OT - So what is your breaking point?

Submitted: Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 13:13
ThreadID: 40827 Views:2866 Replies:11 FollowUps:24
This Thread has been Archived
Post 40817 reminds me of a bit of car park rage that occurred whilst visiting friends in Sydney. The similarity for me is that perfectly rational law abiding people have a snapping point and that this point is being tested by out of control morons all the time.

In my case, I was a passenger in a car in which the driver, a pacifist/ fun loving guy, had a parking space stolen by some smart ar$e. I have never seen him snap in 40 years so I was totally surprised when he jumped out of the car and gave this guy a load of verbal abuse that would have made Mel Gibson proud. I think it came within seconds of becoming a physical confrontation.

My point is that we all seem to have a breaking point and that it is impossible to judge how we will behave when that point is reached. It seems to comes back to a general lack of manners, dicipline etc that is encouraged by the educated elite as being good for a childs development. Personally I think a clip around the ear when these idiots were growing up would have prevented the problem from being one in the first place.

Then there is the next issue, to what extent can you support such behaviour? In my case I could have been faced with having to join in on a scuffle over a pointless car space or possibly lose a friendship – fortunately we were able to laugh it off.

So what would you have done? (my 24 yr old son, who fortunately wasn’t there at the time suggested that we should have dragged him out of the car to teach him a lesson)

Kind regards
Back Expand Un-Read 0 Moderator

Reply By: Member - Teabag (Queanbeyan) - Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 13:24

Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 13:24
Beatit,

You make some very valid points and we all have different breaking points at various time depending on the pressures in your life at the time. Unfortunately some people out there are totally oblivious to what is happening around them am really don't care about anyone else besides themselves. I call this the Jack syndrome, "Stuff you Jack, bugger the rest of them, I'm O.K". These are the sort of people that do occasionally and for the right reason require a little, "Contact Counselling"......
AnswerID: 213019

Follow Up By: Mr Fawlty - Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 15:23

Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 15:23
Contact Councelling = Summary Justice???
0
FollowupID: 473276

Follow Up By: 666toy - Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 23:10

Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 23:10
When i was in the ADF we used to call it "communication via boot"
0
FollowupID: 473400

Reply By: Member - bushfix - Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 13:37

Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 13:37
there's too much agro out there mate.

"I think it came within seconds of becoming a physical confrontation."

There are signs when someone is about to commence and assault. But things can get a bit too nasty a bit too fast. Knowing how to fight someone who does not know how to fight does not take much, knowing how to fight that small percentage who actually can takes a fair bit more. There are no rules in "saying G'day" in the street. Then, you may get into the legal side of things and you may lose a lot more than you thought possible, whether you won the scrap or not.

fine to let them know from your car (perhaps without words though) I guess but getting out and confronting them, well there are plenty of risks there and that may be considered to be more provocative than the taking of a car space.

yep, it's difficult but there's too many weirdo's and lawyers out there I reckon and it is probably good practice to remain "invisible" if you have the option, but you'd probably have to stand by your mate if a scrap started and he was struggling eh?

my initial thoughts anyway...:)

AnswerID: 213022

Follow Up By: Zig-n-Zag - Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 14:14

Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 14:14
Rather than going in for a bit of biff and physical action why not note the location of the vehicle, go find another parking spot, then return and remove the valve stems from two tyres so that they are then delayed in getting away. Need to replace the valve stems which is a bit more than just pumping up the tyres. Or just let down a couple of tyres and leave a note on the window saying next time it will be all four tyres that will be flat. No actual damage done other than creating a flat tyre.

Try alternative solutions.

:))))))))))))
0
FollowupID: 473262

Follow Up By: Gerhardp1 - Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 18:30

Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 18:30
This is illegal and will land you in court.

