How would you handle it off duty?

[omgwtfbbq]

You made the right choice. Hopefully if this ever happens to me, I can bring myself to do the same.

[CBR_rider]

You did the right thing. Animals will act like animals; no sense in sinking down to their level no matter how good it would (temporarily) feel. Complaints to the BBB, the company they work for, and whoever they are doing the project for might be in order...

[Patrick Aherne]

You need to control your wife. And your mouth. I am the most whooped man on the planet, but when I tell my wife we need to leave, she needs to go, etc. There is NO argument. I will explain later, after we are out of the situation, and apologize profusely. I would not have told the idiot he was not worth my time. I might have smiled at him with a cheshire cat grin and apologized. I want every witness to see and hear me de-escalating, in case anything happens.

It just isn't worth it. I don't have anything to prove to anyone about my manhood, fighting ability, etc.

[Ritchie8719]

You always have a choice
Escalate or De-escalate a situation.

Well said.

When you have time figure out why two guys, on the job, got pissed at you. It might just be kismet, or something you can't help, or they were just wackos. I am not saying back down, but do try to figure it out.

Complaints to the BBB

A complaint to the Girl Scouts would do more.

[CBR_rider]

A complaint to the Girl Scouts would do more.

That's what some of the last morons I dealt with off-duty thought... then they lost their jobs.

[Samuelx]

You need to control your wife. And your mouth. I am the most whooped man on the planet, but when I tell my wife we need to leave, she needs to go, etc. There is NO argument. I will explain later, after we are out of the situation, and apologize profusely. I would not have told the idiot he was not worth my time. I might have smiled at him with a cheshire cat grin and apologized. I want every witness to see and hear me de-escalating, in case anything happens.

It just isn't worth it. I don't have anything to prove to anyone about my manhood, fighting ability, etc.

+1 Here.

[wazafuzz]

Eggzactly Samuelx! Pride, Ego and anger get us in more trouble than anything. I speak from personal experience. One of the nice things about getting older is I am slower to react to provocations.
My wife has been thoroughly briefed on what to do while we are out in public. I am in charge! (don't tell her I said that please).

[Hot Holster]

So why do these punks get what they want as far as intimidating people? I'm on the opposite side of walking away.

If it had been me and my wife, I would have popped the tin on them and said that I am expecting a nice quiet lunch and if you choose to have it any other way, I'm dropping a dime to 911 and we'll continue this chat when my friends show up.

[Patrick Aherne]

So why do these punks get what they want as far as intimidating people? I'm on the opposite side of walking away.

If it had been me and my wife, I would have popped the tin on them and said that I am expecting a nice quiet lunch and if you choose to have it any other way, I'm dropping a dime to 911 and we'll continue this chat when my friends show up.

I nearly wound up shooting another parent at my kid's little league game a few months ago. It would have been even more distressing because he was harassing my son, who was at bat. Long story short, I only identified myself when the suspect said something about going back to his car and getting something for us. Oh, he also called me a homophobic slur, challenged me to fight and had been ejected by the umpires and coaches, after challenging them to fight. I did nothing and said nothing to him until I ID'd myself, except call 911 and report the incident to the local PD. The 3 minutes it took for them to respond, while I was trying to determine if he had something in his waistband, checking my backstop at the park in case I had to smoke him, etc. was something I did not want to happen, nor did I want any of those kids to see.

So, after all was said and done, I had to call the watch commander, get an incident number, make a verbal report, request the responding agency's report about the incident and then go deal with my son. All over 10 year olds playing baseball. I would have much rather preferred my son struck out and the game ended than have to deal with a coked-up jerk.

I only acted when I had to, and my ego had no place in that decision.

I get paid to deal with jerks on-duty, not on my time.

[Che762x39]

Discretion is the better part of valor.

Lot of places in CA I would not take my wife or family.

[Hot Holster]

Discretion is the better part of valor.

Lot of places in CA I would not take my wife or family.

