TIFU when I forgot I had a Twin Sister

So my twin sister and I live in the same city and have very similar jobs. She’s a UX Researcher and I’m a UX/UI designer. One day (before the pandemic) I was out shopping at a grocery store and I noticed that a man I had never met before, looking at me and smiling. I started to get creeped out, returned his gaze with a glare, and hurried through my shopping. When I got to the checkout line, he hurried over to be in the same line as me, and I really started to get freaked out. Finally, while I was walking out to my car, he rushed out and at this point I’m shook. I pull out my pepper spray, point it at him, and shout “fuck off dude!”

With absolute horror and fear on his face he said “woah! I just wanted to say hi! It’s been a while and I was wondering how work was going.”

Confused and freaked out, all I could muster was a “what?”

“I wanted to ask how the UX Research Education Program is going! I really enjoyed that presentation you gave to my team and I just wanted to say that we’re starting to do unmoderated A/B tests!”

I had given research presentations to engineering teams at my company before so I started to think he worked at [my company]. “Oh my god! Do you work at [my company]?”

He looked helpless. “No... wait did you leave [twin’s company]?”

Then it dawned on me. I would have been embarrassed if it weren’t for the immediate sense of relief I felt when I realized this man wasn’t trying to wear my skin. I lowered my pepper-spray-armed hand and said “oh my god I am so sorry. You must know my twin sister [name]. I am SO sorry!!!”

“[name] has a twin???” He looked shocked and relieved.

We both ended up laughing and he apologized for his aggressive behavior. I apologized on behalf of my twin, who failed to mention I existed! Though in her defense, and my own, it’s really hard to work into a professional conversation “btw, I have a twin sister that looks just like me and doesn’t work far from here. If you think you see me out and about, be cautious. It may be my twin sister and she will pepper spray you.”

TL;DR I nearly pepper sprayed a man because he thought I was my twin sister and was being aggressively friendly, which I mistook as predatory behavior.

EDIT: thank you for all of the love! Especially the hilarious twin stories. I smiled and laughed so much reading the comments. Always amazing finding people with similar experiences.