farmer's market / sleezebag city

this past saturday, i was at the farmer's market in falls church, virginia, helping my friend run a stand for atwater's selling bread. the beginning of the day started with Daniel, who was selling fresh produce. although i told him my name, he insisted on calling me "sweetie" and offering me several cantaloupes. throughout the day, i confronted over-entitled middle-aged yuppies who gave me all sorts of warm and fuzzy questionable/questioning glances, and continually stared at my armpits as if they were nuclear warheads (i went for the sleeveless option since it was a sweltering day). one kind gentleman actually asked me if, i "handled money" when i asked him for $5. interesting. yes, surprisingly enough, despite possessing a womb, i can actually handle money.

throughout the day, i noticed this fellow oozing sleeze with a long golden siamese cat earring. invariably, as anyone who seemed to have tits walked by, he would make a public spectacle of them, commenting on their body shapes. interestingly enough, he was also collecting signatures to put ralph nader on the ballot. i avoided him all day, although he posted himself right in front of our stand.

as we were packing up, i noticed him coming closer and tried to cold shoulder him, avoiding eye contact while sending "don't fuck with me" mental vibrations. clearly, he did not hear that mental message and he walked over exclaiming, "Look how pretty she is!" as if he was making a public service announcement, looking left and right and holding his hand out as if i was on display. i ignored him and continued to busy myself with the packing. apparently, my lack of response urged him to up his tactics, and he went on: "Jeez You are just so pretty! I'd love to just stand next to you! I mean, I'd PAY you $30 just to look at you for an hour!!!"

???

ok, THAT WAS IT. I responded, slightly under my breath, "I'd pay you $30 to stop talking." Then he said, "You know what, I wouldn't take it. All I'm trying to do is make this world a happier place. I mean, there is so much hate in this world, I'm just trying to spread a little love." I said, "By making women feel like objects?" He said, "You may take it that way, but that is NOT how I meant it!" I said, "Well, that's how it came off" and then turned away signaling the end of discussion. Huffing and puffing, he then proceeded to rant about me to all the neighboring farmer's stands.


ugh.