I have walked away from many situations rather than force an issue, but I am not going to allow two low life wanna be thugs prevent me from doing something I had planned to do. Where I come from, those two could have been charged with disorderly conduct and spent the night in jail, released the next day on bond if they could come up with the money.

If you allow a thug the leeway to do his thing, what's to stop them from stepping it up a notch each time they want to bully someone?

[Eric B]

You did it right.

[TrailerparkTrash]

If it had been me and my wife, I would have popped the tin on them and...

"Popped Tin?" That's the last thing I would have done. Usually when you "pop tin," it only escalates situations when at the current moment, they didn't need to be escalated. Simply swallowing your pride and walking away with your mouth shut would have ended it. Had the guy come after the off duty OP, then that would have shown him as a "true victim" who retreated first, yet was attacked and did what was necessary to stop the aggressor. It's sad it has to be that way nowa days, but that's the way it is.

I know one cop that "popped tin" and the bad guy went around the corner, called 911 and said he just got 245'd by a "bad guy " with a gun! The Calvary rolled and did their thing. It was the cops word against the real bad guy. The off duty cop went through embarrassment, hell and an IA with his dept.

Many people use the off duty badge-flash against cops. Hell, standing in full uniform with a Sam brown on nowa days doesn't even intimidate bad guys, let alone flashing a badge with your wife there, all the while you're wearing flip-flops and a tank top.

I'd only pull that badge out after I was forced to defend myself and shoot someone (God forbid), as the police drove up. In California, one isn't required to flash the badge anyway. Merely stating you're a police officer is sufficient in the eyes of the court.

Under the given circumstances presented by the OP, flashing the badge off duty like that Isn't a smart move if you ask me. Then what do you do when the two bad guys feel even more brave, laugh at you and take it to the next level? Again, walking away like the OP did, solved the problem. Mouthing off is what I or anyone else would LOVE to do too, but it's not a good idea in today's litigious anti-cop society.

[Che762x39]

I have walked away from many situations rather than force an issue, but I am not going to allow two low life wanna be thugs prevent me from doing something I had planned to do. Where I come from, those two could have been charged with disorderly conduct and spent the night in jail, released the next day on bond if they could come up with the money.

If you allow a thug the leeway to do his thing, what's to stop them from stepping it up a notch each time they want to bully someone?

What if the suspect turns out to be a third striker? How about a motorcycle gang 'pledge' who wants to earn the next rocker? Or a wannabe who wants to earn 'props'?

[Che762x39]

"Popped Tin?" That's the last thing I would have done. Usually when you "pop tin," it only escalates situations when at the current moment, they didn't need to be escalated. Simply swallowing your pride and walking away with your mouth shut would have ended it. Had the guy come after the off duty OP, then that would have shown him as a "true victim" who retreated first, yet was attacked and did what was necessary to stop the aggressor. It's sad it has to be that way nowa days, but that's the way it is.

I know one cop that "popped tin" and the bad guy went around the corner, called 911 and said he just got 245'd by a "bad guy " with a gun! The Calvary rolled and did their thing. It was the cops word against the real bad guy. The off duty cop went through embarrassment, hell and an IA with his dept.

Many people use the off duty badge-flash against cops. Hell, standing in full uniform with a Sam brown on nowa days doesn't even intimidate bad guys, let alone flashing a badge with your wife there, all the while you're wearing flip-flops and a tank top.

I'd only pull that badge out after I was forced to defend myself and shoot someone (God forbid), as the police drove up. In California, one isn't required to flash the badge anyway. Merely stating you're a police officer is sufficient in the eyes of the court.

Under the given circumstances presented by the OP, flashing the badge off duty like that Isn't a smart move if you ask me. Then what do you do when the two bad guys feel even more brave, laugh at you and take it to the next level? Again, walking away like the OP did, solved the problem. Mouthing off is what I or anyone else would LOVE to do too, but it's not a good idea in today's litigious anti-cop society.

+1K .. Spot on!