"You Look Preeeetty..."

Last Saturday, I put on a sundress and went to Walmart.  Classy, I know.  But a girl's got to shop for gum and shorts somewhere she can afford, so why not dress so as not to end up on that creepy Walmart-white-trash website?

So I was moseying (well, that's not the right word, because I rarely mosey.  I often zip) zipping through Walmart pushing a cart full of odds and ends, when I pass a thirtysomething man loitering at an endcap.  Nothing was odd about him; he was just some customer in a t-shirt and shorts, loitering at an endcap.  As I passed, he stared at me fixedly with a smile and said, though well past noon, "Good morning."  I smiled a strained, closed-lipped smile and went on my way. 

He may have just been acting neighborly, or he could have been doing something I just don't understand about guys.  A girl knows the difference, and I believe he was doing something I just don't understand about guys, and that is this: getting the attention of a complete stranger in an I-want-to-pick-you-up kind of way.  What irrational thoughts go through the brains of men to make them talk to/shout at/whistle at/make gestures at/touch a girl they've never seen before and will never see again in their life?

Do they feel they can't let the opportunity pass?  Is it just sport-- "let's see how many women we can embarrass"?  Do they honestly believe if they acknowledge this stranger, she will stop in her tracks, turn in slow motion as the music swells and run into his arms, never to part?  How many hookups have started with a whistle?  I would think more often  than not, these outbursts end badly, or at least with the cold shoulder.  And yet some men persist.

Let me share some stories to illustrate my point:
Scene: Gulf-to-Bay during rush hour, driving a middle school girl to youth group.  I'm chilling in the turning lane when the car to my right honks.  Assuming the passengers of that car need directions, I roll down my window and look past middle school girl at a middle aged man.
"You look preeeetty," he says in an accent, leering creepily through the window.  I pursed my lips and rolled up the window.  Really?  What was the point?

Scene: Sitting in the back seat of Thor/Ladybug, a friend's red pickup in which I often hitch a ride.  Windows are down,  and I am enjoying the ride.  A muscle car approaches to my left and the passenger turns my way and stares.  We speed up.  They speed up. 
"Hey, girl!" I hear him shout above the roar of the engines, just before we speed up enough to lose them.  Did he think I'd jump out of the truck and join him in his muscle car? 

I could go on.  You ladies know what I'm talking about.  I mean, I appreciate a guy who is brave enough to start a conversation, but these outbursts are just... pointless.  So my question to guys is (whether or not you've ever been guilty of this, you at least can understand the male psyche), WHY?  Why do men do this?  And do they really think anything will come of it?  And ladies, do you have a trademark line or move to put these men in their place?  I think I should have one.  Not that this happens to me all the time, but when it does I would love to be prepared with something spitfire enough to inspire a little shame.

Because few things make my skin crawl like ogling creeps who verbalize their inanity.