About a week ago I received an disconcerting e-mail.
To understand why this message is disconcerting, we need context.
The closest T station to my house is about a mile away. It’s a short distance, so I always walk. A couple months ago the green line was experiencing problems and they replaced the trains with bus service.
The bus driver, who obviously had little idea of where she was going, dropped us off a few blocks away from the actual station, much to the confusion of the passengers. As we all headed off in what seemed like the right direction, a guy piped up behind me.
I responded,
Inadvertently, I had opened the door to further conversation. This kid also happened to be headed in the same direction as me, so he struck up some small talk.
We talked for about 15 minutes before parting ways. The kid seemed eccentric but non-threatening; he was barely taller than me and much skinnier. He also seemed like a bit of a shy, awkward dude, but as an awkward flower myself I’m used to dealing with that type.
And that was that. Pretty standard.
The next morning I see an e-mail, forwarded to me from LinkedIn. The kid had somehow found my LinkedIn profile and sent me a message.
I had forgotten that I had a LinkedIn account in the first place. Oh, ok, that kid, I thought. I sent him back a message of greetings…
…and left it at that.
That was two months ago.
And that brings us to now, and this message:
I should also say, about my LinkedIn account: there’s barely information on it beyond my name and my university. I know, I know, as a future professional I should keep it up-to-date. But I don’t even have a photo on there. And my name is, surprisingly, extremely common, so my LinkedIn isn’t exactly going to be at the top of any search.
I called my sister and asked her this:
I hadn’t told him my last name, so finding my LinkedIn profile meant that he was actively searching for me on the wild wild Internet.
This kid who I had talked to for about 15 minutes.
Two months after talking to me once, completely out of nowhere, this kid was pretty much asking me on a date.
All of this freaked me out a bit, so I went the path of the annoyingly passive girl and didn’t respond. A week later he messaged me again:
This walk was going to be so quick that he needed two quicks.
But hey, you know, maybe I’m being unfair. From the girl’s perspective, it’s easy to write off a guy as creepy or weird. Maybe scouring the internet for someone’s LinkedIn profile is actually a normal thing. I mean, at least the guy had the balls to approach first. And really, why was I being so paranoid? It’s not like I have a history of attracting strange guys or anything.
I guess this guy is another one for my list.
What do you think? To me, this is definitely skirting the line between “normal” and “creepy.” But that’s just me. Let me know your opinions in the comments!