Apparently I'm Tactical

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ColinthePilot

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I got a hankering for a taco tonight and decided to grab some Taco Bell for dinner. I usually go through the drive thru but for some reason tonight, I decided to go inside. Immediately as I entered, I noticed something was not quite right. There were two men working and one customer at the counter in a dirty undershirt and some torn up jeans; he was obviously a bum. As I approach the counter I hear the bum saying all he wants is a burrito but he's getting agitated. They all notice me standing patiently in line and the bum moves aside to let me order. I approached the counter keeping the bum in sight and my right hand free at all times. I ordered, and one of the workers gave the bum a burrito to get him to leave. Now the bum starts talking to me. I could smell the booze on his breath from 5 feet away. I stayed polite and wished him a good evening as he walked out. I got my food and started out the door. The bum was still in the parking lot. I put my keys in my left hand with my food and again my right hand went in my pocket, sitting right over my IWB. He starts talking to me again. He's trying to convince me he's friendly and even lifted up his shirt to prove he didn't have a gun. It hardly put me at ease. After a minute of chat about how he had just "gotten out," he finally got to the begging part. He asked for a dollar, and I politely told him I didn't have any cash, while I started to lift my shirt with my right thumb. He finally started to walk away, and I jumped in the truck at Olympic speed.
As I'm driving home, I'm analyzing what just happened. I realized all the stuff I did to keep the advantage. 1) I always kept him in my sight, never turned my back toward him. 2) I always kept my gun hand free. 3) I maintained composure, calm, and courtesy. I think that plays a big part in keeping the other guy calm. If you get agitated or loud, he could easily get agitated and violent.

I didn't realize I did any of this until I was on the way home. This isn't the first time I've been in an uncomfortable situation with the bums of North Little Rock, but its the longest and most detailed. I'm not getting out of the drive thru there anymore.

Mods, if this would be better in General, feel free to move it.
 
I got a hankering for a taco tonight and decided to grab some Taco Bell for dinner. I usually go through the drive thru but for some reason tonight, I decided to go inside. Immediately as I entered, I noticed something was not quite right.
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Not a criticism - a question. If you knew something was not right as you entered, why didn't you simply turn around and exit? What were your thought processes at that point?

pax
 
Local transients approach you while you're pumping gas. It puts you in a captive position -- You can stop pumping gas and move away from the person, but you want to move INTO your vehicle and drive away.

Pumping gas holds you "hostage."

They're harassing customers, "loitering" -- which is a violation of city statute. I complain to the station attendant and insist that they cause the transient to leave, even if it means calling police.

When they approach I tell them, "You need to move away from me, thank you."

Then I stop pumping gas and get ready to draw/fire if needed. That "posture" generally backs them off.

Gawd! I hate urban environments.

At the "something not quite right" stage at Taco Bell, I'd be out of the building and watching to see if we need to call police. Transient types too often tend to be unstable, whacko, unpredictable.
 
Not sure if you were tactical or not, what kind of gun were you carrying?
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Sig P6, IWB at 2:30 position (right under my front pocket) in an Uncle Mike's Sidekick. 8+1 in the pistol and another spare 8 in my left pocket, all Federal Hydrashok.

Not a criticism - a question. If you knew something was not right as you entered, why didn't you simply turn around and exit? What were your thought processes at that point?
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The feeling was just coming from the fact that there was no one else in there except the 2 workers and the bum. It was more like "did I just walk in to a closed restaurant?" It wasn't quite Spidey Sense, but I felt like I had walked in after closing time.
 
I'm not getting out of the drive thru there anymore.
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Be careful in the drive thru too. It's real easy to get boxed in while in the drive thru. Many drive thru's have horrible escape route's (for example: the building on one side and maybe a line of planted trees or another building on the other side) If there are cars in front and behind you, you may not have anywhere to go.

I once had an experience with a shady looky character standing outside the drive thru window at a Taco Bell at about 1:00 AM.

