Man Challenged Me To A Fight

[DavidI]

Yesterday morning, my wife and I drove to Costco to fill up one of our cars with gasoline. There were six rows each containing four pumps. If you have ever filled up at Costco, you know the madness of the lines. It was finally my turn to pull up and the available pump was the first one closest to me. For reference, there were three pumps ahead of me in the same row, each being used by a customer. The design of each row allows cars waiting in line to bypass any of the used pumps to access one further in the row.

While I am standing next to our car filling it up, a car in an adjacent row honked his/her horn to indicate there was a pump open so the car in front of him/her could drive forward.

A man sitting in the car directly behind me started cussing out the person directly behind him believing that this person honked at him, but it was the adjacent line. Two cars in front of me finished filling up, so I walked back to the man sitting in the car to let him know that the pumps were available. He was visibly agitated and all I was trying to do was inform him to speed up his filling of his car.

As soon as I neared his car, he started cussing me out ordering me to "Get the fu## away from his car!" He also called me a "Motherfu$$er" and told me he would get out of his car and kick my "a$$." I was confused and attempted to de-escalate the situation by telling him I was only trying to help him and let him know that the pumps in front of me were available. He continued cussing at me and was extremely agitated screaming that he will kick my "motherfu$$ing a$$." There were a lot of people around and many scrambled to get back into their cars. I was not looking for a fight at all. I walked back toward the front of his car when he began to open his driver side car door.

I immediately stopped and faced him. There was no way that I was going to allow him to run up behind me to hit me. In my mind, the game had changed. I told him to get back in the car and that I was not looking for trouble. He opened the car door, but did not exit yet. I told him that if he exited the car in an aggressive manner and walked toward me, I was going to seriously hurt him. I think this caught him off guard because it seemed that the crazy agitated behavior he displayed had scared others, but I was willing to engage him. I had nothing to prove because I know my skill level and would have preferred a peaceful resolution.

He closed his car door, rolled up the window, and continued to scream at me. I walked back to my car and finished gassing it up. Other customers in the gas line who witnessed the encountered started clapping for me. The ones who got back into their respective cars got back out because they saw that this man was a punk when he ran into someone who was willing to take him on.

I thought it was a very strange that his reaction was so utterly crazy! Even my wife, who abhors violence, agreed that standing up to this man was the best thing because he frightened so many of the other customers.

After all was said and done, no fight, no violence, no cussing or yelling from me and I went about my merry way.

I don't understand idiots like this!

[masraum]

There are lots of crazies out there, and the last 5-10 years seems to have cranked their crazy knobs up to 11 and then broke the knobs off. I don't get it either.

I assume it's either that they need psychiatric help due to being mentally off somehow. Or maybe they've found that they are able to keep the world at bay by being scary and they are able to get more of what they want that way. Or maybe they are scared and their solution is barking the loudest. I'm glad that I rarely run into them. I've seen lots of videos on the 'Net of those sorts, though.

[DWBOX2000]

Unfortunately there are a lot of tightly wound folk out there. I don’t see it getting any better.
Myself, I was taught to run until cornered, then it’s go time.
You done good.

[brp914]

ok, but how was he supposed to speed up filling his car?

[DavidI]

Originally Posted by brp914

ok, but how was he supposed to speed up filling his car?

There were available pumps in front of me that he could not see. He could have driven around my car and stopped at one of the open ones. Costco designed the filling stations for this purpose to expedite people filling up their cars.

[Scott Douglas]

All he had to do was pull around David's car and start using the pump that had opened up ahead of him.

Well handled David. I'm not sure I would have been able to keep my cool like that.

[Crowbob]

Originally Posted by brp914

ok, but how was he supposed to speed up filling his car?

By pulling forward to an open pump.

Last week, to pick up the grandkids from school you have to pull out onto a pretty busy two lane road. For about 1/2 hour a couple times a day there’s a buncha traffic pulling out from the school. The area is adorned with ‘School Zone’ signs all over the place. I had to make a right onto the road. A pick-up was barreling down the highway at pretty good distance away so I pulled out. The pick up had no intention whatsoever of slowing down and screamed right up my ass and tailgated at about a 6’ distance giving me the finger over his steering wheel. He did that for about 1/4 mile then turned left onto a grocery store parking lot.

