Stared down by an ENTIRE RESTAURANT full of people

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Not sure where to put this. Not really so much sucky as just plain...I dunno, creepy and bizarre.

I went into a little Mexican joint for supper with some friends tonight. This restaurant was in a little town ( I just googled the town, and we're talking a population of between 5 and 6 thousand) about an hour from where I live. Very small and very rural.

Every single person in the place was staring at me as if I had a large bare breast growing out of my forehead.

Seriously.

I walked in and as we walked to the table, every damn body in the place was looking right at me. Later, I went to the loo and everyone stared at me as I walked through the place. I'm here to tell you it was damn creepy.

I was not dressed weird, I was not acting obnoxiously. Jeans. Hikers. A plain button down blue shirt. No makeup. No cleavage. No skin. Hair down.

Now, I'm not paranoid, I wasn't imagining it. People don't stare at me wherever I go. But they did in there. Sometimes I get glared at because people assume, mistakenly or correctly, that I am of an ethnicity that they have a problem with. In this case, I might figure they were thinking Hispanic, but since I was in a Mexican joint, I hardly think that would be the case. And they weren't giving me that glare, I know that glare. No, they were just....LOOKING.

I told the husband later and he thinks it's the hair (I have a witchlock). The place is so rural that he thought maybe they were freaked out by it. Some people are like that around here, but an entire restaurant full? I dunno, that sounds inplausable. I do get a lot of people looking and even asking questions about the hair, but this is the first time an entire restaurant full of people stared at me like I had a turd derby on my head.

Like I said, damn creepy.

[Chromatix]

You say "rural"... there are places that are a bit insular, so any outsider walking in is an Event. They aren't sure what to make of you, simply because you aren't One Of Them.

Also seen in Central Wales, where it's compounded by the language barrier. If you don't speak Welsh, you might even have some trouble communicating with the barman.

[spookysonata]

What's a witchlock?

[Ghengis51]

I may very well be wrong but I think that's when someone has the streak of white hair in their hair. Apparently my google-fu skills are insufficient to the task of finding info on it.

[JLRodgers]

You see what happened is.... you stumbled upon the twilight zone. The town you entered was actually a small community of alien people wondering if you've stumbled upon their secret of time/matter manupilations -- and they were pondering whether to eat you, or to let you go free.



Or it's the type of place that if you pull over, they'd immediately tell you the way out of town to the nearest road before you even open your mouth (as if you're there, you must've made a wrong turn). I've seen a few places like that, not where everyone is staring, but pretty close to it. Some towns are just like that.

[bunnyboy]

Actually a witchlock (if it the same as I'm thinking) is what some of those 30's and 40's pin-up girls/actresses used to do, a little hair over the right eye (ala Marilyn)

look up hair safety WWII on youtube.

[JustADude]

What's a witchlock?

I may very well be wrong but I think that's when someone has the streak of white hair in their hair. Apparently my google-fu skills are insufficient to the task of finding info on it.

I would have to second that.

I may be hallucinating but, IIRC, RK's old avatar was a picture of herself, and she had the streak.

[thehippie777]

haha yeah I grew up in a town of 1700 people. I go back now even though I only moved away when I was 19, and I get the stare-down. I think it's weird, too.

[nomorecarts]

I used to live 3 miles outside a town with 2000 people, and the nearest town to me now has under 2000, but has a fair amount of tourism, so the "OMG, outsiders" thing only happens in the first.


it took me 3 years before people in the first town would be friendly, then I moved away . I'm sick of small towns

[Aethian]

I'm thinking it was the witchlock myself. I know that in some small towns those with that streak have to dye their hair so that they aren't different. Just a form of superstition.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Yeah, it's a white (actually, it's more like a platinum) streak in my hair. If you go to my profile, I have some photos in there, if anyone wants to see it.

Husband also did speculate that it was probably some of "That chick is a stranger around here" going on, too. So not only am I not one of them, but here I have this superstition-invoking mark, also.

I talked to a guy Saturday who was curious about it, too, and he called it a "witch's mark". So maybe I had a double whammy going on.

[CaroPhoenix]

OMG ... what is it about Mexican joints? This post reminded me of a time I went to a local Mexican Restaurant.

All the employees were Mexican or at least Hispanic.

It was me & my mom eating lunch.

I am very very very white with very dark hair (this was before I started to color it, heh).

All the male employees came out of the back (where the kitchen was) and all walked past our table (it wasn't like the restaurant was really busy and they had to come out and clear tables or whatnot). They all stared at me.

*le sigh*

It was so creepy I never went back.

[spookysonata]

Yeah, it's a white (actually, it's more like a platinum) streak in my hair. If you go to my profile, I have some photos in there, if anyone wants to see it.

Husband also did speculate that it was probably some of "That chick is a stranger around here" going on, too. So not only am I not one of them, but here I have this superstition-invoking mark, also.

I talked to a guy Saturday who was curious about it, too, and he called it a "witch's mark". So maybe I had a double whammy going on.

Oh, OK. I know 2 people with those...nobody stares at them (that I can tell anyway). Small towns are so funny in some ways...

[mharbourgirl]

Oh god, I know all about the stares. I moved to Nova Scotia in 1995 after spending the earlier part of my life in the suburban sprawl of BC's Lower Mainland. The village I ended up in is filled with nice friendly people who DON'T realize I'm just another anonymous, invisible body passing them by. They nod and smile and even strike up conversations in the checkout line...even when I have no freakin' clue who they are.

I got used to that, though, and I appreciate it now. On the other hand, I absolute refuse to ever drive down one particular back road that is the backside of beyond. Because one day the Hubster took me for a drive, no reason, just a nice day, and we ended up on the road through Caribou Mines. It is unpaved. There are 3-4 houses in a sad little clump at one point, and as we drove past, a guy came out of his house and STARED at us until we were out of sight. Maybe 20 minutes later we came back that way because the road had turned into a sinkhole and the car didn't have THAT much clearance. Guy was still standing there watching for us. I locked my door and made sure my window was rolled right up, because I was hearing the theme from Deliverance in my head and was getting seriously freaked out. I wasn't expecting 'hill-folk' in Canada, for some reason.

Like living outside the city, but not THAT far outside it.

[protege]

First time I went down to Grafton, WV...people apparently thought I was from another planet. Well, technically I was...since I'm from Pennsylvania (Sorry, couldn't resist!) Quite a few people couldn't help but stare. Not sure why, since I was dressed "normal." That is, shorts, T-shirt, sandals. Nothing out of place in the middle of summer. Maybe because I was driving a Japanese car, or maybe because I wasn't speeding through their town. I, along with the then-gf were down there watching trains.

I do know that if you want to freak out the hicks, walk up the hill where Grafton's (now-abandoned) high school sits. Several people kept an eye on me up there