Don't Assume Anything

I think that I have finally reached the point in my life where I have been single for so long that it's almost as if I have never dated anyone. I have encountered enough creepy men as of late to make me realize that even if someone with no obvious potential creep factor (OPCF as we shall call it from here on out) were to approach me I would probably reel in disgust.

I don't know what the appropriate response to creepy men is, period. I am not a woman of little words and I am not a woman that is usually without a snarky comeback or one-liner. However, men with OPCF have approached me (creepy downstairs neighbor, for example) and I clam up. The moment I begin to feel even the slightest bit awkward, I stop talking. The inner dialogue is rather comical in hindsight, so I shall share that with you now:

(Creepy Neighbor =CN)

CN: Hey how about you sit down here and talk with me a bit.

Me: *Silence*

Internal Me: How about not. How about I punch you. How about I call Jerry Springer and explain to him that my drunk crazy neighbor keeps setting up propositions like he wants to have an affair with me and I am fairly certain his wife would chop me up into tiny fragments if she knew the truth.

Me: Uh no thanks.

CN: How was your day?

Internal Me: It was wonderful until I came downstairs and you were drunk, half dressed, and listening to bluegrass music (which I even used to like) and tried to get me to sit down with you and swig out of that unlabeled bottle of alcohol, where is your chloroform?

That's how every conversation is happening between the two of us. How do I make him not so creepy? What do I need to say to truly disengage him? How about you? Do you have a OPCF sense? Do you know when you are running into someone who is going to turn out to be a real creep?