Well, how do you deal with people?

Say some person comes out of nowhere and starts talking crap to you. How do you deal with it? What is your reaction?

True stories are not only welcomed but encouraged.

Aggressive people? I tend to smile politely and ask them to take a deep breath and start over minus the attitude.

If that doesn't work, I stand up.

It usually works.

I don't deal well with people, which is strange as in my job as a salesman I have to deal with people all day.

Generally I fidget look at my watch and then run away. Honestly.

I had a few problems a couple of years back which I am just starting to get over so I don't like being uncomfortable around strangers.

humor.

then I kill them

I'm bad with confrontation. I hate it, and tend to avoid it at all costs. I'm good at socializing, so thankfully I never have to deal with it often, but I hate confrontation with a passion, as I tend to freeze up, and not know what to do.

My barbed tongue came from years of taking peoples crap. I was the poor kid in the private school. Not only that, but I was the fat poor kid in the private school.

The first time I really used my tongue to lash out was in 7th grade on a mandatory school fieldtrip to camp. We stayed there for a weekend.

This jock-kid from class (built like a damn linebacker) came up to me and started talking crap. As usual I took it and waited for his tirade to end, but this time he wanted more.

"Let's fight, Poop," he said to me.

"I don't want to fight you, Mike." I said.

"C'mon Poop, I'm gonna kick your ass. Now let's fight."

You know how an animal that gets cornered freaks out and attacks? Well I was the animal in the corner in that moment and I launched a verbal assault. I remember thinking; well, he's gonna fight me anyway before opening my mouth.

"Sure," I said. "Let's fight. I'm sure everyone else will be impressed with you and your ability to kick the fat-kid-who-doesn't-bother-anybody's ass. You'll be a fucking legend."

Silence in the room. Mike stared at me for a bit as he rethought everything. I think my big words confused him, or maybe it was the f-word. Who knows, my point might have even gotten through to him. Whatever the case may be, Mike walked away without throwing a swing that day.

Since then I've managed to talk my way into and out of a lot of trouble.

Confrontation is fine, as an ex-doorman I handle outright confrontation very well. It's social stuff that gets me. Confrontate me and I'll make you lie down in a way that hurts but leaves no marks. Try to be nice and friendly with me and thats when I have the problems.

One come back I use sometimes when someone calls me a name... "a*****e" as an example is to say:

Why yes, I am an a*****e, my father was an a*****e, my father's father was an a*****e as was his father before him. I come from a long line of a*****es.
(sometimes this might get expanded upon)

This usually causes enough irritation and amusements amongst the others around that they just sulk off.

I was a camp counselor back in the day. By the time this story came around, I was Head Counselor, so I had several years under my belt.

End of the camp week comes, and the parents are picking up their kids. I was busy taking care of a camper who had fallen ill and who had to spend his time in the infirmary. I had a billion things on my mind. A mother comes up to me. She's red in the face. She starts yelling at me and telling me her boy didn't get his "cabin picture" and he was crying about it. (Each cabin of kids gets a photo taken and at the end of the week they get a copy). She starts insinuating that our camp is run by incompetents. I calmly tell her that it's easily fixed and that several other campers had the same problem. I told her not to worry. She yells at me more (mind you this is in front of 20-30 parents and campers). I interupt her to say that I would take care of the problem and walk away before she could say anything.

I still see her from time to time. I smile and say "Hello, Mrs. M!"

She always looks away. I wonder why?

I am a master at communication, confrontation and conflict resolution. Whatcha wanna know?

I also hold a black belt in Sar-Quan-do.

i usually laugh or wave at them uncontrollably.

I usually try and give the person a big hug. and while in the grip of my hug, i steal their wallet. run up their credit cards, give out their home address to terrible people and door to door salesmen.
actually, I usually just walk away. I spent the majority of my Navy life trying to get into fights. or never backing down from them. many blackeyes, broken fingers, and a few missing teeth later, I realize its not worth it in most cases. Now I think I'll drop gloves only for family and friends. Oh and for hockey.
(yes i got my teeth fixed!) but I did look badass with them missing and a blackeye.

Give them enough rope to hang themselves and then pull the knot tight.

When I was in High School I got teased a lot. I didn't fit in the cool circle, I was barely on the the fringe of the stoner circle, and while I was tight with some of the brainiacs I was a bit too outspoken (I know, me, outspoken, do wonders never cease?) for them (they liked to keep low profiles to avoid the jock/kick-yer-ass crowd). I was also good at sports but not into practice and not lesbian so not really in that crowd either.

Now mostly I got teased by the guys, the immature ones that didn't know how to say "I like you, would you go out with me" and instead tried to find a way to make me feel uncomfortable. One of them was Eddie, a linebacker on the football team. Eddie was cute, but not the brightest guy. He liked me and I knew that but he couldn't quite bring himself to ask me out and I was getting very tired of his "insults as flirting" routine. One day in Biology class he walks in, looks me up and down and in front of the whole class says "don't you ever shave your legs?" (snickers are heard throughout the class, I stand there staring at him). He goes on "Damn your legs are so hairy I can see the hair through your stockings" he says, pointing. I stand there, saying nothing. The snickers turn to chuckles and even the instructor turns to watch this. Eddie cannot stop himself "My legs are less hairy than yours!" he finally exclaims.

