Just another day at the office

Holy shit! That was insane. And that is why I'm glad that I don't work with Haskins anymore. To be fair. . .He did apologize.



JK, you know Haskins would somehow poison the air or water or something, make it slower, make it take longer for us to figure out we pissed him off.



Seriously, it took a while for anyone to really respond, it's like they let him throw the tantrum and he just kept going until he was stopped. . .Finally. I don't care if he snapped or not, hitting the lady in the head with the monitor should have either been his internal trigger this was going too far or the other people's trigger to stop it that were in the office and able.

blow darts. less messy.

KTC said:

blow darts. less messy.

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Ah, good point. Your mind naturally goes where my kind mind has to struggle to venture.

"Join us now, as we approach with careful stealth through the cubicle jungle...."

Bravo, yeah, that's kind of what I said and what I think. I've seen something even more violent take place in a parking lot of IHOP at 2 am (closing time) and SO many people stood around and watched these two guys getting pummeled, one was knocked unconscious and was still getting beating and kicked in the head the other ran into traffic to escape (it worked). I'm sure it was gang related. I ran out there because I couldn't let someone die and not even try to help. I was surrounded in the doorway by huge guys, guys who could help, yet I (I'm small, petite, about 5'2") was the only one who finally couldn't watch this anymore and felt compelled to act. Hubby (who was on his way back from the bathroom) saw me running out there and took off after me, tackled me to get me to stop. Then he went to help the unconscious dude, who had now been dragged behind a car that the gang bangers were getting ready to drive over him! Hubby got there just in time to get the unconscious kid (he turned out to be 16) out of the way before gb's backed out and sped off.

Bravo said:

i can see not intervening in a gang fight actually. i can see people pausing about that, b/c they're worried about getting shot or retaliations. but this dude was unarmed and just stomping about.

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Yes, but actually watch someone die? I couldn't stay put, my body wouldn't let me. I might be able to survive a gun shot if I'm lucky, I'd never be able to live with myself if I did nothing to save a 16 yr old who was killed right in front of me, and it wasn't even done fast, it was slow, violent and I had time to act, but I paused thinking one of the men around me might do it instead. Then I panicked, realizing this kid might already be dead (he'd been beaten so badly, even after he was unconscious) but I couldn't, COULDN'T do nothing. Seriously, my body wouldn't let me stand there. I wasn't being nobel or selfless, I was just scared and confused and didn't know what to do.

Trust me, Hubby laid into me after it was over. He was ticked that I went running out there. He kept asking me exactly what I planned on doing once I got to the guys. He's never been more pissed off at me than that night in the parking lot. But like I said, I couldn't help it.

Bravo said:

i've seen the same thing while a freshman at HS. this one kid was just blatantly picking on another kid, pushing him around and knocking across the head. everyone was just standing around watching and shaking their heads. i wish i can say i did something heroic, but i grabbed the guy's arm and he spun around and punched me so hard in the nose that i got knocked to the floor. that was the 1st time i had ever been hit in the face and i was just stunned by it. the kids around me continued to watch as i tried to get my act together and the bully kept beating on the other kid. no one offered to help or anything.

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That was heroic, IMO! You tried. That is the most anyone can do.

That's probably the same way I would have reacted, SG. I just can't not doing something in situations like.

In a more mild tale, I worked at a Denny's near a college campus. It would fill with drunk college kids (my peers, but hey I was the more sober one) after the bars closed. One night these two drunk dudes are talking crap to each other. One of the guys gets up and goes to the other guys table. Every other server is standing behind the counter watching like it's pay per view. Out from back I come, waddling at eight months pregnant, getting between these two dudes, telling the one to go sit down. My husband worked there also, and he comes flying out of the back because my big pregnant self is breaking up a fight before it starts.

Of course, little did I know that one of the guys my husband went to school and who is a regular was right behind me when I walked over. He worked as a bouncer at one of the bars.

It just amazed me how everyone else just stood there. That was why I finally understood just why all the fights happened on nights I didn't work. The other servers would either stand there or send me out to break stuff up before it got violent because I was the only one who would do anything and I wasn't scared.

That's just sad, isn't it?

It is. I'm not one that turns to mush or stone in tense situations. My first instinct is to act. I've been a good person to have around for a few minor medical emergencies.

I'll watch your clip tonight, Bravo. Can't do it right now.

tjwriter said:

Out from back I come, waddling at eight months pregnant, getting between these two dudes, telling the one to go sit down. My husband worked there also, and he comes flying out of the back because my big pregnant self is breaking up a fight before it starts.

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Did your Hubby get upset at you? Just curious. Because my Hubby was probably the most angry I've ever seen him. He is not a yeller, I don't think he's ever really yelled at me, except that night. And boy did he. I still think he was a bit mean about the whole thing, especially since he is usually so sweet.


Now in general:
Does it really matter who is going nuts? What does it take for each of us to step in and get involved? When should we? When shouldn't we? It's a hard line to draw.

Yeah, I do that kind of shift all the time.

dpaterso said:

So I hit him and he falls down and dies, now what?

-Derek

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Well, firstly, I would think that's extremely unlikely. If you punched him, and he hit his temple on a sharp corner, or somehow twisted his neck horribly - maybe, but I think you'd be very, very unlucky.
Better would be to wrestle him to the ground. He looks a tiny fella, a couple of those guys who were too busy filming the nut should have been able to take him down between them easily enough.
I have the martial arts experience to have the confidence to say that I probably would have taken him down, and succeeded without killing him or myself.

That guy in the office needed to be tasered in the groin, about 5 times. Then he needs to spend a year in jail.

He's lucky that someone in that office didn't hurt him.

They're lucky this guy didn't have a shotgun. We'd all be hearing about him on the 5 o'clock news.

Some people need serious anger management, psycho therapy, shock treatments, ten kicks in the groin, and jail time -- maybe even at the same time.

dpaterso said:

So I hit him and he falls down and dies, now what?

-Derek

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Then you take the consequences and deal with it, and you know what you did was right.

I don't understand this mentality our society has accepted that we don't do the right thing unless we know we're going to get rewarded for it. What happened to people protecting each other simply because it's the right thing to do? So what if someone sues you? Isn't it better to know that you did the right thing and be poor?

Heck yeah I would have run out there after he hit that woman with the monitor. If he was just going nuts by himself, sure, stand back until he winds down. But he was clearly a danger to others.

I don't buy into "You never know what you'd do in these situations" either. Yes, you do. Nobody unplugs your brain.

I was a skinny, weak little kid growing up, and I STILL ran into the middle of fights (there was one boy who used to beat the crap out of this other dude) to protect the dude getting pummeled. If I see someone yelling at someone else in public, I ask the person if they are okay or if they need help. If I see someone crying, I ask if they are okay. To me, that's part of what it is to be human.