Need advise, I feel like a dufus.

[Schwa.]

i say fuck all that nice shit. If kids my age were doing that when we were 10-12 we got our asses kicked....and then we didn't do it again..period.

these little fucksticks these days have absolutely no respect. You should have embarassed the hell out of them and slapped one of them right in the face, pulled down his pants and spanked his ass right there.

my 2 cents

[Patchoulia]

Sorry that happened to you (and your puppy!!)

You should NOT feel bad about how you responded...it's unlikely that any of us would know the "right" way to respond to something like that.

Face it--the world has changed enormously since we (well, I) were (was) kids. Hell, it's changed immensely in the last 10-15 years...

Unfortunately, for your own protection, you have to assume a defensive stance (unless provoked).

So, as Deb suggests, avoiding (further) confrontation is best, if possible--you never know what people are packin' these days (sad but true).

I find it to be a daily struggle--trying to assume the best about people while at the same time being realistic and smart about safety. It's an increasingly difficult balancing act.

[Kaidy Mae]

Awww Sharon (BIG HUG), I'm so sorry that this happened to you. I know how upsetting it is...not only to feel threatened, but to be totally taken aback by such little pricks. Buck up sister and just ignore them should you run into them again.

I can't stress it enough though that one cannot underestimate the power of shortypants psycho kids (or at least their parents). My cousin (who is a 16 year old girl) shares a bus with Catholic elementary school children. She has been harassed by a grade 6 boy on several occassions. He has made remarks, touched her inappropriately and thrown things at her. Unfortunately her complaints often fell on deaf ears because of the 2 school boards having kids on the same bus. I was in the process of transferring her to another run (which is not so easy to do), when the boy harassed her again. He kept throwing rocks, candy, etc. at her on the ride home one day. She asked him to stop. He didn't. She went up to the bus driver and asked for help. He ignored her. Eventually, overcome by her frustration, she confronted the little boy and told him to stop and that if he didn't, she would "throw him out the window". Now, of course she had no intentions of doing so, yet the little bastard went home and told his parents who had her charged with uttering a death threat My aunt & uncle tried to respond by having the young boy charged with assault. They were told he's too young! I can't believe this. I work for the school board in transportation and our entire department has been aware of the issues with this boy for some time. We have had cameras installed on the bus, documented many formal complaints and several girls have even resorted to getting rides to school from their parents to avoid this little bugger. I find this situation completely ridiculous. Not only is a young, 16 year old girl's future in serious jeopardy, but a child, already deemed a Section 20 student (i.e. behavioural difficulties) cannot be held accountable for his actions because he is too young. Bullshit, if you ask me! Okay, sorry for the long, drawn out saga there, but I'm a little worked up about this situation. I seriously do not think that problem children should be confronted unless you are acting in self defence. Just a little lesson on what our fucked up justice system will let happen.

[ollie]

Sorry to hear this Sharon. That really sucks. Glad to hear it didn't turn out worse.

One of Hux's friends was sucker-punched outside of Maverick's on Saturday. These are good reminders that we need to keep our wits about us, and that a lot of people just really, really suck.

[TomFoolery]

Hey Mizzz Hux,

Crappy thing to have happen for sure. I'm really sorry to hear about it.

I have a good friend who's at school in Halifax. She was swarmed in the commons while riding home on her bike. She hadn't heard about what a problem this has become so she (like you) didn't really believe what was happening. She too started swearing and throwing a few punches and took off on her bike.

Later at the police station she found that this is a huge problem. There were three other people in there complaining of the same thing. The cops were discouraged about what they can do.

Like most of the other advice here - they said, just stay away from it if you see anything remotely like this coming your way...

[Gr8FuL]

tHATS so shitty....Sorry to hear that...i've nevr ran into thast situation ..ever due to my Size being 6'6'' 270....but when i see or hear about someone else being put in that type of situation man i really gets to me..and not just giving you a hard time and making you uncomfortable to throw or kick rocks at ur dog...thats LOW...you did the right thing by just not really doing anything..cuz kidz IS crazy lil MOFo's these days.I hope it doesnt happen again!

