Sometimes, people have a hard time standing up for themselves and stating what they really are and are not okay with.

Imagine being a young woman working in a theater, and one of the people in the show is an elderly man. If he admitted to flirting with you, and if he made you feel uncomfortable, would you keep your feelings to yourself and be nice to him, or would you stand up for yourself and keep your distance?

In this story, one woman is in this situation, and she did not stand up for herself. In fact, she realizes she made a couple big mistakes that only encouraged his flirtatious behavior. Now, she’s wondering if the whole situation is her fault.

Let’s read the whole story to decide.

AITAH for telling my supervisor an elderly man made me uncomfortable

I, 27F, work in a local theatre.

Recently we were producing a variety show mainly of elderly people and a handful of special needs adults.

It was an incredibly chaotic show, but overall was fun to work on.

The problem involves one older man in the show.

Here is where the problem enters.

One of there volunteers, an elderly white male possibly 65+, would not stop bothering me.

It may have been partially my fault because I kept engaging in conversation with him.

He also requested my phone number under the guise of me letting him in the building the next day.

She knows she messed up.

Like an idiot I gave it to him.

Throughout the weekend he continued to find ways to speak to me, grabbing my hand or shoulder.

Since we were backstage he would talk to me with my headset on, forcing me to get closer to him so I can hear what he is saying.

He even confessed to me that he was flirting with me, which I didn’t even realize till he told me.

Closing night was extra stressful.

Everything came to a head on closing night.

He was invading my personal space more that usual, but I was barely functioning.

Before the show one of the special needs adults was misplaced, turned out that she was hiding and wouldn’t answer anyone. And the basement was slowly flooding.

So when he asked even he could keep my phone number so that we can be “friends”, I grumbled in agreement. I was too scared to say no, and far too overstimulated.

It gets worse.

He stated he always liked to ask before saving a phone number…

The worst part was after the show ended…he grabbed me. He essentially cornered me, pulled me into a side hug, and whispered in my ear “we are friends right? We are friends.”

I was lucky that another crew member saw this and rescued me, but the damage was done.

She blames herself.

When I got home I broke down sobbing, it was all too much.

I eventually told me supervisor all of this, continuously stating how he made me uncomfortable.

While they didn’t blame me, I still feel like it’s my fault. I also feel guilty that about it being an elderly man. So am I the jerk?

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It was stupid to give him her phone number and agree to let him keep it, but she shouldn’t blame herself for his inappropriate behavior. She should’ve spoken up sooner.

If you enjoyed this post, check out this story about a hardware store employee who lost his cool with customers wandering around after closing time.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

This is true.

Here’s some advice.

Another person offers more advice.

Giving him her phone number was definitely a big mistake. Letting him continue to flirt with her after he admitted that he was flirting was a big mistake. Agreeing that they could be friends even though she didn’t want to be friends with him was a big mistake. Not speaking up until after all of this happened was a big mistake.

She should block his number and stay away from him. She should’ve told her supervisor a long time ago, and she shouldn’t have kept being so agreeable to this creepy older guy.

It’s too bad that she blames herself for any of this.