes to mind.
During the summer, my family had season passes to the local water park. Since it was close to where my brothers worked, and before they had driver’s licenses, we opted to go to the park for a few hours every day before picking them up. As part of our daily ritual, we’d find a pair of chairs in front of the wave pool, and my mother would give me some money to buy us dinner while she guarded our things.
This is where the real story begins.
I was standing in line at the open-air restaurant behind one other person who was very engrossed in the menu. He was so oblivious to the outside world that he didn’t notice that the cashier was waving to serve him as next in line. I tried getting his attention, too, but he was either ignoring me or genuinely didn’t hear me. Eventually, the cashier gave up, made eye contact with me, and waved to call me over.
Since we had already been waiting for an extended period of time and the people behind me were getting restless, I went ahead to order.
Just after placing my order, I stood at the pick-up side of the counter to wait for my number to be called. The guy, having broken out of his menu hypnosis, noticed that the girl behind him was already waiting for her order and started to berate me.
Since this was over thirty years ago, I don’t recall exactly what he said other than the tone being very demeaning and very entitled. But what he said next, I very much remember.
Rude Guy: “Since you don’t seem to know how lines work, I’m going to follow you around and cut in front of you for the rest of the day.”
I had nothing to say to this guy and just gave him a look like he was too crazy to respond to. Unfortunately, both of our meals were ready at the same time, so he followed me out of the restaurant. I was a little nervous, but I was about to go back to my mother, and she’d know exactly what to do.
But a confrontation at that time wasn’t necessary. As soon as I stopped in front of my mother and handed her a hotdog, he peeled off. I shrugged off the incident, ate my food, and told my mother I was going to go to the lazy river.
And that was when the action started.
This guy had waited off to the side of the pool for me to finish eating and to be away from my accompanying adult. At the time, I didn’t think anyone would be so unhinged as to stalk a preteen in this way.
When I walked up to the line for the lazy river, he jumped in line ahead of me. He turned his head to give me a little smirk and moved his arms in a way that pushed me back with his elbows without making it look like he was pushing on purpose.
He got into the river with his innertube. Since it takes a minute for another innertube to become available, I thought that there was enough space that I’d not see him in the river.
Nope, he hung back long enough that he stewed in his innertube next to me and got out when I got out.
All right, in my preteen way, I took this as a challenge rather than recognizing the absolute bonkers behavior that this really was. I was used to this kind of nonsense from my classmates, but this guy was in his mid- to late twenties. I figured he’d do this once or twice and then get tired of harassing a kid.
I made like I was going to go up the stairs for one of the least popular slides in the park. It had literally no line at all. He ran ahead of me and practically knocked me over while doing so. I turned around immediately and speed-walked (no running allowed in these parks) to the lazy river.
I thought I was safe, but at the next entrance/exit, I saw him waiting for me.
Rude Guy, Now Stalker: “Hey, there’s my little sister!”
The guy had lied to the lifeguard handing out innertubes in order to wait to get in until he saw me.
After we were out of earshot of the lifeguard:
Rude Stalker: “You’re not going to get rid of me that easily. I could see where you went from the top of the stairs.”
Now it was dawning on me just how serious this guy was about sticking around for the rest of the day.
I tried the line trick again on a different slide, but he made sure to check that I was behind him after he pushed ahead. He was right on my tail as I was walking away.
I tried going to the lifeguards posted around the park, but they were basically useless. Each time I approached a lifeguard, he bolted in the other direction. And with the park being crowded, it was nearly impossible to point out the guy. One lifeguard said he couldn’t do anything until someone saw what he was doing in person. (Lifeguards wouldn’t see anything since they were paying attention to the people in the water, not in line.) Another told me to go back to my mother and let her know. (I wasn’t about to “let him win” by preventing me from enjoying the park that way.) The last employee I approached, an actual security guard, threatened to kick me out of the park for trying to prank him like that (which put me off of trying to find another adult).
So, I went to any area that a preteen would think is the least desirable for a guy: the kiddie pool area. And this was my salvation.
I was putzing around the little pool and its miniature water spouts, looking pretty down. I could see the guy at the entrance of the kiddie pool area. He wouldn’t directly approach me there, but he was at the only entrance/exit. A woman bouncing her baby on her hip saw me and decides to make conversation.
Kind Woman: “So, which one’s yours?”
Me: “I’m too young for a baby.” *Pointing at the stalker* “This is the only place I thought to go because there’s this guy following me around and pushing me around and cutting in line.”
Kind Woman: “I see.”
The guy saw me pointing at him, and he started to look a little angry.
Me: “Oh, no. He’s coming over.”
Rude Stalker: “Hey, sis. Mom wants you back at the wave pool.”
Me: “You’re not my brother. I don’t even know you.”
Kind Woman: *Putting herself between me and him* “She’s told me about what you’ve been doing.”
Rude Stalker: “Did she tell you that she cut in line first? I’m just teaching her a lesson.”
Kind Woman: “That’s no excuse to be following women around the park. What you’ve been doing is harassment.”
Rude Stalker: “Well, you women should be used to being followed by guys when you’re wearing swimsuits like hers.”
For the record, I was wearing a modest one-piece, nothing out of the ordinary for a young girl — not as though that matters.
Me: “I’m only twelve years old!”
Both of the adults turned to look at me like they finally realized that I was a literal child. The stalker turned pale, I’m assuming at the potential criminal charges he could have caught had a single one of the employees taken me seriously.
I wish I could say that the kind woman and I were able to flag down a lifeguard or security guard to get this guy kicked out, but he just made a beeline for the kiddie pool exit. And I went back to the lazy river to try to enjoy the rest of the day.
I told my mother about the incident after we got home. From then on, we put our belongings into the lockers so we didn’t need to guard our valuables at the chairs and stuck together. The next week during our visits, both my mother and I were nervous that I was going to bump into him again, but I never did.
Related:
Behind Every Two Bad Customers, Is A Good One
