Now that's a scary story. I'm glad it turned out okay.
My mom, a farmeer's/coal miner's daughter, was the one who taught me the importance of taking care of the car myself. At 67, she's finally taking the car in to have somebody else change the oil.
That is the one thing I learned first when I was a young divorced single mom, that I never needed help. To ask for it meant that I was making a secret contract for a sexual rendevous.
The other side of that coin (only without the implied sexual contract or creepy interest in one's marital status) is when I used to take my infant daughter with me on errands and would get--especially from guys--"Are you babysitting today?" I quickly learned to give them an utterly deadpan "No--she's my daughter." Only if they insisted on being obtuse would I point out that when my wife did it, no one ever called it "babysitting."
One day, I'm sure all tasks will be considered gender neutral. But I'm not holding my breath--isn't that what "Free to be You and Me" promised us 30 years ago?
This was harassment, pure and simple, but you couldn't do much about it because of the safety factor.
Commenting by HaloScan
