Self Defense in a McDonald's in Arkansas

[jks9199]

Couple things...

First, and most important... Congratulations on your daughter's wedding. But why was some smugly proud guy walking her down the aisle?

As to drive-thrus... When I'm driving a long distance, I don't like drive-thrus as a rule. I like the opportunity to get out of the car, walk around, take a leak... just not be behind the wheel for a few minutes. Also... I think drive-thrus generally waste gas. I'm running my engine, to go nowhere...

Carrying, and weapons in self defense... As soon as a weapon is openly in play, whether someone fires it or not, the level of the game has gone up. Brandishing is often an offense, and you would have to justify why you displayed the weapon. And this isn't limited to guns... Display a knife or a baseball bat, and you may well escalate things fast... How'd you like to find out that they've got a shotgun or machete down a pants leg? (Yeah, by the way, I've seen it... and some don't telegraph unless you really look hard...)

Leaving? Option, certainly. At the same time... do you want to surrender space to the thugs? Recognize the threat, prepare a plan of action... but that doesn't necessarily mean you turn around. Hell, you might trigger something else by doing so. I counted two threats: the guy at the door who didn't do anything... and the group at the drink machine. Bill got pulled into their dynamic through no fault of his own. Had the guy not spilled something, nothing likely would have happened. So... I don't fault Bill at all. He handled everything pretty well. And the use of the car alarm was pretty creative.

 

[JR 137]

I originally did not intend to eat in my car, therefore I did not go through the drive thru. When I recognized the issue, I was out of my car and at the door. It would have been wiser for me to have gotten back in my car and driven away. That was an error on my part.

General you: If you leave every time someone looks at you the wrong way, you’ll never leave the house. I’m sure there’s been plenty of times where you’ve gotten the same look and it didn’t go any further than that. I know I’ve gotten it a few times.

Bill you: You didn’t do anything wrong by going in IMO. Not that I think you truly think you did something wrong.

 

[JR 137]

Couple things...

First, and most important... Congratulations on your daughter's wedding. But why was some smugly proud guy walking her down the aisle?

As to drive-thrus... When I'm driving a long distance, I don't like drive-thrus as a rule. I like the opportunity to get out of the car, walk around, take a leak... just not be behind the wheel for a few minutes. Also... I think drive-thrus generally waste gas. I'm running my engine, to go nowhere...

Carrying, and weapons in self defense... As soon as a weapon is openly in play, whether someone fires it or not, the level of the game has gone up. Brandishing is often an offense, and you would have to justify why you displayed the weapon. And this isn't limited to guns... Display a knife or a baseball bat, and you may well escalate things fast... How'd you like to find out that they've got a shotgun or machete down a pants leg? (Yeah, by the way, I've seen it... and some don't telegraph unless you really look hard...)

Leaving? Option, certainly. At the same time... do you want to surrender space to the thugs? Recognize the threat, prepare a plan of action... but that doesn't necessarily mean you turn around. Hell, you might trigger something else by doing so. I counted two threats: the guy at the door who didn't do anything... and the group at the drink machine. Bill got pulled into their dynamic through no fault of his own. Had the guy not spilled something, nothing likely would have happened. So... I don't fault Bill at all. He handled everything pretty well. And the use of the car alarm was pretty creative.

Forget about surrendering space to thugs. People give others the wrong look sometimes. If a look is going to stop you from going somewhere, you’ll never go anywhere.

Of course there’s levels of looks and body language. Just stay alert and keep watching the scene instead of ignoring it.

 

[ShortBridge]

Well done, Bill. Handled masterfully, in fact. You definitely weren't worth their trouble, which is the work of a self-defense master.

It would have been easy to botch any one aspect of that event and have it go differently. My guess is that someone else did with those guys that night or that week.

Congrats on your daughter's wedding.

 

[Steve]

While the 75% chance seems good on paper and is worth laying down your money on things like sports and horse racing, the 75% odds that it’ll end well here aren’t exactly the same thing, are they? 25% chance of losing some money is good odds. 25% chance of having to pull the trigger and/or answer why you pulled the gun in the first place and deal with the aftermath with any scenario isn’t very good odds at all.

