(Long post please read everything) Around like 5 years ago I started working at this fast food place and when I went to the job interview, I had to wait at the front for like 5 minutes and I remember there was this guy that worked there that I thought was hot, while I was waiting at the front I noticed he kept looking/staring at me and making eye contact the whole time. He would look at me, then maybe look away to do something else but then kept looking back at me with eye contact. I noticed him even looking at me during my interview. I remember thinking wow, ok that he definitely had some interest because of him doing that.

When I first started working there and we had the same shifts, he wasn’t staring or looking at me anymore. I didn’t really think anything of it.

At the time I was going to community college and took the bus there every day. I was taking the bus one morning and a few stops later I see him get on and sit down and I remember thinking wow this is weird I had no idea he also goes to the same community college and also takes the same bus? And just thinking how weird it was. Just initially he didn’t notice me or sit by me. Then something really weird happened, halfway through the ride the bus got into an accident and hit a car on the side while switching lanes and it had to pull over and everyone had to get off and walk to the next bus stop and wait for the next bus to come. Something like that’s never happened before, super weird. So everyone was walking to the next stop and I remember I wasn’t expecting him to say anything to me at all and I kind of forgot about it and wasn’t paying attention to him just walking.

Then someone behind me taps me on the shoulder and I look and it’s him and he just says hi and is smiling and asked like “hey do you work at (the job)” or something then he just starts talking to me I think we just talked about work or something but everything seemed fine. He was talking to me like he was interested in me, like friendly he would just make conversation and ask me about work I don’t even remember what else he would talk about. I would get kind of nervous/ my mind would go blank around him because I liked him and I was just happy he was always talking to me. I remember I would sometimes see him when taking the bus to school. But the thing is literally every time we would both be on the bus he would always go out of his way to come and sit by me and talk to me. So I also thought obviously that must have meant he was interested in me because why else would he have done that? To me if he wasn’t interested (not even a little) he would’ve just ignored me on the bus and never sat by me or talked to me. When he would talk to me, his body would just be facing straight forward but he would be looking at me the whole time talking to me. Sometimes he would sit with a very open body, while sitting next to me or talking to me. I also remember him telling me one day how him and a couple of the other shift leaders/ managers would hang out outside of work at one of their houses and play video games. I also remember him telling me that he went to a concert with one of the managers at work, like they went there together and hung out there.

Also around this time I found his Instagram and just followed him and didn’t say anything. He followed me back right after and never mentioned it or acted like it was weird I did that.

He would always talk to me on the bus, but whenever we were at work together I would never see him looking at me and he usually would never talk to me like during the time we were working. He would act different at work I don’t know why. I think a few times I saw him at work before clocking in and I would say hi and he would seem relaxed and talk to me/ be the same as on the bus but that’s it.

I would do this thing during our shift where if it got slow/ empty for a moment I would go over to his area (the grill which was right next to the drive through window) and I would say hi to him or just start talking to him. Also I noticed almost everyone else that worked there would do the same thing with each other all the time so I wasn’t the only one doing this. Sometimes I would get kind of giddy and start laughing a lot (not on purpose it would just happen) he would respond to me, he wouldn’t act rude but not be super talkative. Then one day when I went over and talked to him, this one shift leader/ manager who was in her 40s and always really rude/ nasty saw me doing that and very loudly was like “uh uh, I don’t think so! that’s fraternizing at work! He has a girlfriend you know that right?” And I got embarrassed as soon as she said that and she was like “yeah that’s right!” I went back in my area and they said something to each other I didn’t hear what but it was a few words back and forth, and ended in the manager kind of making this face and laughing and he just sort of shrugged and was kind of smiling. I have no idea what they said I couldn’t hear. Then they just went back to working and acted normal for the rest of my shift then I left.

Then after that day when I came in to work, he started to completely ignore me and act very cold and completely different. I went up to him at work and tried saying hi to him and he literally just completely ignored me. At first I wasn’t sure if he heard me or not, but he had to have because everyone else around him heard me and was looking at me. I think later in the shift I tried saying something to him again and he still completely ignored me. Also whenever he did this the other guys working in the same area as him were watching and would start laughing but more like lowkey not like super loud and obnoxious. I had no idea why he was doing this I remember being very upset and humiliated.