[bradm]

{{{{{{{{{{{{{Ms. Huxtable and Abbey}}}}}}}}}}}}}

I agree about going into the store when (or before) it started.

Would a rape whistle have helped? (Do they make small air horns?)

Aloha,

Brad

[gentlemonkey]

shitty situation Ms H.. never a nice feeling to be ganged up on. I think the F-off was warranted, and maybe a well placed bitch slap delivered to the 'leader' would've given the little fuckers the message...

What happened to your friend Ollie? Was it one of the hiphop freestyle-kids?

[ollie]

It was one of Hux's crew that was attacked. I just heard about it after the fact. I think it was a kid from the show going on at Deckuf.

[Lazlo]

I would hunt down every last one of the little fucks and take their heads as trophies and use them to put on puppet shows for the younger kids.

In all honesty you should have swung your dog by the leash at the biggest kid and beaten him until he or the dog were dead.

[PhishyK]

That's really lame, Sharon. Stuff like this has surely happened to all of us. As in the animal world, human predators can also smell fear. Stand up. Be not afraid. Embody Yoda. You might get your ass kicked but at least they didn't get their ass kissed.

[Velvet]

Yesterday I walk outta work at 4pm when the school across the street lets out. Just as I'm coming up to the corner I think I see the tail end of a kid getting beaten up, but I'm not really sure. As I walk by I'm looking at the kid on the ground, head down, arm behind his back. One of the other kid says to me, don't worry, everythings cool. I walk by and turn and look and the kid is still on the ground, the other kids are standing around. A few seconds later I go back and ask the kid if he's all right. He looks up at me, bawling and says no, that guy just beat him up. Which guy? Me, sez one of the kids. I help the guy up and see he's a really little guy, and the beater guy is my size. What the fuck buddy? I say. He picked a fight with me. This little guy picked a fight with you? Yeah, can you believe it? Then I say So you though the best idea would be for you and your friends to beat him up? He tells me to fuck off and I poke him in the chest and say I guess that makes you an asshole and your friends losers doesn't it? I turn and walk away as he hurls insults at me. I'm about ten feet away and a plastic bag with tupperware containers in it flies by me, just missing me. And I mean it flew by, it almost landed on the other side of the street. If that hit me in the head I think I woulda went down. I forget if I looked back or not, but I kept on walking.

Here's the thing that really got me: I got to my car and pulled out and ended up at the light at the corner, and the little kid who had got his ass kicked was still standing there hanging out with the people who just beat him up.

I was in a foul mood all night. Still am.

The school across the street goes up to grade eight.

[AD]

Is that Hopewell? Yeah those kids are punks. The hang out in front of my house at lunch and more than a few times we've seen the neighbours yell at them, and them swearing right back.

punks

ad

[bokonon]

they do make small air horns, you can buy a can of compressed air. it looks like a hairspray bottle and it's really bloody loud. (thanks cousin travis for teaching me that one so i'd never forget it! i'm sorry, what did you say?!?!? )

i think i would like to try really messing with their heads if little punks were messing with me. you could:

a) start singing ridiculous songs like "happy and you know it" or "the hokey pokey"

start speaking in tongues

c) start yelling at yourself just like they are doing, in essence pretending you're "with" them instead of their target

d) start offering them money to do stupid shit like walk in front of a bus, jump off a roof etc.

i don't know. i'd probably just stare at them and not say anything. stare really intently and don't blink. maybe try to give the evil eye. (which is extra evil if you have a lazy eye )

[Sunshine]

I'm very angered by this thread!

First of all, Sharon I am so sorry this happened to you an Abbey!

I'm not sure what I would have done in this incident, but definately telling them to Fuck off would have been where I started. Then called the police.

I'm just glad Mike was in the store and not to far from you.

Now for the Topic of Bullies!

There's nothing more I hate then BULLIES!!

