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The Crazy and the Overreaction

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  • The Crazy and the Overreaction

    I guess in this case both the customer and the worker were sucky. In general, it was an odd night out...

    Was at the pub with my other half (OH) a couple of nights ago, and we were playing on the quiz machine. It's quite quiet in there, and all I can hear is a couple of guys having a conversation behind us. Suddenly OH whispers into my ear.

    OH: After this game we're going to go sit at the bar.
    Me: Why?
    OH: Because the guy behind us is crazy.
    Me: What do you mean, which one? They sound pretty normal.

    I look round and what I had assumed to be two men having a conversation is in fact one man, with two completely different voices. He's even turning his head to denote each personality, right side for high voice, left side for deeper and more countrified voice. I agreed that sitting at the bar sounds like a plan.
    Anyway, we pretty much forget about The Crazy; it is a pub in a small village after all, you can't wipe out hundreds of years of inbreeding in a couple of generations. However, after about half an hour The Crazy decides he needs a drink. In fact both his personalities need a drink. High voice wants gin and lemon, low voice wants beer. Fair enough. But while he waits for his drinks he picks up a beer towel and proceeds to blow his nose on it. He is now officially an SC.
    The barman goes apeshit, yelling at the guy that he is disgusting and that he's warned him about treating the pub like it's his own home before. High voice apologises, low voice gets aggressive. (OH and I are backing away, trying not to simultaneously wet ourselves through fear and laughter.) Low voice personality takes over and the large hand gestures start, one of which knocks my drink over. Eventually the barman gets a broom and *sweeps* The Crazy out of the door in a rather aggressive fashion. Thus the barman becomes slighty sucky for being so remarkably insensitive to a customer with obvious mental problems. However, he did give me a replacement drink...
    Saying I'm "turning down a sale" and thinking I give an airborne fornication – GUILTY – Irving Patrick Freleigh

  • #2
    Quoth BookBint View Post
    Thus the barman becomes slighty sucky for being so remarkably insensitive to a customer with obvious mental problems.
    I'm going to vote 'no suck' here. I'm very sorry the man wasn't in his right mind, but when someone is getting aggresive with you, your first priority is to see to your own safety. It is not very reassuring to be told the person who put you in the hospital was mentally ill, so its not his fault. Sucky would have been if the barkeep had punted him from the pub before he had done anything other than making patrons a little uncomfortable.
    The Rich keep getting richer because they keep doing what it was that made them rich. Ditto the Poor.
    "Hy kan tell dey is schmot qvestions, dey is makink my head hurt."
    Hoc spatio locantur.

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    • #3
      I agree with Geek King. I know everyone gets sick of hearing about this guy, but I learned already multiple times from being too sympathetic and nice to my mentally deranged neighbor.....the nicer you are, the more he invades your space, until it gets to the point of stalking and breaking and entering!

      Safety first. Empathy second. Sorry.
      You really need to see a neurologist. - Wagegoth

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      • #4
        Ditto here. I'll feel sorry for someone with mental issues, right up until my safety is threatened. At that point, the empathy switch goes to "off".

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        • #5
          i agree; after four years of dealing with different levels of mental impairment, getting tired of being kind and sensitive to them (within reason) only to get abused over and over to the point of wondering if they'll be waiting for me outside for a 'chat,' the barman has the right idea-make them unwelcome and they generally don't come around so much (or at all, if you're really lucky).
          look! it's ghengis khan!
          Sorry, but while I can do many things, extracting heads from anuses isn't one of them. (so sayeth the irv)

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          • #6
            I also vote no suck on the barman's part. Obviously, the guy had been in there before, caused a problem, been warned, and was right back to it. I think he was nice about it, since he didn't call the cops, and just forced the guy to leave.
            Labor boards have info on local laws for free
            HR believes the first person in the door
            Learn how to go over whackamole bosses' heads safely
            Document everything
            CS proves Dunning-Kruger effect

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            • #7
              I don't know - calling the police could well have gotten the guy the psych eval he clearly needs.
              Seshat's self-help guide:
              1. Would you rather be right, or get the result you want?
              2. If you're consistently getting results you don't want, change what you do.
              3. Deal with the situation you have now, however it occurred.
              4. Accept the consequences of your decisions.

              "All I want is a pretty girl, a decent meal, and the right to shoot lightning at fools." - Anders, Dragon Age.

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              • #8
                Quoth Seshat View Post
                I don't know - calling the police could well have gotten the guy the psych eval he clearly needs.
                Possibly, but unless the guy was dangerous they probably would have just talked to him and sent him home.
                Labor boards have info on local laws for free
                HR believes the first person in the door
                Learn how to go over whackamole bosses' heads safely
                Document everything
                CS proves Dunning-Kruger effect

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                • #9
                  Quoth Seshat View Post
                  I don't know - calling the police could well have gotten the guy the psych eval he clearly needs.
                  Based on what has been said, I very much doubt he would have been detained s.136 Mental Health Act, nor would the crisis team be interested. A voluntary referall would only be possible if the person agreed to it and they supplied their name, DOB and Drs details.

                  All in all I would say there is bugger all chance of that I'm afraid.
                  A PSA, if I may, as well as another.

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                  • #10
                    depends which personality talked to the cops...

                    high voice might have been nice but i suspect low voice might try something...

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                    • #11
                      Quoth Geek King View Post
                      I'm going to vote 'no suck' here. I'm very sorry the man wasn't in his right mind, but when someone is getting aggresive with you, your first priority is to see to your own safety.
                      Is is wrong of me that when I read this bit, I looked up to confirm that the OP said the following:
                      Quoth BookBint View Post
                      He's even turning his head to denote each personality, right side for high voice, left side for deeper and more countrified voice.
                      to make sure that the lower, more aggressive one was not the right side?

                      ^-.-^
                      Faith is about what you do. It's about aspiring to be better and nobler and kinder than you are. It's about making sacrifices for the good of others. - Dresden

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                      • #12
                        did either voice make any mention of "precious" or "birthday gift"?

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                        • #13
                          I gotta go with the 'no suck' on mr barman here.

                          It's HIS bar. this guy is causing a disturbance to him and the other patrons.

                          He has (apparently) been warned of bad behaviour before so.. out he goes.

                          Mental issues aside that doesn't mean he's free to do/act how he wants. They can be a factor in how the guy is behaving but it doesn't give the excuse for it.
                          Common sense... So rare it's a goddamn superpower.

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