As a woman, there are only so many signals you can send to men that you don’t want to be approached. Some use the ubiquitous headphones-in-the-subway trick, others pretend to be on the phone when walking alone at night, or many simply stick to themselves and try not to draw too much attention. The latter might still fail, though, as one TikToker experienced firsthand.
Melissa Garza (@melissagarzam) was minding her business inside an H-E-B in McAllen, Texas, when another woman handed her a napkin with a message written on it.
In the text overlay of her viral TikTok slideshow, Garza wrote: “I quickly sat down at HEB to send an email, and a woman who was 2 tables away from me came up to me and gave me this.”
“Hi, [smiley face.] Please watch your surroundings. Creepy men dining,” the message read.
According to one of Garza’s comments, she was sitting alone, waiting for her mom to finish grocery shopping. Garza was replying to an email on her computer when the woman approached. “A woman can’t be safe nowadays, not even on a Monday morning smh,” she commented.
Garza revealed that before she received the note, she had felt an “unpleasant feeling” and turned to see a man staring at her. He was not alone, but with four other men, causing her to leave. She added America Ferrera’s monologue in the Barbie (2023) movie—the struggles of being a woman—as the TikTok sound.
Naturally, Garza’s TikTok struck a chord with the women on TikTok, earning more than 400,000 views as of this writing. Several took the time to share their own similar experiences in the comments section.
‘I go through this every single day’
In a top comment, a TikToker confided that she goes through this “every single day,” saying that she can’t even “walk through my own town without being watched and cat called.”
One user shared how in another Texas H-E-B, one man was following her and her two girls. She said how the man ended up recording them.
Women being followed or feeling unsafe in stores is far from uncommon. Just one month ago, a man followed a woman in Target, then kidnapped and assaulted her, the Miami Herald reports. In January, another incident caused a Charlotte woman to fear for her life after she was followed at a Target as well.
What happens if you feel unsafe inside a supermarket?
Several users urged Garza to report the man to the supermarket management.
“As a former partner at HEB, please ALWAYS feel free to reach out to the employees,” one urged. “They are all very understanding and will always offer help!”
“My hubs is a manager at HEB, he would 100% want to know if someone was making you uncomfortable in his store!” another added. “Please tell someone! glad you’re safe!”
One echoed, “As a former partner, pull us! Grab us! And let us know! Heb goes to war about their customers!”
Garza replied that she would be calling H-E-B tomorrow to report the situation and would keep her viewers updated. As of Wednesday, she has yet to provide a follow-up.
The Mary Sue reached out to Garza and H-E-B via email.
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