After that day he started doing this every day and ignoring me, every day I saw him at work he was super cold about it. This continued for the rest of the time I worked there and he never spoke to me again. Total 180 and it was just super out of the blue too. I’ve thought maybe it was because of that one manager that said “he has a girlfriend” but they said something to each other then just kind of laughed and didn’t say anything else after that so I don’t know if that was the reason for this.

About a month after this started, I went in the employee handbook and found his phone number and texted him… I know now this is weird and I shouldn’t have done this but at the time I was really upset and desperate and didn’t think it would be a big deal. I just kind of did it. I just said hi or something but I also said it was me in the text. I did not say anything inappropriate or crazy.

He never responded but the next time I came into work, one of the shift leaders/ managers (the same one that he was friends with and said he hung out with) said he needed to have a talk with me. He pulled me aside and we went into the break room, he said he told everyone to not come down there. He told me that the guy “told a manager” that I texted him and that’s why we were having this talk. He said that most of the managers/ other coworkers know about this situation now and he told me that this guy said he doesn’t know what’s going on between us but he doesn’t like it and wants it to stop. He said that the main manager doesn’t know about this yet and that hes stopping this now so she doesn’t find out, and if she finds out me and the guy would probably get fired. He also told me that if I try talking that guy again, that the guy was going to tell me to stop and he was NOT going to be nice about it. So I better just back off to save myself. Which I remember thinking was so odd because when I talked to him he did not seem like this asshole jerky guy at all so it was bizarre that the manager was saying this and that all of a sudden he literally hated me? And this behavior from him happened just out of the blue with seemingly no trigger so the whole situation was just so weird. During this talk the manager also told me that it was NOT OK that I was going up to him during shifts and talking to him and that it was fraternizing at work and we could both get fired. Then I told him that I saw literally most of the people that worked there talking to each other during shifts, other guys and girls doing it too so why was it not a problem when they did it but a huge problem only when I did it…. I don’t remember exactly what he said but I think he told me that doesn’t happen and that I was remembering wrong. He also said that you are not supposed to talk to coworkers at all outside of work. Which I told him how that guy told me about how they hung out outside of work at one of their houses to play video games and also went together to a concert. He told me that they didn’t hang out together at the concert that they just both happened to be there with their own friends, they unknowingly ran into each other, said hi then went their separate ways. I didn’t remember exactly what that guy told me but I’m pretty sure he said they went to that show together. He also told me to never speak to that guy again, he said don’t look at him, don’t talk to him, don’t talk about him, just act like he doesn’t even exist and just come in, do your job and leave. He told me he was going to bring him in right after me and tell him the same thing.

After that talk I felt totally horrible. I felt like I was a total creep or something like I made someone so uncomfortable like he/ everyone thought I was a creep. I obviously never texted him or tried talking to him again at all after this. The next time I came into work everyone got really quiet when I walked in and everyone was staring at me… I specifically noticed this one girl who was a shift leader. She never stared at me or acted like she even noticed me before but this day as soon as I came in she just was really quiet and stood there and stared at me for like a good 5-10 minutes just looking me up and down. She would look away and do something but kept coming back to look at me. It was very uncomfortable and I felt ashamed and embarrassed after that and started to feel bitter about not having him in my life anymore and not having friends or possible love interest.

Then I noticed they kept scheduling me and him to work at the same time in the morning, and this same girl shift leader was the shift lead that worked every morning when we would come in. He obviously was still ignoring me but I noticed that during his breaks, he would go over to her and talk to her for the whole time but both of their body language was like heavy flirting. He would be standing very close to her and he would always be leaning on the counter but also leaning towards her at the same time. And he would have his hand/arm on the counter resting almost around her. She would mirror his body language minus the arm. While they were doing this she would also do this thing where every couple minutes or so she would turn around, look at me and hold eye contact for a few seconds while smiling, then look back at him and continue talking. He never looked at me again, and wouldn’t even come near me again. After they were done talking she would come over to my drive through area, make a drink then walk back and give it to him.

They would do this literally every day I worked with them which was only once a week then because I started going to a new school. I even remember after that talk with the manager he would talk with this other girl (and that one shift lead) he was friends with there, the same way the manager told ME was NOT ok to do, in front of everyone even managers literally no one ever said a word to them about it. Literally no one cared when they did it, but it was a huge issue when I did it. A couple of other kids even started dating a little bit after this and I would even see them kissing in the back and no one ever said a word to them about anything. I ended up quitting a couple months later because I was so upset about the whole situation.