"That's because you shave yours" I say softly and sit down.

The teacher fell on the floor. Eddie left the room and the class erupted in laughter. (Yes, I smirked).

He did ask me out after that but, you know, the magic was gone.

I was teased my whole life for being a chubby kid, a tomboy, and for not knowing spanish (in nicaragua.) Thanks to Catwoman & wolverine I learned the high value of having claws... so I let my nails grow and when I got picked on, I scratched hard.I also learned to throw some mean punches.

People tend not to mess with me anymore, last time they did that was in high school which is where I learned how awesome it is to be a wise ass.

If some one gives me crap, I b***h slap them. Thats the honest truth. I've only had one person decide they wanted to continue after I slapped them. He had to go to the ER to have his head x-rayed because his parents thought I fractured his skull. I'm an intimidating guy when I'm mad.

True story:
Last month I was christmas shopping and I had my daughter and my mom with me. I pulled into a parking lot and as I was crossing the parking lot a guy in a pickup came flying from between the two stores down the drive. We both locked up our brakes and luckily he didn't hit us, but I look over and this guy is screaming and cussing and beating his dash and giving me the finger. I look over and give him a smile and a wave, no big deal he didn't hit us. Well my smile and wave really must of set him off. He yanked his seatbelt off kicked his door open and was pointing at me. As soon as he yanked the seatbelt off I was already to get out of my vehicle. I was instantly ready to kill someone mad. My mom said when I jumped out of the truck like I did the guy turned white and said "OH F**K ME"! By the time I had even got to my front bumper the guy was back in his truck with the door shut. He rolled down his window and asked if everything was alright. I told him to be more careful and have a nice day.

I just ignore aggressive people. If you have the self control to address me calmly and rationally, I'm happy to talk to you. If not, I don't get involved.

(Well, except for in Jerry's case. He wasn't calm or rational, but we still got involved.)

[Edit:] Under further evaluation, I wonder if I really deal with people well. I suspect my personality can seem somewhat abrasive at times. This bothers me, but I'm not sure what to do about it.

I have always found it hard to deal with people. I have no patience for ignorant, rude or nasty people, and I let them know. I've never been physical, at I'm just a wee slip of a girl, so my tongue has always been my weapon. (Oooh, matron!)
Saying that, I work on a phoneline for depressed and suicidal people, and I've learnt a lot of tolerance for people from it. I have to hold my tongue, even when I'm being verbally abused, so I've learned to stay a bit calmer.
But still, my mother is a fiery red head, and though she didn't pass me on her hair colour, she passed me on her temper, and I will lay into you if you piss m off.

I worked in a variety of jobs that involved me wearing a headset and talking to members of the public for far too long, but I got very, very good at it indeed. They put me in charge of other people doing it, got me to train people in how to do it and if you wanted to speak to a supervisor, there was a good chance it would be me.

The first signs that I was perhaps beginning to use my powers for evil and not good were when I noticed other people in the office stop what they were doing to listen to me when I got someone who was a little upset. It counted as entertainment.

The realisation that I had lost my customer service mojo came to me though during a call where from the offset the caller was angry. I listened to his problem, but then as soon as I realised he was starting to rant I decided I wasn't going to take his nonsense any more. It went something like this:

Pock
I'm going to stop you there.
[pause]
Customer
I don't...
Pock
I said I'm going to stop you there. [pause] Good. Now you understand that, I'm going to give you a choice. If you really want to rant, you can. You can call me whatever you want. You can go on as long as you want. You're not the first, you'll not be the last, and I'll let you into a secret here - it doesn't mean anything to me. I don't care. Really. I get paid just the same, no matter what you say or how long you go take to say it. Then, when you run out of steam, I will solve your problem.
The other option is that we both pretend you've had your rant, I've made the right placatory noises, hell maybe you even spoke to my supervisor about my attitude, and then we just get right down to it and fix your problem.
Choice is yours. Which is it to be?

[long pause, during which I realise that everyone in the office is staring at me, jaw slightly open and I have time to wonder if perhaps that was a mistake]

Customer
(very, very quietly now) Could we solve my problem?

Which I did. And the call ended with him apologising for his conduct at the beginning of the call and thanking me for my honesty.

My one regret was that I didn't do that years before.

I don't like big crowds or confrontation. I have to say though that I lose my temper pretty easy and tend to over react to somethings. One of the reasons I joined the military and moved out of Florida was so that I could stay away from trouble which had a habit of following me around. All my friends and I had our own circle and I would fight a lot for them.

Now I try to talk my way out of a fight and defuse the situation. Although, sometimes that doesn't work.

I still speak my mind whether people like it or not.

i cry.

Next time someone gives you S**T Mandolin call me on your cell phone and hand them the phone, I'll pull the telephone tough guy on them. And they'll be the one who's crying.