I guess that stems from me being pushed around in public school by a group of girls. It's weird how 15 to 16 years later I still hold a grudge. They took a huge part of my youth away and self confidence at that age. I don't wish that on any kid.

I just wish the education system and parents could figure out a way to work together to control some of these situation.

(Velvet it's never to late to make the Principal aware of the situation you witnessed, and that his students are being shitheads to the public and other students)

[AD]

(Velvet it's never to late to make the Principal aware of the situation you witnessed, and that his students are being shitheads to the public and other students)

Heheh, I can assure you that every principal in every school knows which kids are shitheads to the public etc... It would be a good idea to remind him for sure, they will listen to complaints from the public about students for sure.

AD

[Velvet]

I just hope the kid ends up in Rock School this summer.

Tuning and major scales, tuning and major scales. And I'll show him the wrong chords for American Idiot.

[Lazlo]

i think i would like to try really messing with their heads if little punks were messing with me. you could:

a) start singing ridiculous songs like "happy and you know it" or "the hokey pokey"

start speaking in tongues

c) start yelling at yourself just like they are doing, in essence pretending you're "with" them instead of their target

d) start offering them money to do stupid shit like walk in front of a bus, jump off a roof etc.

i don't know. i'd probably just stare at them and not say anything. stare really intently and don't blink. maybe try to give the evil eye. (which is extra evil if you have a lazy eye )

You should stick to running away. Any and all of the actions you've listed will get you your ass kicked.

[Gr8FuL]

i think i would like to try really messing with their heads if little punks were messing with me. you could:

a) start singing ridiculous songs like "happy and you know it" or "the hokey pokey"

start speaking in tongues

c) start yelling at yourself just like they are doing' date=' in essence pretending you're "with" them instead of their target

d) start offering them money to do stupid shit like walk in front of a bus, jump off a roof etc.

i don't know. i'd probably just stare at them and not say anything. stare really intently and don't blink. maybe try to give the evil eye. (which is extra evil if you have a lazy eye )[/quote']

You should stick to running away. Any and all of the actions you've listed will get you your ass kicked.

I'll second that..those responses wont result in anything but more of a problem..ie asskicking or worse!!

Run or start packin Heat

[Calamity Jane]

sorry Laz-love and Gr8Ful -- but you're BOTH ABSOLUTELY WRONG!!!!!

Lex's ideas are fab and certainly WOULD WORK. when you're in a harassing situation, it's all about doing what you're comfortable doing WHICH WILL END/DEFUSE THE HARASSING SITUATION.

Never tell someone "..."YOU MUST or "YOU SHOULD..." do such and such. Different strategies work for different people. That being said, in all my years of teaching Wen-Do Women's Self-Defence, I've heard MANY success stories from women who've chosen to act 'oddly' as their defence. We call this "changing the script", meaning harassers/abusers are expecting a certain response. If we don't play into that, we can confuse them/ make it not worth their while, or better, make their on-lookers laugh (at them) and they will lose face and decide we're not an appropriate target (too confusing, too much energy, nit going the way they planned).

Anyway, if any gals want to learn any physical defences, I always give a yearly workshop at the Hillside Music Festival in Guelph, I teach frequently in Toronto, and I can always give you a couple hits & kicks to practice on your own.

any guys who want a demo, can also volunteer their nose, knee or collarbone, which I'll gladly break with one arm tied behind my back.

I am serious.

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

The importance of fucking up "the script" cannot be underestimated. Bullies operate in the realm of phantasy.

[Lazlo]

As a former bully I have come to the conclusion that you all have

making a scene or "changing the script" often spells the end for the victim. I wouldn't think twice about punching somebody in the throat for it.

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

Holy crap, what phantasy did that pic emerge from...?

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

Not to knock Japanese bath-houses or anything.... Who knows what might happen there, or what planes they might lead to....

[Gr8FuL]

sorry Laz-love and Gr8Ful -- but you're BOTH ABSOLUTELY WRONG!!!!!

I dont think we';re wrong..but to each his own....i thik the other idea of asking stupid questions or whatver is just asking for a major beat down....but thats just me