Can I get one vanilla chai, hold the sweetner and the creepy guy in the corner

I had one of my scariest moments yesterday. Surprisingly, it had nothing to do with climbing (nor did it have anything to do with driving in Southern California). Taking my usual chai tea break with my coworkers Masako and Ying, we were sitting down at an outdoor table and chatting when a mid 20's skinny white guy wearing some sporty looking dark shades walks up to me from the next table over.

"Hey man, how's it going?"

Simple question - one I get all the time while climbing. He seemed to have this air about him as if he's met me before. Figuring I probably met him on one of my many many many climbing trips, I naturally answered.

"Good. What's up?"
"...."

Not getting the usual "not much dude, been climbing lately" question I often get, something seemed amiss. He seemed to be waiting for a specific response from me as he stood 6 inches away while I sat casually at the table. Masako and Ying probably had the same idea I had - climber buddy? Not being able to tell who he was b/c of his shades, and him just (apparently) staring at me with a subtle tense vibe, I just decided to go with the friendly straightforward approach (works on most climbers usually)

"uhh... sorry dude, I don't recognize you. Who are you?"

At this point, he seemed to look away, almost disgusted. Not to mention more agitated. Had I offended him? Ooops. But no, it wasn't that... Maybe he was playing a joke on me and the joke went awry. No - slightly different from that too.

At this point he turned to Ying and eventually Masako to question / drill them. And the questions became much more personal over time

So what's your name?
What's your last name?
What lab are you at?
What do you do?
But what do you DO?
What's your degree in?
Oh that's a nice ring, may I see it?
How long have you been married?
Where are you from?
How long have you been here?

Alarm bells were ringing in my head. That shot of adrenaline was going through my system, kicking my reflexes to high alert mode. His tone was almost aggressive as he playfully asked these question to Masako and Ying. With the recent Virginia Tech shooting and having grown up in LA, I decided to casually lean back in my seat and take a big swig from my tea while I checked him out - he was, afterall, 6 inches away and invading my personal space. Pockets? Looks empty 'cept for a cell phone sized object. back of the pants? Hard to tell but didn't looked like anything bulky or weighty was there. Sweater pockets? Doesn't have them - that's clear.

I set my tea down as I looked past our table onto the table he was sitting at. Pack of Marlboro's, a set of keys with a remote door lock for an American car (I had the same exact model that came stock with my old Chevy Tahoe). Didn't see anything outright dangerous. Besides, he'd have to dive past a bunch of chairs to reach anything over there. Any sudden movements on his part and I'd have to go plan B... (unfortunatley plan B wasn't more detailed other than "tackle, subdue, subjugate, oppress until help arrives").

The air at our table was thicker now. All three of us knew this was getting uncomfortable. I glanced at Masako for a second and she made a questioning sound towards me. I lightly shook my head and made a soft grunt in the negative to tell her I didn't say anything.

That's when things started getting dicey.

This guy, who claimed he was a grad student in the computer science dept but refused to answer which lab / advisor he worked for, immediately turned to me as if I had just slapped him.

"What did you say?"
"Hrm? me? I said [grunt-negative]"
"What does that mean"
"It means 'Nothing at all, I didn't say anything'"
"What does that mean?"
"??? It meant I didn't say anything to her"
"If you had to put that in 2 words, how would you explain that?!"
"Didn't. Say. Anything."
"That's 3 words"
"Didn't say"

He'd pause after a while, as if sizing me up. Still 6 inches from me, looking down behind those sport sun glasses, I was now starting to make out his eyes in the light. They weren't joking.

"Would you actually say that to people?"
"Yeah I would"

I started thinking of ways to maneuver this conversation so he'd just leave us in peace. Just in case I took my final big gulp of my tea and glanced at Ying and Masako to tell them I was done with my drink. Somehow, after drilling me in that intense fashion, he wandered off as we ignored him in the lull of the questioning. When he left to harass some other people, the three of us laughed about it under our breaths wondering if any one of us actually knew him.

Unfortuately, before we could get up to go, the guy came back. I forget what he started saying but he still had that confrontational tone in his voice, questioning our every little move. Eventually Ying made a signal to get going back to the lab. Happy that one of the girls made a motion (he seemed to be more aggressive with me for some reason and I didn't want to tick him off by suggesting we leave in the middle of his confrontation), I quickly said "OK" and started getting up.

"OK?? What does that mean to you?"
"What? it means O.K. It means alright, we're going"
"And is that something you think you can say to a girl?!"
"Umm... yeah. Yeah I do."
"...."

My coworkers were already beyond arms reach from this guy at this point and they were looking over their shoulders to make sure I wasn't in trouble. Good. I prefer to keep his attention on me than the others if this was going to get any worse.

Figuring this was all either an elaborate sociology experiment with hidden cameras, or this guy was certifiably deranged, I decided to stay polite until he made an overtly dangerous move.

"Alright dude, I guess I'll see you around", I said as I stook my hand out to shake his. He didn't take it. He just stared, tight lipped at me.
"Or not". I retracted my hand with a slight sneering smile. Confident he wasn't going to do anything at this point, I walked a few more steps away before I completely turned my back on him.

Once back at the lab, before I could even sit down in my chair, my coworker Bryan asks me "What the hell was up with that guy?". He apparently was there before us and left a few minutes prior to us. He too saw the creepy dude antagonizing people taking their coffee breaks. "Yeah, I was sitting alone and just watching him from behind my sunglasses. I saw him go up to people I thought he knew, step on their feet so they couldn't escape and start antagonizing them 6" away from their faces". Good to know I wasn't the only one.

Bryan and I made up our minds to notify the coffee cart people to call campus security if we see him again. He's obviously harrassing the patrons and that creepy vibe was hard to shake off. Like I said, Virginia Tech made me a little jumpy.