Dealing with PESTS

[sapientie-et-veritas]

Ive had this mindset for a long time, once you start thinking this way you dont stop. solid info. Thank you

[gatorgrizz27]

Bumping an old discussion. How do you guys handle strangers who trigger your senses and are walking by but not necessarily approaching you? For example a rougher looking guy walking into and across a gas station parking lot from the sidewalk while you're pumping gas.

I've found that watching them with a "death stare" on your face in order to both make sure they aren't approaching you from behind as well as making them look for an easier target often leads to them approaching and asking for spare change/gas/to borrow a cell phone, etc, due to the eye contact. Perhaps this is because they don't have sinister motives and are only annoyances.

Staring down at your car car while pumping gas often avoids these interactions, but can leave you vulnerable if you're not able to see where they are headed in the reflection, etc. I now tend to watch them out of the corner of my eye but look away if they attempt to make eye contact.

[DeltaCadet84]

If they aren't paying attention to me, I won't interact with them. I'll keep my eye on them for sure, but no stare downs unless I'm trying to change a situation. If you're pumping gas and there's a rough homeboy getting cigs in the store, no reason to bump the status quo. He tries to make eye contact more than once? That's a different story.

I don't try to avoid eye contact, people can tell when you do that, but I don't death stare them either. I'm trying to move from place to place in my daily life as fluidly as possible, so as long as he isn't in my way (and not coming after me) I don't care.

[SheepDog68]

I watch, but don't stare as that's a challenge to their manhood and will bring about things that could have been easily avoided!

Once they start their approach I have had good luck with many with a look in their eyes and a slow shake of the head.

I'm not challenging or being rude to them so they mostly have nothing to prove! It works most of the time!

SD

[Johnny C!]

Great discourse.

Thanks WT!

John

[Redbug]

Great discourse.

I just got through page 1!

Thanks WT!

John

I have had it "subscribed" since I came across it, too. It is a good reference thread.

[Warped Mindless]

Bumping so newer members can see this information.

[Warped Mindless]

Bumping again because this stuff is gold.

panhanndlers and beggars are becoming more and more common in my area and I’ve used some of this info more than a couple of times.

[Vlad the Impaler]

Good stuff here. It is also worthwhile to mention that most modern civilian based self defense systems have MASSIVE gaps in training. Take weapon disarms. The starting position is usually "someone has a knife to your throat" or "someone has a gun to your head." Ok. Well that altercation had a beginning and a middle and ended with a knife to your throat or a gun to your head. How did that conflict escalate and why were they allowed to get that close to me? Most "self defense" instructors blank out at that question or peg you as a potential troublemaker. And 90-98% of what is being marketed as "women's self defense" is absolute garbage.


I'd also like to get the tribes thoughts on violence "languages." I've been kicking this idea around in my head for a while. For example, someone who has grown up around organized, retaliatory violence will have a different violence language than a southern redneck with a "protect the wimin folk" attitude. They will be set off by different things. Can you adapt your violence language to different situations? Or is a violence language something that is unique to a person?

[Faramir2]

Thanks for bumping, Warped Mindless. Need to practice this stuff a lot more often. The "pre-fight" stuff re: putting up the fence, changing position, so on, is really helpful. It's one thing to know Diagonal Lines and be able to pump someone full of lead; it's another to be able to see that scenario coming several steps ahead and deal with every aspect of it.