So no new post, eh?

You gotta listen to people, nobody likes to be ignored, man. The helper and the helpee both have reasons for the actions, what I'd hate the most is the one trick pony, that's as lame as they come. Is your explanation fair enough, for today, for some random persons, maybe the person didn't even need to help you, maybe it was the secondary reason and you may have missed the sign of some awkward person coming up to you and just say hey. If you turn down great people person with your helpless look/behaviors, that could be about even on the fairness scale, you could easily lose the argument of, what was that? Respect.

In most cases in our daily conversations, we can't be making super-true statements all the time, you'll be betrayed with your own reasonings because it's not flexible enough, non verbal cues have to speak for themselves too. Sticking to one's decision, after decision, you own up to yours and you'd feel better and learn the other end of the conscious brain.

Your politeness includes saying 'Maybe another time', doesn't it? People still might read too much into it so, you do whatever you can with all your intelligence, maybe the smartest things you could do is to book without saying anything, you caused the annoyance, why didn't you do more? "I do have a pepper spray.", This is part of your freedom of speech, you can purchase one and carry it if you wish, but the vagueness in the language might be enough to deter potential criminals disguising as a helper.