Cafe Female Owner Working Alone Watched by Man for 4 Hours... "Why Are Your Hands There?"

A man was caught on CCTV engaging in obscene acts while staying for more than four hours alone in a cafe where a woman was working.

On the 22nd, a post titled "A pervert came to the cafe" was uploaded by a 7-year veteran cafe owner on a self-employed online community.

Photo by Online Community Capture

He said, "There is a male customer who used to come occasionally before COVID-19, and he started coming again after the pandemic calmed down," adding, "When the store was quiet, he would sit for a long time next to the liquor refrigerator, and during busy times like office workers' lunch hours, he would leave in less than 30 minutes, so I thought he was giving up his seat." He explained that the store environment usually had many government employee customers, making lunch hours busy, but otherwise it was relatively quiet.

He continued, "One time when it was raining heavily, right after lunch hour (a quiet time), he came and ordered a warm cafe latte, three bottles of beer, and a milk tea, and stayed for four hours. Since there were no other customers, I felt grateful. I was sitting in the kitchen looking at my phone because customers were scarce," he explained.

Then he suddenly felt something was off. "The seat the customer always sat in was between the wall and the machine, so I could see him. When I checked the CCTV, the customer was repeatedly placing his foldable phone bent on the table, looking at the phone, and then looking at me. He was even slightly moving his body away while watching, so I thought it was strange," he said.

He added, "I sent a screenshot of the CCTV to my younger sibling, saying 'The customer who comes occasionally keeps looking at me,' and my sibling asked, 'Why are his hands like that?' After checking the CCTV again, we discovered that the man was engaging in obscene acts alone."

Feeling scared, the author called the regular customer to the cafe, and when a new customer appeared, the man left abruptly without even taking an umbrella despite the rain.

After reporting to the police and closing early to check the CCTV, the author confirmed, "That day, there were no customers in the hall, only takeout customers. Whenever a customer came, the man would avoid eye contact, look at his phone, go out to smoke, or go to the restroom. Otherwise, he stayed stuck next to the liquor refrigerator, looking toward the kitchen while engaging in the obscene acts."

The author lamented, "I regret checking the CCTV. I used to really enjoy working at the cafe, but now I don't want to and feel stressed. I have nightmares thinking that man might come again."

Since the author learned about the obscene acts through CCTV rather than witnessing them directly, they became a witness rather than a victim in the police investigation. The author expressed frustration, saying, "When I asked the police what to do if he comes again, they said, 'Is the price of a cup of coffee important? A person's life is more important. If that person comes, leave or bring someone with you.'"

There is an opinion that the customer could be charged with public obscenity. The law stipulates that a person who publicly commits obscene acts may face up to one year in prison or a fine, detention, or penalty not exceeding 5 million won. Although such cases are not uncommon in reality, criminal punishment is only possible if strict conditions are met.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.