The harassment discussion just reminded me of something that happened recently. My girlfriend and I just moved flats into a new neighbourhood. The other day I went into the nearest supermarket, and as I approached the (cheap) tomatoes, a male employee that was crouching and restocking fruit looked up at me and said very loudly, "Do you like the taste of tomatoes??!!". I was very surprised and wasn't able to react fast enough, and said "Um yeah", so he answered "Well you have to try those ones over here, they taste amazing!". Of course he picked me, the younger woman shopping alone, and none of the bazillion older women and couples roaming the aisles.
He was saying shit like how the better tomatoes are more expensive, but also tastier, etc. He got up from restocking and despite me being clearly reticent and showing zero enthusiasm, he insisted several times, picked one of the tomatoes (they were the cherry kind) and I just stood there stupidly, took it and ate it as fast as I could... while he stared.
I immediately tought he might be a pervert with a feeding fetish or a power fantasy or some shit like that. He was not at some sort of station of the kind they set up to give out tasters. He was just a normal worker restocking fruit, who insisted several times for me to eat a fucking cherry tomato.
I felt like an idiot afterwards for not walking away and agreeing to eat the thing, but it was one of these moments when you're surrounded by people and socialization takes over, you don't want to make a "scene" so you don't react properly. Of course men know this and always capitalize on it.
So I told my girlfriend later that evening over dinner. And it turns out, the same fucking thing had happened to her the week before!! The same guy, the same line, except she said "no" many times so she didn't end up eating it. She said he didn't ask anyone else, no men, no older women, none of the people that surrounded them. And now whenever we go to this supermarket, which is the most convenient one for us, we have to be on the lookout in case we need to avoid the guy. And of course it's the sort of situation where you can't complain because he didn't technically do anything wrong.
What the fuck, for real. Nowhere can you fucking avoid these porn sick freaks. Even if he is just an awkward incel who considers this a normal pick-up scenario, the mere fact that him being a pervert is so plausible depresses me.