A Lecture at Wal-Mart

So I was grocery shopping early one morning last week, and I was alone. I had my purse buckled into the grocery cart and was bending over to get something off of one of the lower shelves. An older gentleman walks by me, and just as I'm starting to push my cart down the aisle, he turns and says, "Young lady, I just walked by your purse, looked down into it, saw your billfold, your car keys and even some loose money." At this point, I look at my purse. It is about halfway unzipped from me just putting my cell phone back into it. He had to look awful hard to see everything he said he could see. His tone by now has become condesending. "You yound people now-a-days think that nothing will ever happen to you. But I could have just taken your wallet and your would have spent the rest of the day getting credit cards deactivated. You should be more careful!" and he continued until I interrupted him. I mean... come on... I didn't ask for a safety lecture. I was perfectly willing to tell him thank you for the heads-up and walk away until he started in on his little speech. I told him thank you quite firmly and informed him that I didn't really need a lecture right then. And I walked away. I spent the rest of the time avoiding him in the aisles.

Why did he feel the need to do that do you think? I mean, I'm a grown woman. I wasn't away from my cart. My purse was secured... maybe half-way unzipped... but nothing was visible. It made my blood boil a little. I mean, I have parents and grand-parents that don't talk to me like that!