The Indiscreet Stalker

Now, here's a different experience. Let's call him Jake--I thought I'd actually hit a home run with this one. He was romantic, and sensitive and enjoyed cuddling while we watched movies. We met at work and he showed immediate interest in me. I didn't notice or like him at first, but then he started bringing me lunch, and offering to pick me up and take me home, so naturally he grew on me.

About two weeks of "dating" he started to act, well, crazy. And I don't mean this figuratively. I noticed his strange behavior when I invited him to my place to watch a movie. He came over pizza in one hand, and movies in the other--what a darling, I didn't even ask him to do that. So anyway, about five minutes before the chick flick ended, he hopped up and started reenacting a scene from a recent dream he recently had. I sat there in amazement as he jumped around from the couch to the floor like a monkey. He was blabbing about angels and demons, and a dark hole that led to the other side. Wow. Jake's story concluded with him falling to his knees and crying.

I sat up and looked at him as he balled up in the corner like an abandoned animal. Somehow, I was able to persuade him to leave so he can get himself together. Well, after that we didn't speak. However, at work, he became the most difficult person to work with. At the time, I worked for a ground transportation company, so transporting material was teamwork. He would purposely not help if he ended up on my team, and once he knocked over a heavy package that fell inches from my foot. Jerk, letting him know that he was getting to me would've given him the upper hand. So, not paying him any mind, I went about my daily routines.

Then the phone calls started--I knew it was him. I kept getting calls from private and unknown numbers. I answered, he breathed into the receiver, and hung up. How irritating was that? So then finally, I walked up to him at work and asked him to stop playing on my phone. He looked at me like I was crazy and told me to leave him alone and to not call him anymore. Surprised because he turned things around like I was the crazy one, I just walked away.

About two weeks passed, the calls stopped--or so I thought. Jake called me five times in a half an hour, and when I answered he attempted to make me jealous by lying and saying he moved on. When he described this invisible girl, I realized she "conveniently" looked like me. Telling him that, he got mad and hung up. I laughed until I had tears in my eyes. Five minutes later, he called me back and yelled so loud I couldn't really make out what he said, but it sound like he said, "Stop calling me!" He hung and called back again, and politely said, "Hey, did you just call here?" He was nuts. I laughed, he hung up. This went on for quite some time.

But then something was different; it was too quiet. Jake was up to something. He called and started going on about something, just then a very loud siren rode down my block. It was the same siren I'd heard in the background on his side of the line. I ran to my window and sneakily peeped outside. Right there, across the street from my house, was Jake. "How long has he been there?!" I thought.

I asked him how long was he sitting outside of my house, he said he wasn't outside my house. I let him know that I was staring right at him and I hung up. I heard him as he started his car and swerved down the street. The next day at work he didn't show up. However, at the end of my shift, I seen his car parked not far from mine. And in it was him peeking out the window at me. I called him to let him that I was looking right at him. He--of course--denied it and I watched as he started his car and pulled off. After I saw him outside of my house two more times, I asked one of my cop friends to come over and patrol my house for the next week or so. Jake definitely stopped after that.

He missed work until he finally quit, I changed my number and that was that.

Lesson Learned: Never date a co-worker. Things may turn sour and they may be hard to get rid of.