Clingy Coworker won't leave me alone
We hired a new receptionist that is almost fresh out of high school, and I am significantly older in my late 30s. For some reason, she has chosen me to cling to. Constantly hanging off me (literally....will come up to me and throw her arms around me, or will come up behind me and lay her head on my back). I have expressed multiple times that I am not a hugger and don't like to be touched, and among numerous other things, such as jumping out at me around corners and yelling to scare me and laughing when I am jump/get scared (with a lobby full of people that can very clearly hear). I have GAD and that is one thing that will set a panic attack off for me, is being scared exactly like that and I have told her this. She comes to my desk and constantly wants to talk, leaving the front desk completely empty with phones ringing off the hook and the cash drawer completely open and unlocked. I tell her I am extremely busy and not able to talk, and that she needs to be sitting at the front desk taking calls and helping people that walk in the lobby. She got my phone number off the company list and texts me non stop. I don't answer and it continues. It has now escalated to be asked to hang out after work 4-5 times during the week and being asked to go to lunch every single day. I have turned her down every time, stating I work 2 jobs, have a family and other responsibilities, and not only that, I am much older and introvert and her idea of fun is not the same as mine. I have just tried a simple NO before. She has jumped in my car before when I was trying to leave for lunch saying "where are we eating at today?" thinking she could just come with me, I told her lunch is my only hour during a very busy day to decompress after seeing patients and the only quiet time I get, but it does not stop her. I have tried to be direct and she is still not understanding. I am starting to feel GREATLY suffocated and mentally exhausted and not wanting to come to work at all. We don't have an HR department to take this to, and our manager is the type to not address things directly, but wait until staff meetings and vaguely address it to the group.
I am a very shy person that does not like conflict but I have stood my ground and told her my boundaries and have been direct with her. I don't want to hurt her feelings as I truly think she is just lonely and looking for a friend, and I don't want to make work even more awkward, but I am exhausted and don't know what to do or how to handle this.