Sorry, but it's very bad idea.
0
FollowupID: 473322

Follow Up By: Marn - Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 20:55

Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 20:55
What is'nt illegal these days???
0
FollowupID: 473359

Follow Up By: Pezza (Bris) - Thursday, Jan 04, 2007 at 20:15

Thursday, Jan 04, 2007 at 20:15
Come off it Gerhardt ! Do something 'extreme' and exciting in your life for once mate... go do a couple of donuts on a beach or something :-)
It will only land you in court if they know the name of the person who did it, I tell you what mate, I won't tell them if you don't :-)

Avagoodn
Pezza
0
FollowupID: 473580

Follow Up By: Gerhardp1 - Friday, Jan 05, 2007 at 08:41

Friday, Jan 05, 2007 at 08:41
But please sir, I played quoits only yesterday.

And I played with wild, gay abandon too.
0
FollowupID: 473668

Follow Up By: Member - bushfix - Friday, Jan 05, 2007 at 09:01

Friday, Jan 05, 2007 at 09:01
gay quoits.....oh geez i've gotta get that out of my head...ummm....won't have a bar of that

ok stopped, gone.
0
FollowupID: 473673

Follow Up By: Bware (Tweed Valley) - Friday, Jan 05, 2007 at 09:11

Friday, Jan 05, 2007 at 09:11
Gerhardp1, Killing someone who has broken into your home and terrorized your wife and kids is also illegal and will land you in court. Perhaps you would ask him to sit in a comfy chair or finish whatever he was doing with your wife and kids while you call the police? It's only different by degree.
0
FollowupID: 473675

Follow Up By: Zig-n-Zag - Friday, Jan 05, 2007 at 09:14

Friday, Jan 05, 2007 at 09:14
Come on guys
Stop picking on Gerhardp1 he/she probably has never had a speeding/parking fine or got his blood pressure above normal due to a stressful situation.

We do not all react by acting before thinking about the consequences.

But sometimes you feel great by acting before thinking and it is great.:))))))))
0
FollowupID: 473676

Follow Up By: Gerhardp1 - Friday, Jan 05, 2007 at 09:23

Friday, Jan 05, 2007 at 09:23
Bware, Zig described a situation where the act of letting the tyres down was premeditated.

"why not note the location of the vehicle, go find another parking spot, then return and remove the valve stems from two tyres so that they are then delayed in getting away"

Committing a premeditated crime is always regarded as far worse than a non-premeditated crime such as you have described.

I can't for the life of me see where we got onto the subject of killing someone when we were talking about parking.

That's completely different, in fact Zig, I have killed a gang of thugs that looked sideways at my wife. The judge said "good onya mate", and sentenced the three I didn't kill to life and let me go.

0
FollowupID: 473678

Follow Up By: Member - Roachie (SA) - Friday, Jan 05, 2007 at 10:14

Friday, Jan 05, 2007 at 10:14
WTF?????????????????????????
0
FollowupID: 473706

Follow Up By: Zig-n-Zag - Friday, Jan 05, 2007 at 11:48

Friday, Jan 05, 2007 at 11:48
Roachie
Exactly!!!
Mine was just a suggestion about deflating tyres so that the person pinching the parking space has second thoughts about jumping in, no idea where the hijacking of the thread onto killing came from but lets not get too wound up about an alternative suggestion where only air is removed from the tyres.

Just imagine fronting up in Court and explaining that the crime was deflating a tyre or two, I think the Courts may have a laugh about that one. As Pezza said it will only land you in Court if you own up to it, and do they really think the Police are going to be interested in following up a complaint about deflated tyres as a single event?Highly doubtful.

Keep smiling :)))))))

0
FollowupID: 473727

Follow Up By: Bware (Tweed Valley) - Friday, Jan 05, 2007 at 14:22

Friday, Jan 05, 2007 at 14:22
Sorry Gerhardp1, I've reached my breaking point; the inlaws are staying with us ;-)))
0
FollowupID: 473772

Reply By: Footloose - Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 14:24

Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 14:24
My breaking point is when it's life threatening.
Otherwise it's simply not worth the increase in blood pressure.
AnswerID: 213026

Reply By: Truckster (Vic) - Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 14:27

Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 14:27
breaking point - twice the strength of a shoelace.
AnswerID: 213027

Follow Up By: Member - Michael J (SA) - Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 14:39

Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 14:39
Mmmmmmmmm, black or brown ??????
0
FollowupID: 473266

Follow Up By: Member - Beatit (QLD) - Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 15:00

Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 15:00
Oh common Trucky, we all know that is a gross overestimation! I would think it is more like 0.0000000000000000000001 (rounded up) the strength.

