This is why I'm terrified of strangers approaching me sometimes and always keep my guard up. I rarely travel alone. It's also why I won't go out sometimes and choose to stay home. It just takes one poor interaction for me to potentially never come home again. As paranoid as that sounds.

I don't bus as far as I use to because I now work closer to my home but for four years I use to take three buses to work and home. The amount of times that I ran into a strange man that wanted to talk to me was too much.

I've had people try talking to me despite me having headphones, being on my phone, reading a book or otherwise just minding my own business on my commute. I've had people constantly say "hello" over and over again, tap my shoulder, wave their hand in front of my face or speak louder to force me to acknowledge that they're there.

I can really tell when someone is genuinely just chatty and wants to have a nice convo and when others have ulterior motives like getting my number and stuff. I've had a lot of really pleasant interactions with strangers before but far too many bad ones.

I've had men, that I've never spoken to before, ask really personal questions super nonchalantly. Like; Where are you going? Where do you live? Where do you work? I never answered any of these truthfully. Again I know how paranoid this sounds but I've had men follow me before and persistently try to get my number after being told no and I'm not interested multiple times. I've had to call my brother to meet me at the bus stop and get off a few drops early to throw off the people bothering me. I've given out fake names, denied giving numbers, lied that I'm going to a friends then said I couldn't remember where my friend lived when asked where they lived ( seriously then he asked if I wanted help finding the place, no thanks! ), flat out ignored advances as I stared into my phone and cranked up my music.

I've had men follow me from one side of the bus terminus to the other, men follow me onto my bus and sit near me, then follow me when I moved, sit directly across from me and leer at me the entire ride, etc.

The sense of entitlement that some people have is terrifying. All of the men that made me feel uncomfortable felt like they thought they had a right to interact with me. And that I was wrong for denying them this right when I didn't give them my time, effort, attention or energy.