Re: your lighbulb moment, "Brilliant!"

This simple act of reaching into a creep's circle of influence seems a great way to take back some power.

As a 50-something male, I'm always conerned I'm coming across creepy. Thankfully, I'm very aware of social cues which would indicate a desire for you to GTFO.

Maybe that's part of the problem: someone who doesn't get social cues. That comes back to the identification that "Creepiness is all about not being able to figure out whether there is a threat."

I'll be honest, there's a lady I am often around who fits this bill. Come to find out she has Asperger's. It helps to know that, because otherwise she comes across as "creepy".

It's not that people with Asperger's are creepy, but that lack of social cue awareness combined with her personality definitely give a bad first (and second and third) impression.