People Who Stare

United States
August 23, 2009 10:17am CST
Have you ever encountered someone or people who, for whatever reason, just sit there and stare at you nearly the whole time you go somewhere? That happened to my parents and I this morning. We went to eat breakfast at McDonald's. Where we sat, there were these two women sitting on the other side from us. I had my back to them but my parents said that they stared at us the whole time we were in there. Every time my parents said they looked up, the women were staring at us. And it wasn't just us apparently. Everyone who walked by them, the women would stare. When we were leaving, that was when I saw for myself that the women for myself doing it. My mother and I were waiting by the door and one of the women who was facing me, she sat there staring at me non-stop until we walked out. And I wouldn't doubt she was still staring until we were out of sight. Is there some sort of odd enjoyment some people get out of just staring at people? Maybe I'm missing something. Do you hate it when people stare at you? I do.
2 people like this
15 responses
@kitty42 (3923)
• United States
24 Aug 09
Hi darthjustice, Well that sounds really uncomfortable, maybe you should have asked her why she was staring, its one thing to start this stare sounds different, I would have asked really nicely, sometimes you just never know, maybe she saw something that you should know , sounds really weird to me, guess it is too late now, if that happens again I would ask the person, excuse me is something wrong , jmo
• Philippines
24 Aug 09
i agree asking them 'if there's something wrong' could make those people realize what they do is annoying. You can ask them politely like 'do i know you from somewhere?' if they say 'nothing' then ask them to stop doing it. probable reasons, they could be pickpockets, or trying to intimidate others by their stare, or they are not normal that has something to do with their brains. what i do when someone stares at me, i just ignore them or transfer another seat. the more you show them that you are affected, the more they enjoy doing it.
@kitty42 (3923)
• United States
24 Aug 09
Hi, Thanks for the response, I guess it is up to the individual you have to be careful nowadays for sure, if they are grown woman, I would ask, young woman NO,they may be looking for trouble, so you do have to think about it before you ask the question, you are so right.. There are some ruthless people in this world, so we all need to be careful, thanks again
@shellyli (55)
• China
24 Aug 09
Oh , i never met like you that ,but i have one of my roomate looked at me when she found the new things at me , and she wacthed all the time , sometimes i didn't that eye contact.
@srganesh (6340)
• India
24 Aug 09
Staring like that continously is not good manners I think.If somebody is staring at me like that,first I would like to consider whether he is a known person to me.If not then I get disturbed and so to revenge them I start to stare back until they turn to something.I can't stand some strangers staring like that.Cheers!
@malpoa (1214)
• India
24 Aug 09
I have experienced this uncomfortable thing many times. SOmetimes when it gets really unbearable, I either stare back (I am good at giving that killer stare they desire hi hi)or I ask what they stare at!!! I mean it is not good to stare at somebody to an extent of making them uncomfortable and it is sort of evading to their privacy. I wonder what enjoyment they get!!! I do look at people who dress smartly or weirdly but not to an extent of making them aware of it. Kids attract more of my attention and I see that most of the parents are okay with it.
@vandana7 (100297)
• India
24 Aug 09
I guess I occassionally do. So if u hate me, I am going to understand. :-) Well, what makes me stare? A person who is dressed really well, a person who is really good looking, preoccupation with other thoughts that make me look at something or somebody without actually meaning to, or hesitation to ask something due to fear of being snubbed. Can u list the sequence in which u would find these most objectionable? I'll try to work on them. Thanks for letting me know ur end of it. :-)
@kevinll (967)
• China
24 Aug 09
I don't like someone always stare at me. It is very funny. I met a person who always stare at me on the train. But later we talked some interesting news. It is good for me. I didn't feel lonely on my way to destination.
