That's a fair question and one that I actually got when I was relaying this event to a male colleague.
This individual did not work in my building and had no business in the building. I was able to ascertain that very quickly when I sussed him out with a quick question to confirm this. In fact he told me he had seen me prior, presumably as he was driving down the street, and this time decided to quickly pull into the lot, park and jump out of his car to follow me when I was on the approach into the building and then hop the elevator with me.
I will add that he told me that he was riding with me to my floor to try to talk to me after the doors closed and I had no way to escape as the other floor was secured for another client and thus I could not exit until it hit my floor to which I hauled ass to my office and it's camera and locked door.
That creeped me out.
Does that help give more context?
The reality is that probably at least 3/4 of the world's heterosexual have done something untoward a woman (straight, bi, trans, etc.)
At least 3 times a week, sometimes every workday, I have some asshole(s) beeping at me, hanging out of their vehicle yelling something obscene or flat out driving along the side of me trying to get my attention as I walk the 10 minutes from the metro to the office (I work in the suburbs and commute out from DC.)
The best this year? Some creepy fuck stranger pulled into the parking lot and go out of the car and walked in with me to the building, got on the elevator (open building unfortunately), tried to make small talk regarding Tom Petty's passing, and then decided to attempt to ask me out. All in the span of about 4 minutes. At 8.24 am on a Tuesday.
Now, my experiences do not compare at all with men or women who were victims of any sort of unwanted/unconsented physical/sexual activity. But it is a good example of every day harassment. And if these assholes are doing this, who knows what else they are doing.
As someone who is basically quiet and shy, I personally would never have been that bold in my single days, but what exactly is so egregious and "creepy" about the behavior I bolded? It's certainly not sexual harassment. Is it possible the guy worked in the building and just happened to be pulling into his work parking lot and was taking the elevator to his workplace at 8:24am and was making small talk with a pretty woman he saw on the elevator? Are we going to make it a crime to ask someone you find attractive out?
