So you are a black belt, that must mean you can beat me up right?

[shesulsa]

I get this when my husband points to me and mutters from the side of his mouth, "she's a black belt."

Then I get that question, "oh, so I guess that means you can kick my ***, eh?"

To which I answer, "I dunno, but I get to kick his now for telling you."

 

[cali_tkdbruin]

Well in my opinion no one is invincible whether you are a grandmaster or a street thug. I know I will live longer than someonoe who is boastful of their skills because there is always someone better and more aggressive.

Right on! You nailed it exactly.

 

[swiftpete]

I'm not a black belt yet but I've been training for a few yrs now, along with my friend. Last night in a bar a lad we both know was asking us about the training and if it meant that we were really great fighters now and could handle anyone etc. I prefer to say, I'm ok, there are people out there that are much better and harder of course, but i'm not too bad. As i always say to anyone that asks. My friend is the same grade as me (3rd kyu in bbt if you're interested!) and he was totally different, with his response being along the lines of 'oh yeah, no one should mess with me or I'll mess them up' etc.
It just made me think a bit about how we're the same grade but look at it differently, I personally don't like chest puffing as i think you just look a bit silly, whereas my mate loves it.
But anyway, the thing is, this lad was looking at us with complete awe when we were just describing some of the normal stuff we do in training, it really made me chuckle, as its not that incredible really but he thought we were supermen! I was expecting him to ask for some sort of demo in the bar, but thankfully it didn't come to that.

 

[Kensai]

I've heard that a lot as well.

Being a bouncer, I also get a lot of similar situations. Some people defer to you in, well, I'm loathe to use the word 'fear', but I guess it is. They defer to you for fear of what you might be capable of. Then you get others who want to toe the line to prove to themselves they are just as tough as a bouncer. You have to weigh each situation up individually and determine the best response to their behaviour.

Just tonight I had to give a warning to a guy for some bad behaviour. My sister, who works behind the bar in the same venue, tells me a few minutes later that this guy is boasting about how I was lucky I didn't try to kick him out, because he was going to 'mess me up' (well, he worded it a bit more strongly, but you get the idea). Later that night I did have to kick him out, and I was preparing myself for a forceful ejection. Instead this guy goes all submissive and walks out quiet as a lamb. I guess his beer muscles had deflated a bit when push came to shove.

I developed a bit of a reputation at my last local watering hole as the crazy killer kung fu guy. Where I lived was a very small rural community (a dozen houses, a general store and a pub) and everyone knew I did martial arts because I had the garage set up as a gym, and practiced my patterns on the front lawn. When I got a few drinks in me, people would press me to show them stuff, and I would oblige. It was a bit of a two edged sword. All the regulars and the staff were friends, but occasionally blow-ins would cause trouble, and more than once I had to calm things down. People would expect me to be right in the fray, but instead I'd talk the regulars down.

"Come on, we can take them! You're the kung fu guy!" they'd say.

"Sure, but then what? You want to get charged for assault? And even if we win, whose to say we don't get hurt, or pick up some kind of disease? You feel like getting heptatitis tonight? Trust me, the best fight is the one you aren't in."

Most of the time I think they were relieved they didn't have to fight.

Think that's one of the smartest things I've heard said on any MA forum.