What would you do?

[JimHawkins]

As much as you're in a silly mood, Marcus, I believe there is much truth in what you wrote. It DOES matter where you are.

Really my point..

Some of this stuff just doesn't apply here--at least not as it does somewhere else.

There seems to be a sub-location culture about handicapped parking spots.. Busy stores with but a single handicapped spot are summarily ignored. Whereas busy stores with multiple handicapped spots or slower stores with a single are more often honored. All depends on the density of rats per square yard, or behavior to that effect.

[Stryke]

As much as you're in a silly mood, Marcus, I believe there is much truth in what you wrote. It DOES matter where you are.

Just making sure no one got there pantys bunched up . And we got to have fun with this stuff . Forgedaboudit !!!!

I know it matters , having lived in multiple countrys , and citys/rural etc , I`m fairly aware of the different tolerance levels and accpeted cultures of whats going on around me .

Gives you a pretty good handle on reading people , and being able to convey different messages to different folks with body language isnt difficult if you`ve interacted enough and engaged in enough people watching , something to be said about keeping your eyes open and observing , far more to it than just being labelled a paranoid , maybe educated .....

In fact some studys say 65 % of communication is body language, One study at UCLA indicated that up to 93 percent of communication effectiveness is determined by nonverbal cues. Another study indicated that the impact of a performance was determined 7 percent by the words used, 38 percent by voice quality, and 55 percent by the nonverbal communication.


I`m sure regular users of forums understand ......

Of course (body language) what presence you give out helps , a quizzical look can be far more powerfull than a confrontational one , I always beleive giving someone a choice is far more usefull than giving an ultimatum .

In my experience 9 times out of ten with even an aggressive person engaging thought of choice can de-escalate the situation . remove them from the Monkey Dance as Rory would describe it .

[Chris McKaskell]

There's an old joke about Canadians -- told to me by an American friend:

It's a hot day in July -- a perfect day for a swim -- and there are a bunch of Canadians hanging around a nice cool pool swimming and having fun.

How do you get them out of the pool?

[Chris McKaskell]

Walk up to the pool and say, "Excuse me, would you all mind getting out of the pool?"

Yeah, I know it's not really funny, but it is very telling!

[Chris McKaskell]

Oooops, realized last night I didn't give that joke a context in the thread.

I've lived in NYC and totally understand what Jim was saying about a 'look' having no impact there.

And I think Marcus hit the nail on the head (a small cabinetmakers' reference for you , my friend, silly or not ) by suggesting my experience worked out the way it did because it happenned in Canada.

For what it's worth, Jim, I doubt my quizzical look would have had any impact in Toronto either.

Then again, many Canadians don't really see Toronto as being part of Canada anyway

Cheers

[Chris McKaskell]

Here's what happened when a disabled person said something to the j*rks who took her spot.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columb ... acked.html

[Van Canna]

Same old story

The old adage is > Don't start something you can't finish <

And always remember the 'unintended consequences' to you and other people around you.

Most times it is best to just keep your mouth shut and move on.

Like the case I mentioned over and over years back:

Husband and wife coming out of a night club, wife gets insulted by tough punks_ husband initially says something [normal]...

When they get to the parking lot...husband sees punks again _ and again he opens his mouth trying to be a tough guy.

Both he and wife get a good beating...until a security guard responds and tries to break up the pummeling.

He gets hit by two guys in the head...falls...cracks his head open on the asphalt and dies on the scene.

Later wife divorces husband blaming him for the death.

Husband tells me... > I had to...feel like a man...so I did it <

Think of the possible ramifications before you speak.

[Van Canna]

http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=8582874

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - A 72-year-old man came to the aid of a friend and ended up losing his life.

This happened just east of 38th Street and Moller Road just after 11:00 p.m. on Monday in a strip mall parking lot outside a restaurant.

72-year old Mario Gonzalez-Tello ate his last meal at Mr. Gyro's with his good friend Gus Vaslis.

"We sat together at the table back there. He had dinner, I was having dinner. Like good friends, talking and stuff like that," said Vaslis.

But at the end of the night, while the two said goodbye and the employees left, a stranger approached a worker.

