I had an aggressive attempted proselylitizing in the produce section at the Safeway in Soldotna this weekend by a member of the Christian Taliban. At first he pretended he knew me as a way to approach me, I knew he did not know me and was up to something, it was very creepy because he was very aggressive. He asked me if my name was Sarah, when I said no he then wanted to know my name. I responded by asking him what his name was, then he asked me if I knew someone named Sarah. He kept on stringing comments together by using one or two words of his last comment and changing the subject slightly. I said, "You're proselytizing aren't you". He responded with, "I don't know what proselytizing means, but I looked it up last night..." I then told him he just contradicted himself. Next he tells me he is not proselylitizing he is just really friendly. He followed me around while I selected apples and oranges and told me he did not believe in proselylitizing because that is not what Jesus would do. I gave him the Celia look several times and told him I did not believe in his religion, that I used to be a Christian but people like him drove me away from it. Then I told him, “Young man, stop talking and go away.“ But, annoyingly he continued to talk. I kept seeing an image of this guy in my head standing in a used car lot telling some unsuspecting car buyer lies. He started talking to me by being dishonest about knowing me and just kept lying. I kept selecting produce and telling him I was not interested, “Go away”. I was very blunt.
There are people in Soldotna who behave like this, proselylitizing right wing Christian pests. When it became apparent that he was close to being pelted with oranges or apples he said, "Jesus loves you" and left. Ahhhhhhh! Actually I was thinking that I wished I could restrain him and yell for the manager of the store to bring some duct tape to go over his mouth. He had been programmed for particular responses and had no ability to have a logical conversation. It was mondo-bizaro.
This is pretty bold behavior, just coming up to people in the grocery store and loudly starting with their religious propaganda. Most of them I can shut down immediately by telling them I am not interested, but not this guy. He talked very loudly so other people would hear everything he said. This is a technique used to get the victim of the Christian Taliban verbal diarrhea to feel they must agree with what is being said and say they are a Christian to avoid being ostracized or looked down on by the other people in the vicinity. He picked the wrong person to try this on because it does not have any affect on me whatsoever. Letting this guy know his nattering is irritating does not stop him.
After I repeatedly rejected his verbal barrage other people came up to him with huge smiles on their faces saying they were Christians in an obvious support of his making an obnoxious, aggressive
and creepy pest of himself. It was like they were raising their hand in the air and saying yes count me as a member of the cult. Somehow this makes them feel more comfortable in the world. Couple this with all the people who think Obama is a Muslim and I feel like I am living in La-La land.
3 comments:
You are way too polite. When one of these nut jobs came up to me at my local Kroger here in SE IN, I let him have it with some choice four letter words and got just as aggressive back in his face. When I was done, the rest of the people in the area applauded. Never saw the jack ass again but now folks know me and steer clear if they are religious. Problem solved, mischief managed.
Annonymous 7:53 One of the problems is I am already a pain in the butt at both Safeway and Fred Myers because I eat organic food which is hard to come by in Alaska. Fred Myers often sells organic produce that rots right away or in the case of berries alrady has mold on it, and Safeway carries very little organic food, which they do check for rotting and mold, but the prices are high. So, I am not afraid to complain, make requests or return berries which have mold in the center where it can't be seen in the store. I also tell them every time I complain that I have to order most of my vegetables from another state. So, I really was consciously thinking I did not want to bring attention to myself because I want to continue to agitate for fresher and larger quantities of organic food. The people in the stores here would for the most part be on the side of the guy that was pestering me as well. I never decide what my actions are according to popularity however. But, next time I most likely will either use your approach or yell for the manager.
That is so creepy. I'm sorry you had to encounter this kind of aggressive behavior.
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