When I was first dating my now wife, we used to go to something called a mall to people watch. We’d sit up on the upper level and watch people down below to see what they were doing, what stores they stopped at, the weird things they were wearing, etc. It was a nice way to spend no money while having some fun conversation and learning about each other.
I think it’s hilarious that anyone would equate this with staring at the secretary all day.
It’s not much different if you really think about the concepts. Both are incredibly weird and “creepy” if you want to misuse that word. Either way you’re looking at some innocent person who is minding his own business. It’s just that in one situation you’re on the upper level looking down and mocking the clothes of people on the lower level and in the other you’re in a corporate shithole looking at a poor secretary that wished she’d chosen a less demeaning career. In reality, however, it’s actually true that watching people can be creepy, and other times it isn’t creepy. What if you just looked at the secretary for five seconds, and not all day? What about six? What about 4.99 seconds? What if you looked at her for five seconds with a normal expression on your face while someone else looked at her for three and a half seconds with a really threatening look on his face? How about everyone minds their own damn business while simultaneously not freaking the fuck out when some person looks at them? How about that?
This is ridiculous.