Police say the 54-year-old woman was trying to get into her car when a man ran up, showed a gun. That's when Gonzalez-Tello took out his own gun and pointed it at the suspect. But the suspect immediately fired.

"Most often robberies like this, if you give up whatever it is they are trying to get, usually that's the end of it. Just be a good witness and give that information to police," said Sgt. Matt Mount of the Indianapolis Metro Police Department.

Melissa Hoyt had just ate with Gonzalez-Tello last week. She says he always ate late at night to keep an eye on the employees.

"He was protecting her, know that she had the cash, her purse just to protect her. It's really awful that it had to happen that way," said Hoyt.

Police said Gonzalez-Tello's actions are admirable, but he should have reached for a phone to call 911 instead of reaching for a gun.

The suspect still got away with the woman's purse.

He is described as a young black male, skinny, around 5'3", wearing a gray t-shirt, black shorts and black cap. The suspect is considered very dangerous.

If you have any information on this case, please call Crime Stoppers at 262-TIPS.

Report by Jennifer McGilvray, WISH. Edited by Hyacinth Williams

~~

A tough call...no matter what. The woman could also have been killed to eliminate witnesses.

[Van Canna]

if you pull a gun on a perp, that has a gun, at least for civilians, you best shoot. The old guys reflexes might have been slow, but most likely he thought the perp would drop his weapon.

Would you really be able to do it and suffer the consequences of it?

[Van Canna]

The sight of a good guy with a gun does not scare most perps these days.

Ever think of that?

[Van Canna]

Gonzalez-Tello died defending a woman. The blood of Spain and it's code still existed in this Gentleman. His error was to treat a POS as human. Don't carry, don't draw unless you intend to kill. Your street thug intends just that. Think not, read your newspaper more closely, how many robberies according to your local police "have gone bad" and the victim is killed.

[Van Canna]

Since the woman was involved in a bit of a grapple with the scum-sucking dirtbag, I wonder if Mr. Gonzalez-Tello couldn't get a clear shot, and thus held fire. The news story didn't seem to indicate the distances involved.

[Van Canna]

But in the interest of learning I will pose this hypothetical. Suppose that he did hold fire because aggressor and victim were in a close struggle. Should the answer not be to close in and direct whatever weapon is available (knife, gun, impact weapon) to the side of the head, where the chance of injuring a bystander would be minimized and the chances of stopping the attack immediately be maximized?

You wouldn't get shot that way?

[Van Canna]

I pray for an opportunity to die in battle. I hope though that it will take more than one to do me down. No matter, this man is a hero and was welcomed with open arms by my Jesus. RIP.

Isn't this really the best way to die? Or would you rather go like that poor Ted Kennedy is going?

[Bill Glasheen]

I don't buy that all good guys can't be scary, and all bad guys are the criminal from hell.

In my lifetime, I have seen the gamut. I've seen good people get the ^%$$^% beat of them because they wrote verbal checks they couldn't cash. And then you get a Rory - a born sheepdog - whose brain kicks into another character when a predator is in the house. Suddenly the predator becomes the prey.

I've had 3 karate instructors (Hiroshi Hamada, Rad Smith, and Steven King) who could drop someone in a second given the right conditions. In the case of Dr. King, he has stories... That's what a life in special forces gives you, if you survive it. And those who qualify for that lifestyle are a very unusual breed.

What is it that I see that matters?

First... you need to fine-tune your emotional intelligence. You need to be able to read people. With time, your instincts will tell you the difference between the common punk and the really scary sociopath.

But you really don't want to be pinging every Tom, Dick, and Harry to learn those lessons. Sometimes it's best to keep the mouth shut.

Second... I think we all can learn to pull the trigger and do the deed. But the difference between a Rory and a Bill Glasheen is that I would hate myself for letting the beast loose. "He" is in me, but I am not comfortable with him. I would much rather not go there if I have any choice in the matter.

Unfortunately for me, "he" comes out when I see social injustice or the weak being victimized. I wish I knew where that comes from. I don't know... Maybe the stereotype of the Irish cop has roots in some very real genetic tendencies.

Any halfway normal person with half a brain should feel the same way I do about letting the beast loose. But sometimes peoples' balls are bigger than their brains and/or their hearts.

- Bill