What did I do wrong?

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Today, I was using a blue mechanical pencil. I was working on something, but this kid (who was in my post about calling me that insult) said, "Why did you take my pencil, man?" It was not his, so I turned and gave a confused face, and he looked really mad. He walked over, grabbed my hand and opened my fingers, saying ,"Give me my pencil before I beat your ass."

I am not afraid, but I did it anyway because I have another pencils that I could use. This is just when the guy behind me laughed and said, "Here is your pencil, man." and gave the pencil that he stole from the assaulter. Then the assaulter said, "Why didn't you protect what was yours?" to me.

Should I have protected what was mine, or just obliged his ignorance-fueled rampage? Did I do anything wrong?

I can't see that you did anything wrong, but maybe if you'd said "it's not your pencil" then it would have been better than just giving a confused look. And sometimes it's useful to ask another person to come and help to resolve a dispute......it can help to keep problems escalating when there's a "referee" watching. But it's hard to think of these things on the spur of the moment.

I'm fairly sure that I would have responded as you have --

The only thing I would think of, but only after this experience, would be to say "Hey, it isn't your pencil, dude" and get on with life. But, if the guy's truly crazy, that would just fuel his insanity -- so maybe what you did was right to begin with!

Weird. I don't think you acted wrongly. The guy was just covering up his mistake by trying to deflect the failure onto you.

You didn't do anything wrong.

Nothing. This kid sounds like a bully. I'm not sure what I'd do. Violence is the only language those kinds of people understand. If I could line each one of them up and smash their heads in with a baseball bat I would. They are pathetic specimens of empty matter that haven't earned the right to exist any more than the turds their mothers flush down the toilet.

Damn...

Should I delete what I said? I guess I can't now since you've quoted me. I know it sounds harsh but I can't help but HATE bullies.

Thanks

That's strange. Seems almost like he was trying to teach you something.

He's right, you really should not give the guy anything he asks for for any reason, or he'll keep doing it. Unless you become buddies or something, and that doesn't sound likely.

You've done nothing wrong, he made an error of judgement.

Vanilla_Slice

No, it's fine. Everyone gets mad. I just hope you never actually do any of that, or linger on such thoughts too long.

I think you behaved well, but the guy who was assaulting you has a different set of values. He obviously believes that might is right and that physical force is an acceptable way of settling disputes. He didn't even stop to ask if the pencil you had was his, or to go through proper channels (ie a teacher) to resolve the issue. Such a small matter shouldn't need a teacher's intervention, but if the parties involved only know how to solve things through violence then that is a better solution than violence.

What I think he should have done is first asked you about the pencil, explaining that he has lost one and it looked rather like that one. You might then have explained that this is one that you brought from home, and then together you two could have looked around for his lost pencil, or he could have continued his search on his own.

Odds are he isn't going to figure that out anytime soon. The pencil is hardly worth fighting over just for the principal of the thing. I think you behaved like a gentleman and he behaved like a neanderthal.

I'm sure he knew it wasn't his pencil. His anger and threatening behavior was fake. Playing games to try and intimidate people is what sociopath bullies do.


That's true. You really do have to stand up to those kinds of people or they don't stop. It's hard though to know whether the situation would escalate, i.e. whether you really have a violent thug on your hands, or whether they'll just back off and find someone else to mess with.

But nobody in civilized society is allowed to threaten to "beat my ass" for no reason. You just can't do that. This kid shouldn't even be in a classroom. He should be hauled off by the police and locked up. That society does nothing is SICK. If someone threatens me and nobody will do anything about it then I don't see what's wrong with using a baseball bat or weapon to defend myself. But that's besides the point. That kind of sh*t just shouldn't be tolerated PERIOD.

Did he actually hurt you?