Is there a story to be told here?

The possibility of fighting by doing so increases, unfortunately.

Well after he beats you to a bloody pulp or worse, the bystanders will surely give him a withering glance. Yeah, that'll learn him.:rolleyes:

It's a no win situation, yes. That's why I dont come out of my cave.

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so, you'll let people walk on you before you stand up to them?

i'm surprised at you, bruce. guess i don't really know you that well yet. or are you just trying to caution people?

for the minor rudenesses i'm taliking about, i wouldnt think people would want to fight over it. if the other person resists, then you make your decision about letting it go or taking a stand.

The last time I was in a fight I was about.... 12 I think? Not a large concern of mine. I don't think a saleperson that I stand up to is going to take a swing at me.
Do you think that's a valid concern really? That some seemingly normal, albeit rude person is going to smack the shit out of you if you chastise them? I don't know.... I don't see it happening.... (obvious 'hot' scenarios excluded; sporting events, pre christmas sales, certain bars, the dmv/unemployment line etc...)

There's a lot of variables there. Also depends on your ability to remain calm, and at the same time, push them over the edge.

I only become bold, rude, and coldly matter-of-fact when I'm so completely pissed off that I've been pushed over the edge. But that scenario is very rare, as I usually have endless patience with people.

The interesting thing is, the things that most people get pissed off about almost never cause me to lose my patience.

The things that push me over the edge are usually seemingly trivial things that no one else understands. To me, they've committed a unforgivable gigantic moral infraction. To them, they've just done something inanely trivial and I just blew up on them. So, on the rare occasions that I do lose my temper, no one ever understands why.

I usually don't say anything, either, because like our dear juju, I have a sea of patience with people most of the time. Occasionally I'll tell someone "You must be lost, the end of the line is back there," but it rarely goes beyond that.

One humorous exceptions is when I was biking on a paved bike trail with my father last year. The trail winds through one of the canyons here, and we were speeding down one of the downhill slopes. I was a good ways ahead of my pop when the dude ahead of me decided to stop suddenly. I didn't have much warning, but I had enough time to just go around him in the oncoming traffic lane, which was empty. That is, untl the dumbass who had stopped in the middle of the trail turned his bike without looking, blocking both lanes about ten feet in front of me.

I was on my brand new bike, which had really good brakes. Better than I was used to. With nowhere to go now, I pulled all the brakes, and the bike stopped, tipping forward. But due to some principle called "inertia," my body did not stop along with the bike. I somehow stepped over the handlebars, my feet hit the ground, and I clobbered the guy with my shoulder at full speed. A second later, my now tumbling bike joined us, followed by my dad, who was far enough behind that he had time to stop safely.

He arrived just in time for me to hear me unleash a string of profanities on the guy (who was, incidentally, a huge SOB who had hardly been fazed by my impact), and I told him that he might try looking over his expletive shoulder before stopping in the middle of the expletivie bike trail, stupid expletive.

My dad's eyes got pretty big, he's not used to hearing me curse so eloquently. But the other guy just mumbled an apology and went on his way.

...oh, I'll also tell people to shut up in movie theaters if they talk too much. That's one thing I haven't got much patience for.

This is a great thread. In most cases, I don't say exactly what's on my mind. It depends. I *may* edit what I'm REALLY thinking or I may change the tone.

Just recently, I was at the post office trying to send a package out. I had some of my belongings on a counter, and just as I was about to move them out of the way, a customer comes up from my right side with her packages and just puts them up on the same counter...no "excuse me" or "sorry, is this yours?" or anything. I guess my peeve was that she just came over like she owned the place. I *wanted* to say (in my blackest of black voices), "Um, ex-ca-uuuuuse you? You could have AT LEAST waited until I moved my stuff!!" With plenty of hands-on-hip, neck twisting, finger snaping action. :D

However, it was one of those things where I was so put-off by her actions, that I just moved my stuff out of her way (with lots of huff, so that she would know that she pissed me off), and went on about my business. Funny thing: she didn't even look in my general direction. Had she done so, she would have caught my look of death. :angry:

So....you kicked her ass, right?

Ooooo, if only!!! ;)

I would have loved to have had her seen my look of death...and then actually died from it. *evil grin*

Ah to have that kind of power...muhahahaha!

Oh, I'm a pussy. I run away screaming and crying.:haha:
No, really I'm trying to caution people to think before start because you might be pushing someone like me. You can lead me most anywhere but if you push it doesn't matter how trivial the reason. I'll be all over you before you can think about whether you want to pursue it or not. You'll have no choice.
Jinx makes an excellent point of "hot" scenerios. I think any place people "have" rather than "want" to be, like DMV are always "hot". So are the tostesterone pumps like sports/wrestling/monster trucks.
I won't even start on guns or drunks.:)

Legal vs illegal gun carry.

Legal permit holders will more than likely evade. I know I would, if I'm going before the judge I want the scenario to be like this;

Yes yer honor, I walked briskly away from the situation, trying desperately to blend into the background but DeadGuy followed me after the verbal exchange. In desperation and after running 7 miles away from the scene with Deadguy in pursuit, he tackled me. In that condition it was a real possibility I might die from a heart attack and although there were no weapons visible, I felt the persistence of DeadGuy's chase was an indicator of a real threat to my life.

So I gave him 2 new holes (an inny and and outty).

illegal gun carry? "You talkin' to me bitch?" (ching-ching-pow)

Hey maybe all those saps in Chicago were carrying and trying to remain passive? Whups, never mind.