October 2005

Entries
Current Entry
Previous Entry
Next Entry
Archives

Links
Personal Sites
and Forums/Boards
Diaryland
The Hunger Site

Communication
Write to me

I had a check to deposit, so I headed for the ATM at the branch of my bank nearest the bus stop on my way home this afternoon. I wound up having an encounter that left me unsettled and unwilling to allow a repeat.

To set the scene, this ATM is in a shopping center's breezeway. There are businesses on either side of the breezeway, but its ends are open to parking lots. If there are any lights in the breezeway itself (not from the businesses) I don't know of them. The quantity of light is at best dim. And all the adjacent businesses had closed for the day.

I walked in the front entrance, with my deposit ready. I saw that there were two people, a man and a woman, standing at the ATM, so I stood across the breezeway from them and was looking in a store's windows. It did seem that the woman was taking a long time with her transaction.

Then the man spoke, I think to the woman. I couldn't really hear what he was saying. At the same time, he decided the store window I was looking in needed his inspection, too, so he came to that side of the breezeway.

I was uncomfortable, and I try to pay attention to that sort of feeling. I trust my instincts. So I decided I really needed to see the parking lot at the rear entrance, and to walk along the sidewalk. He also came out the breezeway's rear entrance. And at that point, I got scared. Even with a cell phone and a definitely loud voice, I wasn't sure how easily I could summon help.

I decided the smartest thing to do was walk away and continue to browse store windows. Then I saw what I thought would be a very safe place: a substation of the local police department. But the damned thing was closed for the day. No, that doesn't make any sense to me, either.

When I looked behind me, the man was still standing outside the breezeway entrance. He was facing the parking lot, and was not making any effort to follow me. But I was still unhappy about the earlier behavior he had exhibited.

The police substation was actually in the next segment of the shopping center, so I decided to walk beside it (hoping for leftover good-guy vibes, I suppose), and head toward the front of the buildings again. Had the couple still been in the ATM's breezeway, I was planning to leave the center, deposit be damned.

Turned out that they were walking out of the breezeway as I reached the front of the buildings. They were heading toward the parking lot, so I stopped at yet another store and browsed its window display, keeping an eye on the couple as they headed away from the building. I saw them head away from the center on the sidewalk across the parking lot from me, so I felt relatively safe heading into the breezeway to make my deposit.

To be clear, I do not know for certain that the man meant me any harm. Perhaps he was just being a Chapel Hill jackass---we do have some. Perhaps he is mentally unbalanced. Perhaps he was exasperated at his companion's taking so long to do banking. I don't know and I don't care.

The one thing I do know for absolute certain is that I'm not going to have this happen twice in the same place. I won't do that to myself. I haven't decided exactly how I will deal with making deposits, but using that branch's ATM after the close of the business day is no longer something I feel safe doing. My carless life is challenging enough without adding threatened to the mix.