Whoever the guy was needs a chill pill. It seems like road rage around here is now well above a simmer almost to the boiling point. The guy was going to turn anyway.

[Chocaholic]

You never know what’s going on in someone’s life. Someone acting like that chap would be best left alone. Unfortunately it’s often hard to tell until it’s too late.

[GH85Carrera]

Our local Costco is always packed full in the parking lot, and the gas station when I drive by. I am not a Costco member and have never been in ours. I hate large crowds and just avoid them.

There are two gas stations a 1/2 a mile from my house that sell real gas with no corn products added. It almost always open pumps and not crowded.

David, your training kicked in and defused the situation. Good on you.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by Chocaholic

You never know what’s going on in someone’s life. Someone acting like that chap would be best left alone. Unfortunately it’s often hard to tell until it’s too late.

I try to tell myself exactly this when people act nutty. A lot of folks wound WAY too tight in this world.

Also this is why I stay away from the big box gas stations that have $0.05 cheaper gas and are always a sheetshow. The Sams Club near us is similar, no thanks.

[craigster59]

Next time feel free to use another one of these phrases. You'll have him heading for the hills!

[craigster59]

"I've kicked so much ass my feet stink!"

"I'll fold you up like a 4th Grade love letter!"

[DavidI]

Originally Posted by craigster59

Next time feel free to use another one of these phrases. You'll have him heading for the hills!

Good ones Craig! I love it.

[Seahawk]

The 1942 Count Basie Orchestra song “Harvard Blues” contains the line “Mama, get up of your big fat rusty dusty.”

I mellowed to a point where the daily interactions with human Tool Sheds mattered not...

Then I started using Nugenix Total T...now I'm kickin' more Rusty Dusty than ever.

I don't, I'm not, and, David, if you don't get busy writing for profit, I'm gonna be all over your RD

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Anger and fear are pervasive throughout the U.S. today. It's only going to get worse. A lot worse.

[speeder]

Good for you, David. Bullies do tend to fold quickly when faced with someone who is not afraid…most have a “sixth sense” that tells them that they messed with the wrong person but not always. I can’t tell you how many times situations have de-escalated simply because I was not afraid to fight.

Imagine the level of fear and just unhappiness in that guy’s life to overreact so extremely to you approaching him. Something happens to people when they are in their cars that makes many people more aggressive and fearful than they would be walking down the street.

A little while back, I was doing my Uber gig in downtown Beverly Hills, either Rodeo or Canon. Crowded street with vehicles and pedestrians. I’m always looking for the safest place to drop people off and there was an open parking spot so I pulled partially into it to let my passengers out. There was a shiny black Escalade double parked one space in front of the open space with flashers on. I figured that he was another driver either waiting for his passengers or dropping off, didn’t really think about it.

Turns out that he wanted to back into the space I was now blocking, (but only for a moment), if he’d had his turn signal on, I would have understood his intention. Anyhow, I’m getting ready to move on and suddenly I have this large, angry dude in my face. I had my window down. I’m a weirdo, so I get really calm in these situations. Partly to try to de-escalate but also because this guy has no clue how little I care if he assaults me. I always need a little excitement in my life.

He’s going off and I explain that I thought he was just waiting plus I’m not even parking…it doesn’t calm him and he says, “get out of the car.” In a voice that is almost bored, I say, “you want to fight?” Like I’m asking if he wants cream in his coffee. This made him stutter…”uh, no…yes…whatever you want.”

“Whatever I want?” “GTFOH, chimp.”

He thought that his size and aggression could intimidate me, or whoever he was going to encounter. Just like the guy at Costco. The guy was close to my age and he would not have healed quickly from hitting the pavement.

[pavulon]

Originally Posted by speeder

Good for you, David. Bullies do tend to fold quickly when faced with someone who is not afraid…

Drunk, meth'd or psychotic people often times don't care and may well not leave options.

[fastfredracing]

I bet you could have taken him .