Misreading a potential violence situation

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I remember a story from a guy I trained with long ago, from when he was traveling in Thailand. This guy was a no-nonsense, get-straight-to-it kind of guy, and if it looked like violence, he’d be the first to get at it.

He was sitting in this cafe and every time he looked up, this tough-looking ex-pat was staring right at him. He tried to let it go, but after several minutes of this he figured if it was on, he was going to get it done first. So he pushed back from the table and got up to go after the guy–and noticed that there was a TV above his head with the sound off. The guy was just watching TV.

He sat back down and finished his meal in chagrined silence. Ever since that moment he always took the extra second, when given the choice, to be sure the threat was real before hurting people. And he always felt that it cut down dramatically on the number of bad situations he ended up in.

Chris Ranck-Buhr
www.targetfocustraining.com
PPS. I’ve been in restaurants where the seating and lack of decor is such that every time you look up, you’re staring right into the face of another customer. And since repeatedly looking at someone can be construed as aggression, this can lead to situations like this.