There’s a time to draw a weapon and a time to keep it holstered. Don’t draw it unless you’re 100% sure you need to is the moral of my story. 75% chance it’ll end well sounds fine and good on paper. 25% chance of someone getting killed doesn’t.

25% is 1 in 4. That’s a lot of gunfire.

And the whole “don’t go in” thinking is BS. He was hungry and stopped to eat. Simple as that. Drive thru? He could’ve been carjacked.

Just saying.

I think he handled the situation just fine. Sounds like it turned out to be no big deal, which is a great thing. But I’m not sure how often folks are carjacked by teenagers because they’re embarrassed by poopy looking shake stains on their Nike sweat pants. Does that happen often in your neighborhood?

 

[Steve]

Couple things...

First, and most important... Congratulations on your daughter's wedding. But why was some smugly proud guy walking her down the aisle?

As to drive-thrus... When I'm driving a long distance, I don't like drive-thrus as a rule. I like the opportunity to get out of the car, walk around, take a leak... just not be behind the wheel for a few minutes. Also... I think drive-thrus generally waste gas. I'm running my engine, to go nowhere...

getting out takes a lot more time than you think. Stretch your legs at the gas station where you have to stop, and you’ll have a good 20 or 30 minutes extra in the road. That’s like 40 miles or more depending on when and where you’re driving. Stop a couple times, and you’re adding a full hour on to the end of the day. If I’m driving through the night, I might stop, but if my day is shorter than 12 hours, I’ll do the drive thru at an off time to get back on the road.

 

[JR 137]

25% is 1 in 4. That’s a lot of gunfire.
I think he handled the situation just fine. Sounds like it turned out to be no big deal, which is a great thing. But I’m not sure how often folks are carjacked by teenagers because they’re embarrassed by poopy looking shake stains on their Nike sweat pants. Does that happen often in your neighborhood?

Are you quoting me because the other thread? Quite comical if you are.

25% chance of gunfire is quite a bit of gunfire. Thanks for reinforcing my point.

I agree he handled it appropriately, too. Thanks for reinforcing my point.

As for the snide carjacking comment about how it goes in my neighborhood, nice try. I was simply saying trouble happens everywhere. People said he should’ve went through the drive thru instead.

You’re better than that.

 

[Steve]

Are you quoting me because the other thread? Quite comical if you are.

25% chance of gunfire is quite a bit of gunfire. Thanks for reinforcing my point.

I agree he handled it appropriately, too. Thanks for reinforcing my point.

As for the snide carjacking comment about how it goes in my neighborhood, nice try. I was simply saying trouble happens everywhere. People said he should’ve went through the drive thru instead.

You’re better than that.

It seems a little like you’re projecting. I was agreeing with you, but you’re making it very weird.

I quoted you because you made what I took as a joke about carjacking in a drive thru after I posted a comment about a drive thru. That’s kind of how this thing works. Right? My response to your comment was a joke. Sorry if you didn’t find it funny. I’ll try harder next time.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

I got home Sunday night. Safe and sound. No cops, no judges. No doctors and no hospitals. No lawyers.

Monday morning, I got up, had coffee and breakfast, and then did kata. Sanchin, Seisan, Seiunchin, Naihanchi, Wansu, Chinto, Sunsu.

I have not always avoided trouble. Sometimes I have let it come to me, sometimes I've gone looking for it. Found it many times. Did my share of fighting, santioned and otherwise. Somehow, somehow, somehow, I have survived, more or less unscathed. I have a knack for using my words like a scalpel, mostly to hurt others, sometimes to hurt myself. I'm not proud of that, but I acknowledge it.

I know what I am capable of - and what I am not capable of. I do not think myself an alpha male or a superior fighter. I'm not going to dominate any free-for-all or donnybrook these days, and never was that capable to begin with. I suspect I could handle a single untrained ruffian, but more than that, probably not. And maybe not even one. Who knows.

Sanchin, Seisan, Seiunchin, Naihanchi, Wansu, Chinto, Sunsu.

The hand strike with the tip of the bo in Urashi no Kun, same in Seiunchin with the uraken or knuckle strike.

The stances. The breathing. The settling motions. The evaluation, the empty mind, mushin.

