He's not mentally challenged, you are socially challenged. It's perfectly normal in the real world for two people who don't yet know each other to have a little talk or banter without being afraid.

I think it's good you listened to your instincts and were firm. If he has a disability that makes social things complicated, being obvious was a favor to him. If he did have bad intentions, your immediate willingness to leave showed you weren't an easy mark.

There are probably good scripts for this, but I don't know them. I just think you should know it doesn't sound like you handled it badly.

You know, somehow we have got to get back to the place where strangers can talk to each other in public places. I understand your position and why you needed to do that. I just regret the fact that conversations in public seem to be a lost art.

My dad is one of those people who makes friends everywhere he goes - talking to people in elevators, etc. and people react well to it. Everybody can't be that outgoing and shouldn't be. But I think the % of people who can do that now is going to be much less than it was in the past, which is a shame.

Approaching a woman to strike up a conversation is a bit of a fine art to do it in a way that doesn't skeeve them the fuck out and plopping your ass down right next to them is definitely in the list of don'ts. Hell I'm a guy and I'd be skeeved out a bit if this happened to me.

You did nothing wrong and I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt of just being socially unaware since he didn't press it.

People have to shoot their shot somehow.

It's fine to not be interested, neither one of you did anything wrong.

You’re fine, he may have been mentally challenged, he may be immersed in a mall walking social group that has formed there and thought it was a risk worth taking based on previously successful or milder experiences, but you are well within your rights socially and everything else to be firm and curt and avoidant. I applaud your continued assessment and concern, it shows you actually care about people’s feelings, so imo you’re fine and will do great with whatever options you go with in the future. If you want my suggestion for a slightly easier refusal, I’d maybe just say “I really do appreciate your being social and being welcoming, I’m just not up for socializing today, sorry” and that should do it. But I think you did fine.

‘I’m not really here to talk’ and leaving isn’t rude at all, don’t sweat it. If you had screamed at him that he was a creepy POS or something then you’d have a good reason to feel bad if he had some kind of intellectual/developmental disability, but you didn’t, and even if he does there’s a point where you have to learn you’re not a cute kid who can just walk up to people at random and start talking to them anymore (or at least not have everyone be as receptive to it).

It is totally reasonable to react the way you did. You don't owe it to other people to be comfortable around them. They should be thinking about what they can do to make you comfortable, ideally before they do it, and this guy clearly wasn't. If it is because of some disability or something that's totally plausible too, but that's his problem and his cross to bear, not yours. You weren't rude or cruel, but you were uncomfortable, and you're allowed to be. If he is capable of learning from that, maybe he will, and I think it would be a good lesson for him to learn.

You don't have to feel bad about it, it makes sense that you regret how the interaction turned out after the fact, but that regret comes from the additional information and processing time you had afterwards to think about it. If you want to reconsider that guy as a possibly decent fellow who deserves another chance in retrospect that's alright, and maybe if you see him again you can extend a little more tolerance for his behavior if you think it's safe. But it doesn't mean you were wrong in the first place. In general, you should trust your instincts and listen to them, they're just trying to keep you safe, and better safe than sorry. You should not have to be scared of a man sitting down next to you, but the way some men act in the world we live in, you have every right to. It's sad, but it's realistic, and you are not responsible for solving this problem on society's behalf. When we've built a society where you can have a man sit next to you and feel safe about it, then that'll be great. But we're not there yet.

I think people who are socially inept are often advised to strike up innocuous little throwaway conversations with strangers in public places to improve their ability to interact. Unfortunately this is also exactly the MO of killers in CSI programmes.

Bro had zero game.

you dint do anything wrong. i witnessed several times on public transit, and stores, that they would approach women and get in thier face, and try to "flirt" witht them.