They were looking at the negative side. You were chewed out for looking at the positive. Not your problem, but theirs.

that's your own fault owo

this is almost as bad as breaking into your Jewish boyfriend house and setting up Christmas decorations

Awkward! Did you tell him he was hot?

I bet his name was Augustus Waters

They see him rollin, they hatin'

I hate when people yell for staring. I can't count the number of times I've been screamed at for "staring" when I was actually spacing off and happened to be looking their way. When I catch people staring at me my first assumption is that they are spacing off and not really staring

One day I was at the deli eating lunch and there was a beautiful young girl there who had two of those crutches with arm braces leaning against the table. She had some difficulty eating; her dexterity was obviously not good. She was eating with an older man, and I'm sure she saw me glance at her a few times. As I left, I asked the gentleman if the girl was her daughter, he said yes, and I said "You and her Mother should be very proud, you do excellent work. Your daughter is a beautiful girl." He thanked me and agreed, and she blushed and thanked me too. I didn't think I should just walk out with her wondering why I was looking at her. I wanted her to KNOW why I was looking at her.

You should have told the person yelling at you this fact. And shut him up. And make the person in the wheel chair feel good. Communicate.

Sometimes adding a smile diminishes the creep factor. But travel around the world and you'll find that some people 'stare' at you. Only in USA is it seemingly taboo to make eye contact with strangers.