@joyce959 (1559)
• Philippines
23 Aug 09
I am trying to know the reasons why some people stare at another person for so long. One is perhaps that person is thinking he knows you or has met you somewhere else and trying to remember. Another reason for staring is that you have something in you that catch the attention of that person, maybe your beautiful/handsome face or your nice dress/ outfit, or an outfit that is not suited for the place or occasion or a damage and dirty outfit. Sometimes deficiency in your body can catch other attention too. Whatever the reason is, I also feel awkward when somebody stare at me. What I do, I also stare at the person staring at me for long and when I am with a companion I will talk to my companion to stare to the person too. There are really some people who finds enjoyment at watching or staring at people.
@bigplay (212)
• United States
24 Aug 09
Well yes i was in the stores with my mother and there was this man who kept staring at me, i was thinking why is he looking at me like that? I don't want a man or a boy staring at me, i only like it when a woman stares at me, that man starring at me grossed me out.
@dsharat (456)
• India
23 Aug 09
When people stare at me,I really feel uncomfortable.If I were in the your situation I would have made the two girls uncomfortable by directly going to them and by talking with them.Then if they hesitate in answering,then I'll start a fight.You don't know who they are and you cannot guess what they are planning to do.Then its better to counter act.Some times,some TV shows also play such funny scripts on public and notice our reactions.Some times even we stare others with out our notice.We will be thinking about some issue seriously,and we will be involved in it in such a way that we dunno what we are seeing.But others feel that we are staring them.
@VANILLAREY (1470)
• India
24 Aug 09
It feels awkward when someone is staring at me. Especially if I am eating. When I look at the person staring at me, usually they stop staring. Maybe the women were a playing a game called 'stare and annoy people'. Just ignore such people.
@Newpal (154)
• India
24 Aug 09
Yes, people stare at me.May be I look different or not of their type.I feel uncomfortable for that.It happens mostly when I am in a restaurent or in a coffee shop.But I cannot stop people staring at me.So it is just better to ignore and avoid then.
@ypyanyan (956)
• China
24 Aug 09
people often stare me ,I don't know why
• United States
24 Aug 09
Wow that is just creepy! I don't think I've ever had that issue before. I mean, I've dealt with people staring at me and it makes me uncomfortable but nothing to that extent. But that is super creepy I would hate that too.
@san_683 (88)
• India
24 Aug 09
I have encountered something similar to this , when i was standing in a queue to pay my utility bills. An old person was staring at me , may be because he was behind me in the line, or he was too short(i am quite tall), may be he was jealous of me or may be he has seen me somewhere and wanted to recollect that if he knows me and come speak to me or may be he thought i was a bad guy like a criminal he watched on the TV or even worse, he might have suspected me to be a terrorist. Anyways, wat i am trying to say is that, people will not stare at some one just for fun, there will be a reason behind it, there are numerous reasons we can think of in your case , may be the woman who stared at you or others, wud have been poor, might have been assessing everyone as to who will become an easy target for her to mug, or may be observing the way people dress up and follow it up herself, thinking positively, she could have been a patrol officer/cop who was observing the place to find possible suspects. guys staring at girls is too obvious which everyone knows. I would not mind a girl staring at me the whole time,i would enjoy it. but next time if you feel some one staring at you and is making you feel uncomfortable, just go and ask them, why are u staring at me(i guess the answer would be: I was not staring at you, or nothing, i was just looking....)
23 Aug 09
You can buy breakfast at McDonalds?! Yes, I don't like it when people stare. In fact I don't like it when people look at me, that's why I tend not to go to places like McDonalds. In fact the very few times I have been I have experienced worse social anxiety than normal as the people cannot understand what I am saying and I have to repeat myself several times which I hate. Then there's the times where people still give me something with chicken in so I have to point out that I ordered a vegetable sandwich as I don't eat meat. Plus my boyfriend won't go to McDonalds as he hates it so I can't even get him to talk to the people like I do normally. I tend to find you get a lot of those people that stare on public transport especially the tube in London. I am convinced they do it as an act of defense, so people feel so intimidated that they don't disturb them. I would try not to get too paranoid about it, because they will do it to anyone and everyone, there is nothing particuarly strange about you even though it may feel like it.