Bigot

[customersruinmylife]

This happened ten minutes ago.

So I go for a "quiet" drink at my pub with a friend. We are joined by a long standing regular old man (ROM).

ROM has been drinking at the pub every night for as long as I've worked there. He's always been friendly and chatty. I do not understand for the life of me why this happened.

My friend decided he was going to head home. My roommate was about to finish work, so I decided to wait.

Friend: See you later guys.
Me/ROM: See you.

Friend pats me on the back and then he packs ROM on the back...

ROM: DON'T YOU EVER FUCKING TOUCH ME!!

We thought he was joking, so we didn't react.

ROM: I MEAN IT! DON'T YOU EVER FUCKING TOUCH ME! YOU FUCKING QUEER CUNT!
Me/Friend:

I should also note that Friend always pats people on the back when he leaves. In fact, I have actually seen him pat ROM on the back before...

ROM: YOU'RE ALL FUCKING PERVERTS! DON'T YOU FUCKING TOUCH ME! FUCKING CUNT!!!

ROM walks away and sits at a table on his own. The pub is left in absolute silence.

Friend: Right, well, I'm going to go now.

Friend left and I was stood at the end of the bar in complete and utter shock. Several customers are laughing as well from the situation. Roommate arrives.

R: Are you OK? What the fuck was that about?
Me: I have no idea. It came out of no where. What's manager going to do?
R: I'll have a word. That was outrageous.

I have five minutes until Roommate finishes, so I stand at the end of the bar. ROM is still sat down, glaring and has an extremely red face.

Roommate finishes.

R: Shall we go?
Me: Yeah. Look, what's M going to do? He surely can't stay here after that!

The manager on duty is known for having no spine at all, and he reacted exactly how I expected: he did nothing.

R: Let's just go. I witnessed it, and I'm in tomorrow. I'll make sure he's-

Before R could finish, ROM appeared. He got within centimetres of my face.

ROM: ARE YOU LAUGHING AT ME???
Me: I'm not laughing at anyone.
ROM: YOU ARE! YOU AND YOUR LITTLE QUEER FRIENDS! YOU MAY LIKE DICK UP YOUR ARSE BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN I DO!!!!!

He was screaming as loud as he could. I was a complete deer in the headlights.

Me: I have not laughed at anyone, and I'm walking away from you.
ROM: YEAH! WALK! FUCKING QUEER!!!!!!
Me: I have no idea what happened there pal, and I'm not going to yell or fight you.
ROM: YEAH! QUEERS LIKE YOU DON'T LIKE TO FIGHT! I DON'T TAKE DICK LIKE YOU!!

Roommate and I left, but on our way home we rang the pub. I told M that he'd better be banned for life, as I was feeling very threatened from the situation.

He's been drinking at the pub for years with no issue. And he has a little gang of cronies who will no doubt stick up for him. I'll give you guys an update in a couple of days

[XCashier]

How much did he have to drink? Maybe you've never seen him truly drunk to asshole levels before.

Though it's entirely possible that he's always been a jerk and it just wasn't so obvious before.

[MoonCat]

If he's an old(er) guy, he may be having medical issues. Some people's personalities go wonky as dementia takes hold. I don't mean to excuse what he said, as it was completely unacceptable. Just wondering if something's off in his brain, since he's never been like this before.

[Monterey Jack]

Wow, that's crazy, especially coming from a regular who has never been any trouble before.

[Mike Taylor]

The one time I ever experienced something like that, I found out a few days later that the person who made the outburst had suffered a series of mini-strokes. This person got treatment and is doing quite well now, but it was a shocking experience at the time.

[customersruinmylife]

Sorry guys but I don't think it was any of the above. I think he was just an arsehole.

Like I said, I will keep you updates, as tonight will be interesting if he dares show his face

[NateTheChops]

Sometimes people are just assholes without a reason. Man... That aching feeling in my knees means a Simpsons reference is on it's way.

[EricKei]

To paraphrase Freud, "Sometimes an asshole is just an asshole."

[PhiSigGirl1988]

Any update, CRML?

[customersruinmylife]

Any update, CRML?

He came in the next morning to apologise. However he tried saying sorry to a bunch of staff who weren't even on duty the night before, so none of them had any idea what he was talking about.

The guy is in often enough to know me by name, so the manager told him that if he came in and apologised to me personally and I accepted it, he would consider not banning him from the pub.

Well he didn't like that! He screeched "But I've just said I'm sorry!"

Manager told him that until he came in and spoke to me, he was banned.

He hasn't been back.

[Pixilated]

Good for management. Sounds to me like he was well aware of what he was doing, which suggests it's not a mental glitch. With any luck he'll never come back.