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DoctorWho
Senior MemberPosts: 9,496 Senior Member
Anatomy of a personal defense situation or how they sometimes occur.

I have been thinking on how many situations occur / unfold, and how things can quickly escalate and get out of hand, and when you add drugs and alcohol even mental illness psychotic behavior into the equation, people with little to no judgement will not act in a manner consistent with normal human or civilized behavior.
I try to stay away from areas and places where trouble can occur, and I don't poke My nose where it does not belong.
Last night it seemed trouble came calling, I end up working late every night, I have to manually shift lots of stuff & large tools and other items that gets put outside the garage bays during the day and returned at night after closing time.
I also have to park the customer cars inside the service station area, tally up the days receipts, so it gets late quickly, as I am moving the roll back truck into its slot, I see a small Honda pull off sharply to the curb outside the service station and two guys get out and open the hood.
I finish parking the tow truck and am going back to the office to start the paperwork and days receipts etc... when the guys push the car rapidly onto the property and under the awning over the fuel pumps, I thought one of the guys looked familiar, but then I realized I did not know either guy.
It was around 10 pm and I approach carefully and wait a bit for some sort of greeting etc, they ignore Me and talk for a while, two guys in their early 20s, it was raining and I was prepared to be civil, so I ask them hows things, what is up etc, they look in My direction and ignore Me.
They did not ask for permission to enter or anything, as if they were the new property owners.
So I inform them that the service station is now closed, and no one is permitted to do any work near the gas pumps due to safety regulations, could they please move the car,
The white guy looks at Me and makes a pfffft sound and keeps on talking to his partner.
So I inform them again the service station is closed, they are on private property and trespassing and they now have 30 seconds to leave, the same guy looks at Me and responds "or else what ?
I had not given them an ultimatum or "an or ELSE" or anything.
They should have been able to see I had reason to be there, worked there, gas station uniform & a ball cap with the word Security on it.
So I go to the office and call 911 and tell the dispatcher I have two trespassers at the gas station which is now closed and they refuse to leave, three marked patrol cars show up within minutes and the Officers get out and question the guys who are now choir boys and look all innocent and wide eyed, they produce IDs for the Officers etc. check for warrants, 0 warrants etc.... they sounded like little lost children wailing some song about burning wires etc..
The Officers tell them to leave and they start up their crumbly Honda and blatt loudly out of there, I was chatting with a female Officer that seemed to want to know what had happened, I explained and added, had they been civil, they could have remained there a while, She said, "Oh, so they were jerks about it huh ?" yes, they were, and it seemed they were a bit menacing when I told them to leave, it is late, I am here alone, I still have loads of work to finish, and I am not going to be nice to jerks, I have too much to do.
I thanked the Officers for their quick response time and told them how much I appreciated them being there and they seemed to genuinely appreciate the acknowledgement.
Folks today are not civil and do not act many times in a normal manner, it seems folks want to do anything they feel is right, not ask permission etc, things like this may not happen often, however it is a good idea to be mentally prepared in case it does, and not escalate a situation into a physical confrontation if at all possible.
I try to stay away from areas and places where trouble can occur, and I don't poke My nose where it does not belong.
Last night it seemed trouble came calling, I end up working late every night, I have to manually shift lots of stuff & large tools and other items that gets put outside the garage bays during the day and returned at night after closing time.
I also have to park the customer cars inside the service station area, tally up the days receipts, so it gets late quickly, as I am moving the roll back truck into its slot, I see a small Honda pull off sharply to the curb outside the service station and two guys get out and open the hood.
I finish parking the tow truck and am going back to the office to start the paperwork and days receipts etc... when the guys push the car rapidly onto the property and under the awning over the fuel pumps, I thought one of the guys looked familiar, but then I realized I did not know either guy.
It was around 10 pm and I approach carefully and wait a bit for some sort of greeting etc, they ignore Me and talk for a while, two guys in their early 20s, it was raining and I was prepared to be civil, so I ask them hows things, what is up etc, they look in My direction and ignore Me.
They did not ask for permission to enter or anything, as if they were the new property owners.
So I inform them that the service station is now closed, and no one is permitted to do any work near the gas pumps due to safety regulations, could they please move the car,
The white guy looks at Me and makes a pfffft sound and keeps on talking to his partner.
So I inform them again the service station is closed, they are on private property and trespassing and they now have 30 seconds to leave, the same guy looks at Me and responds "or else what ?
I had not given them an ultimatum or "an or ELSE" or anything.
They should have been able to see I had reason to be there, worked there, gas station uniform & a ball cap with the word Security on it.
So I go to the office and call 911 and tell the dispatcher I have two trespassers at the gas station which is now closed and they refuse to leave, three marked patrol cars show up within minutes and the Officers get out and question the guys who are now choir boys and look all innocent and wide eyed, they produce IDs for the Officers etc. check for warrants, 0 warrants etc.... they sounded like little lost children wailing some song about burning wires etc..
The Officers tell them to leave and they start up their crumbly Honda and blatt loudly out of there, I was chatting with a female Officer that seemed to want to know what had happened, I explained and added, had they been civil, they could have remained there a while, She said, "Oh, so they were jerks about it huh ?" yes, they were, and it seemed they were a bit menacing when I told them to leave, it is late, I am here alone, I still have loads of work to finish, and I am not going to be nice to jerks, I have too much to do.
I thanked the Officers for their quick response time and told them how much I appreciated them being there and they seemed to genuinely appreciate the acknowledgement.
Folks today are not civil and do not act many times in a normal manner, it seems folks want to do anything they feel is right, not ask permission etc, things like this may not happen often, however it is a good idea to be mentally prepared in case it does, and not escalate a situation into a physical confrontation if at all possible.
"There is some evil in all of us, Doctor, even you, the Valeyard is an amalgamation of the darker sides of your nature, somewhere between your twelfth and final incarnation, and I may say, you do not improve with age. Founding member of the G&A forum since 1996
Replies
After dealing with the public for over 30 years, I have a pretty good idea by now of what people are capable of.
Al
Fair to say that you kindly prevented them from blowing themselves up. With the way they responded, I would have ended up calling the cops too.
The look on his face when he saw his car was priceless.
Luis
There is that moment when you realize it is not yet crunch time in any way, and the CCW stays in it's place and you call 911, because you realize that escalating things will help no one.