20
Intent matters.
is groceries intent :)
Intent on stalking obviously
Only if she keeps following you around after you’ve just selected a bunch of celery
Stalking requires intent. These are just a collection of unhappy coincidences.
People generally date people who live somewhat close to them (I know, LDRs exist).
People generally shop in stores that are somewhat close to them.
I'm smelling coincidence.
I like to grocery shop on Tuesday mornings, since that's double coupon day at my local grocer. I give my neighbor a ride to the store, so we can use her 5% senior discount and save even more money.
I see the same people at the store every week, because they shop on the same day I do, at the same time I do. We smile and wave, sometimes we chit chat about current events, or small talk like "Man, the weather's crazy this week", or "How did your son's baseball game go?".
I am not stalking them, they are not stalking me. We just patronize the the same store at the same time as each other.
If you think you're being stalked, randomly change up your routine. Let's say you normally go shopping on Saturday afternoons. Go on a Thursday morning. If you still keep running into them, maybe you're onto something. If not, enjoy your new ex-gf free shopping experience.
If it seems like multiple unrelated people are doing the same thing, it’s more likely an issue with your own perception or interpretation of them.
I think knowing the population density and the amount of grocery stores in your area will add a lot of context to this question. Like even broadly is this either a rural area or an urban neighborhood with one real grocery store within 5 miles? I've lived in both and I'm not giving up fresh hummus for you even if you were a complete asshole. Even if you were stalking me you'd find out a long while before I give up on portobellos (not victim blaming, most of my personality traits that scare off weirdos are considered mental illness).
This 100%. You can't claim stalking if your town has one bar and a dollar general. They have to go somewhere.
If you want to dig deeper, law school might be for you.
If their ex- gets a restraining order against them because they're stalking them and trying to claim it's just "coincidence" that they end up at the same places all the time, then they're going to fail the character test to get licensed.
Usually it is intent. Does the stalker show up in multiple places where the stalker knows the stalked is supposed to be? Does the stalker show up to private locations uninvited?
this post was submitted on 07 May 2026
20 points (100.0% liked)
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