Ed. Note: You should not feel obligated to share your phone number with this person, or anyone else for that matter, if you don’t want to. I advise going into a store/office if there is one nearby and asking for help from someone (if you are outside.) If he continues to not leave you alone, you should consider calling the police. This is not normal behavior. You should have no guilt in protecting yourself after politely attempting to end the conversation. If he won’t leave you alone, your safety is paramount.
“Dear PoPville,
I had an encounter with a guy on Wednesday afternoon when I stepped outside to enjoy the sun for a few minutes. He insisted on chatting with me, told me he was new to the area and asked about local coffee spots.
After I sat in awkward conversation for a few minutes he insisted on exchanging numbers so we could grab coffee together. At no point did I say yes to this, just did a lot of “mhm”info and swapped numbers so I could get back to work. I then received a test almost immediately from him and blocked his number.
After getting home and starting to tell my partner of this awkward encounter he said told me of this persons presence in PoPville and that he’s usually over by Dupont. Heads up for others-he’s over by Thomas Circle now as well!“