I'm no master. I found a path through a potential issue and it worked. Other ways might have worked just as well or better. My choices might have failed - I can see the current, but I can't control the river. I used my voice and my words to avoid trouble rather than to provoke it. Much harder, by the way. Tone, attitude, posture, eye contact, it's a balance.

I'm just glad I got home safely. And I even got to eat my dinner, alone and unbothered in an empty parking lot at the Arkansas/Missouri state line on I-55 North.

Need more training.

 

[JR 137]

It seems a little like you’re projecting. I was agreeing with you, but you’re making it very weird.

I quoted you because you made what I took as a joke about carjacking in a drive thru after I posted a comment about a drive thru. That’s kind of how this thing works. Right? My response to your comment was a joke. Sorry if you didn’t find it funny. I’ll try harder next time.

Re-reading it after this post, I see we’re y were going with it. My bad.

 

[drop bear]

I bounced a McDonalds for about 5 years. Place had some issues.

 

[oftheherd1]

Good response.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[_Simon_]

Yep, well done Bill, great awareness and way of handling it, and also educational for all on here too.

But... it was my understanding that situational awareness will get you beaten or killed in self defense.... ?? :s this is awkward...

 

[JR 137]

I bounced a McDonalds for about 5 years. Place had some issues.

I was in Nassau, Bahamas with a Div 1 basketball team. Once you leave the tourist areas, just, wow. Poverty and just not a place anyone from anywhere else wants to be, especially at night. We were on a small party bus kinda thing going to the gym we were playing at. Several guys on the team are from NYC, one from Chicago, Detroit, and Compton. Picture a bus full of 6’5 and over black guys from some pretty bad areas, and they’re like “this is ghetto!” And the university we were from was in a rough neighborhood in the Bronx (ever see A Bronx Tale? The school is literally in the same neighborhood).

We stopped at a Wendy’s late at night in a non-tourist area on the way back from a game. Security at the door and inside. We were all like “they really need security at Wendy’s?” Yup. And 3 security guys was barely enough. It was an interesting night, to say the least. No one bothered us, but it was only because there were about 25 of us and it was obvious we were all together.

 

[Gweilo]

The stances. The breathing. The settling motions. The evaluation, the empty mind,

So so important, it's a shame some of the younger generations seem to think that having instinct, or controlling your own imotions can help control situations, as jedi mind tricks,

 

[Steve]

I bounced a McDonalds for about 5 years. Place had some issues.

When I was in high school, my first job was in a McDonald’s. The first one I worked at was on 45th and university ave. It’s no longer there, but at the time had a lot of homeless kids, drug use, and other issues. I was sent out all the time to kick dudes out, stop fights, and crap like that.

The second one was down below Greek hill, so lots of drunk college students. Same deal. Idea of a McDonald’s bouncer doesn’t seem so strange to me.

 

[drop bear]

When I was in high school, my first job was in a McDonald’s. The first one I worked at was on 45th and university ave. It’s no longer there, but at the time had a lot of homeless kids, drug use, and other issues. I was sent out all the time to kick dudes out, stop fights, and crap like that.

The second one was down below Greek hill, so lots of drunk college students. Same deal. Idea of a McDonald’s bouncer doesn’t seem so strange to me.

Ours was 24 hours. So basically everyone who wasn't suitable to be in the clubs basically wound up there.

 

[Dirty Dog]

Ours was 24 hours. So basically everyone who wasn't suitable to be in the clubs basically wound up there.

I have to say it's hard to imagine a McDonald's with a bouncer. We've got several 24 hours ones around here, but no bouncers.
Now I'm hungry for an egg McMuffin....

 

[ShortBridge]

I have to say it's hard to imagine a McDonald's with a bouncer. We've got several 24 hours ones around here, but no bouncers.
Now I'm hungry for an egg McMuffin....

See, now I know that you're a LARPer. Sausage Biscuit is the expert choice.

 

[JR 137]

I have to say it's hard to imagine a McDonald's with a bouncer. We've got several 24 hours ones around here, but no bouncers.
Now I'm hungry for an egg McMuffin....

Picture the crowd you get on a Saturday night in the ER. Now picture them at Mickey D’s instead of the ER