When A Man Creeps Out a Woman

As I was taking pictures for today's planned blog post, our apartment complex repairman rang the doorbell. This is the same repairman who ineptly dealt with our no hot water, no air conditioner in the middle of summer, no internet or TV Week From Hell when we first moved in. At another point, he came into the house and scared my children while I was in the shower. This man has always given me a weird vibe. Therefore, I was unhappy to see him, at best.

He came to replace our thermostat cover, which he had taken in August and never come back with a new one. After a dust-up with the office staff yesterday, we are finally not a wire-exposed, mercury rising fire hazard anymore. The repair seemed to take forever; if it were me, I would have just placed the cover on and peaced out. Our history indicates that I would want him out of the house immediately.

But, instead, the man turned away from the thermostat and said:

"You have lost a lot of weight. When I came for the air conditioner, you had much more weight and now you are very beautiful."

English is not his first language, so I said thank you before I realized what he was saying. When he left to go get a leveler for our blinds, two and two made four in my mind and I was appalled. He had the gall to say, "That wasn't harassment, I was just noticing how beautiful you look," when he returned. I am hoping he saw the flames shooting out of my eyes, because he hooked the leveler on and bolted.

Let's get things straight: I have actually gained weight since I first met him. The main difference between then and now is that I have showered, am wearing make-up, and actually had clean clothes to wear. I am not looking like a distressed woman who regretted moving in and was furious with the world.

And even if I had lost weight, I do not know this man. How dare he come into my home and make me feel uncomfortable! There is a difference between a well-known neighbor seeing you at the mailbox and saying, "Wow! The weight is just melting off you!" (still one of my favorite compliments I have ever received) and a distant male acquaintance complimenting you and then making sure you aren't feeling "harassed."

The silver lining to this incident is that now I have some anger/fuel to get me through my next workout. And today's planned blog post will come tomorrow, hopefully with 100% less angst.