Sales Assistant

I work in a cafe and there’s a man that comes in known jokingly to me and other staff members as ‘the creepy guy’. He always stares and asks questions, asks us what time we’re finishing work etc. and generally making us feel uncomfortable (I’m 26 but he behaves the same way to my younger 16 year old colleagues – he’s about 50). We sometimes try to get our male colleagues to serve him because he doesn’t act like that around them, but it’s difficult when your main job is to serve all customers. Despite him making us girls/women feel uncomfortable, my manager has told me he’s ‘harmless’ and to just put up with it. It’s left me second-guessing myself, am I the one who’s making a big deal out of nothing? Should I just humour him?

It’s also made me very aware as a sales assistant that it is my job to be polite to everyone, but what should I have to put up with in return (including being shouted and sworn at by customers)? I know of a friend who had to leave her job because a customer kept making very sexually aggressive comments towards her, even after she complained to her manager about it. My case is only minor, it’s nothing compared to others, but it makes me feel vulnerable to think that myself and other women working in customer service have little power to speak out against someone’s behaviour.