Stay Safe
 
There was a thread a long while back where one of the posters commented that he got his tires slashed at a fast food place, in the drive thru, while he was in the car.

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.


-T.
 
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What is this? The first time a bum has ever asked you for money?
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Not at all, but usually they aren't so persistent about it. Usually when I encounter bums, its downtown when I'm out for the evening, always with a big group of people, and never armed since we're going to the bars. They usually don't spend much time on big groups or don't approach them altogether. This time I was all alone and armed. Maybe I looked like an easier target.
 
-- bump the car in the drive through and then when the driver gets out to look, the car gets hijacked.

Gawd! I hate urban city life!
 
Well, somewhat tactical. At least you were using hydrashocks in a Sig. But the fact that it doesn't have a rail, laser, or light attached takes away from your tacticality. You don't mention having a SureFire either, so that's a few points subtracted as well. :evil:
 
99.9999% of the time bums are harmless. They only get grumpy if they think you have insulted them.

But, here's something for YOU to seriously ponder, while you are getting all tactical on a bum...what's less painful to your finances? Giving him a dollar, or putting a bullet in him?
 
Loomis said:
But, here's something for YOU to seriously ponder, while you are getting all tactical on a bum...what's less painful to your finances? Giving him a dollar, or putting a bullet in him?
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All depends on what he's trying to do to me.
 
Yo mean what you immagine he's trying to do to you?

bums get beat up and/or murdered all the time. They are very cautious, or they die. Cops are never on the bum's side.

You are a bigger threat to him than he is to you.
 
I would have left and gone to another Taco Bell.

You chatted with this guy for about a "minute" even though he was dirty, drunk, and just gotten out of jail?

That doesn't seem like a very tactical decision.
 
Not a criticism - a question. If you knew something was not right as you entered, why didn't you simply turn around and exit? What were your thought processes at that point?
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+100
 
+1 on what scottgun said. Taco Hell is no bueno...

Colin, Colin, Colin...didn't living in SA raise your TexMex bar? LOL
 
My experience with the transients in/around the Little Rock area leads me to the same assessment: Mostly Harmless.

But that doesn't mean you/we shouldn't be prepared for action, even if we do have money AND are willing to part with it.

My only criticism would be that if you weren't certain of his intentions, it might not have been a great idea to let him get within smelling range (5' is what you described).

As for Taco Bell being terrible, I can mostly agree with that, but I keep going to the one down the street here (Prothro Junction, worse than most even!) because I'm an adrenaline junkie, and because I once found $23 on the floor there.
 
Some Bum in Chicago just put some woman in the hospital knocking two teeth out in the process. I guess she was beaten so badly that they induced a coma at the hospital. Her male companion was beaten but not hurt too badly. The bums had asked the couple for a cigarette and she told them to get a job, I guess they took offense. All bums are not harmless. That guy in Alaska felt he was safe from bears till his name was changed from treadwell to tastes well.

Len
 
Yo mean what you immagine he's trying to do to you?

bums get beat up and/or murdered all the time. They are very cautious, or they die. Cops are never on the bum's side.

You are a bigger threat to him than he is to you.
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I don't know about this - I go armed but would not say that I'm a "threat" to ANYONE. One of my highest desires in life is to live peaceably with all men, inasmuch as I am able. I never threaten ANYONE - and if I ever have to use force, it will be in DEFENSE AGAINST a threat to my life. Just because someone has a job and a gun doesn't make one a threat, just as being dirty and homeless doesn't make one a threat, either.

The problem is that this guy was a stranger - and I'm slow to trust strangers. How many violent crimes are comitted by a man in a tie and shirtsleeves? How many by dirty / homeless people who are overly interested in the personal finances of every passer-by?

Don't get me wrong, I'm slow to assume someone is a thug just because I can smell the liquor on their breath... but I'm equally slow to assume that they're my best friend, too.

In an imperfect world with imperfect information, it's better to play it safe.

I don't think Colinthepilot was a threat to this guy at all - if anyone was acting in a manner that could be construed as "threatening," it was the bum. No means no.
 
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