You've got it completely scrambled: Nobody is being asked to describe the feeling of being harassed. That was the word Udo chose to describe the feeling of dealing with a salesperson.
I simply found it odd (very odd) that someone who uses a word that denotes aggression or attack to describe that situation would simultaneously find it totally alien to think of it as competitive.
Though those are valid definitions, I don't think "harass" necessarily has that violent connotation in most people's minds. It is commonly used as a slightly more intense form of "pester." I've actually heard people laugh at the term being used to refer to violence, because they think of it as a synonym for "annoy," and the idea of being "annoyed by gunfire" is humorously mild.
I simply found it odd (very odd) that someone who uses a word that denotes aggression or attack to describe that situation would simultaneously find it totally alien to think of it as competitive.