A customer

I'm on mobile so I apologize for any formatting issues. This is a long one, buckle up.

Okay so for context, last year I signed up to work my local maid cafe for a big convention. I was so excited I landed a spot on their list, the maid cafe here is pretty exclusive and kinda runs the con business in the area, depsite there being another maid cafe. Around the time I got accepted, I had just started dating my current boyfriend a couple weeks before the con. We're long distance though and since we literally just started dating, he didn't have enough time to make it down here for the con. I was not shy about showing him off though, it was pretty well known I was taken before the con even began.

When I got there, I could tell the maid cafe was understaffed that year. See, because of some background bullshit I probably shouldn't discuss, the maid cafe was practically forced to open a second cafe spot at the same convention. I think someone said they had "double" the new hires? Anyways because we were understaffed, training for the new hires kinda got pushed under the rug. It was fine the first half of the day because we just walked around, advertised the cafe, ect, ect. But they had to throw us into the cafe at some point.

That's where I met my first customer.

Off the bat, he looked very out of place. He was older, older than my grandpa, he had a black shirt with a wolf howling at the moon, he was using a walker to get around, and he had a big vase filled with what looked like roses made out of sheets of plastic? Maybe cellophane? I don't know what it was. I'm not trying to judge anyone who fits this description, he just didn't look like the type to go to anime conventions, let alone the maid cafe. He was sitting there, making the roses and one of the butlers in charge of the new hires told me to take care of him. Mind you, I had like, the absolute bare bones in terms of training.

I did the typical maid cafe thing, I took his order, got him some food and drink, did that little hand thing to "charge up" the food or whatever, and then I sat and started to talk with him. He seemed nice at first. He gave me one of his roses despite me being visibly uncomfortable accepting it. (I don't like receiving gifts from strangers due to past trauma, at this point I didn't even let my boyfriend buy me things) Also, he wouldn't let me talk. He kept saying random facts and would always say "I bet you didn't know that. Not a lot of people know that." Mind you I'm almost done with college. I am an educated woman and I feel pretty insulted. At the same time I'm trying to get a word in because I want to keep up with cafe standards and prove to my superiors that I can hold a conversation with strangers. I keep trying to talk but I'm constantly interrupted. Finally he says "Hey, do you know what third base is? I know what second base is but I can't keep up with the kids and your lingo. Is third base intercourse?" My mouth hits the floor. I guess he could tell that question made me uncomfortable because he gave me another rose. It very much felt like I was being bribed not to tell the other maids about that wildly inappropriate remark, but all it did was distract me with a different kind of unease. I stayed anyways because I didn't want to be seen as a bad host or have him complain to my superiors.

Then, he started to talk about women. Again, I wasn't allowed to get a word in, because if I was I would 1,000% have told him I have a boyfriend. It feels like every time I tried to bring it up politely and casually, he would change the subject. Almost as if he knew. Anyways, he told me he was a loner, that women don't like him because he's an artist? And that he bangs beautiful women, women prettier than me (I'll bet money he was expecting me to be grateful he was giving me the time of day when he could be out banging a total ten eyeroll ) but they never stayed because women inherently don't like commitment? Like I wish I could figure out what the hell he was talking about.

Then before I could reply to his mad ravings, he told me to give him my hand. I was super confused and in a more demanding tone, he told me to give him my hand. I tried to give him the hand with a ring my boyfriend gave me to help ward off creeps (lot of good it was doing at that time) and the older man said, kinda angry "no not that one." I reluctantly gave him my other hand. God knows why I didn't just run away, I think I was scared I would be the one who gets in trouble for some reason. Anyways, he opens up my palm to him and starts tracing the creases in it. I think he's doing palmistry, something I dabble in, so I thought I finally had a chance to ease into a conversation. I ask him if he was doing palmistry, to which he got really offended and said "No! I'm reading your aura." I know people who read auras and I've never seen them do it like this but ok.

This is probably the creepiest part. He tells me I'm vain and that I value looks, but I can look past it, (gee thanks) that I value intelligent conversation and want someone knowledgable in my life, that I want someone who appreciates art like me, that I want someone generous and kind who can protect me. The nail in the coffin was when he told me I was "suited for an older guy." I wanted to cry because while he was describing my boyfriend to a "t", I KNEW he was trying to tell me he was perfect for me and that I needed him in my life. It was like he was using it against me and I think he could tell he once again made me uncomfortable because then he told me that I liked animals. He said "I'll go take you to feed the ducks sometime", a sentence that still haunts me to this day. Then he wrote down his full name, three email addresses, and two phone numbers and told me to keep in touch with him so he can "take me to feed the ducks." I ended up giving the cafe all the information he gave me before ripping up the card on my bed and crying in the hotel later.

THANKFULLY another customer came in and I moved to sit between them. You could tell the older guy was angry the other guy was there. I tried to keep conversation with both of them, but the younger guy didn't talk much, he ate and left. Another maid started talking to the older guy and I took the opportunity to escape "escort" the younger man out. On the way out, one of the maids asked if I was okay. (I guess the staff noticed I was uncomfortable? I did try to hide it.) With a smile I whispered I was not okay and that I was going to have a melt down. She told me to go on my break to which I did end up breaking down in the parking lot but for that and other reasons I won't go into here.

After a drink and treat from a nearby coffee shop, I resolved myself to go back inside. The rest of the weekend was wonderful, I got to talk about memes with a table, someone at my table drew a picture of me, I got my photo taken with a really sweet girl and her hilarious dad, I bounded with another girl over long distance relationships, and at the end of it all, I made $20 in tips.

The only other thing that I didn't like about that weekend was that the maid that ended up taking my spot next to the old creep tried to defend him to the other maids. The staff at the cafe immediately banned him once he left, apparently he even cracked a joke about making me uncomfortable on his way out, but she was telling everyone how nice he was to her and trying to convince them he shouldn't be banned. This went on for like, two days out of the four we worked together. She told me they talked about paranormal stuff and murder mysteries, the latter of which made my spine crawl. I like that stuff too, but not when a creepy guy almost as old as my grandpa tries to talk to me about it. She brought the guy up at group dinner and said she felt bad for him, that he was "so sweet" and "shouldn't have been band", bullshit like that. I was pretty angry she was standing up for him but after crying and relying my story to the table, she didn't talk about him again. It was pretty clear what he did was indefensible. I gave her the roses he gave me and things seemed to be okay from there.

But to the creepy old man I met at the maid cafe, fuck you and your ducks, let's not meet.

Submitted July 16, 2019 at 07:13PM by bombon-cherry-bomb https://ift.tt/2jLpaq1