Kind regards
0
FollowupID: 473270

Follow Up By: Truckster (Vic) - Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 20:02

Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 20:02
These are top secret shoelaces as used by NASA
0
FollowupID: 473340

Follow Up By: Member - bushfix - Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 20:10

Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 20:10
pig's arse i've seen them for sale at tricky dicky's
0
FollowupID: 473345

Follow Up By: Truckster (Vic) - Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 20:24

Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 20:24
not these shiney silver with "STUFF" down the center of them..

Damn, now I've said too much
0
FollowupID: 473349

Follow Up By: Member - bushfix - Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 20:34

Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 20:34
HAH! the ruse is up!

trying to make us sound dumb and you seppos intelligent.. :)

0
FollowupID: 473352

Reply By: Member - Willie , Epping .Syd. - Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 16:42

Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 16:42
Hi Beatit ,

I am quite a mild person who avoids physical aggression and yet 30 years ago I had a parking pinched from me as I was backing into it . And like him , I jumped out of my car ( double parked in Hay St Sydney ) and proceeded to give the driver of the mini and his friend a glorious gobfull . The driver was enraged and leaped from his car throwing punches .

I was neatly dressed in a suit as a sales rep , we had the road to ourselves as traffic had halted in both directions - the stage was set for a magnificent spectacle .

As I backed away from his round arm swings I was jabbing away beautifully at his big nose . When this started to loose a bit of red sauce , he got even angrier , as he had not as yet landed a punch . The crowds were cheering , the dogs were barking , the horns were blaring - I was on fire .

Suddenly his passenger got out to come to his aid , I beat a retreat to my car and drove off to collect two small pebbles . I came back to cll on my customer and deposited one in each of two of his valves . I left to the sweet music of hissing air .

Now I am a person who has not come close to a fight in the past 30 years . I am not aggressive . This just shows how certain things can make you snap . I can well understand what happened to your mate Beatit .

Cheers ,

Willie .
AnswerID: 213049

Reply By: Mr Fawlty - Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 16:47

Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 16:47
OH God, I'll drag outy me soap box for this one....
Ask anyone with PTSD what their tolerance level is.... Go on ask!
Well at one time I had a tolerance level that was about -5, I could sniff out a nonthinking cretin at 50 yards and pounce....Now after several anger management courses I can contain the urge to some degree to smear moron & cretin all over the place. I still have a very low tolerance for PFT's, nonthinkers, morons, hoons, cretins & the like. I now resort to subtle methods of redressing wrongs done to me by these idiots. For instance and as a case in point I derive much satisfaction in taking pictures of cars parked inconsideratley or illegally and sending the said pics to the "Office of Parking Offences". I do this only to people who do stupid unthinking things like park diagonally across 2 places or who park in dissabled places without a permit.
When dealing with the deliberate, can I use the term "Beaureaucrat", who is detirmined not to see common sense it is always best to be pleasant I find. That way though one may not get immediate satisfaction one can sometimes usually gleen information that can be used for a major offensive attack. Never ceases to amaze me how many of these types think that if they can get away with something "at the counter" or "on the phone" that I will just give up & accept it... yeah hell will freeze over first or better still I'll get to mate with Jennifer Hawkins first....(I'd honestly prefer the latter) No, I can usually get a name & an address and that makes the process signifficantly easier...
Violence should always be the last resort, I've learnt it can be costly stamping on a moron's cell phone or throwing a rock thru a car window even giving a fool an earfull can land you in deep hot water........
AnswerID: 213051

Follow Up By: Mike Harding - Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 16:51

Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 16:51
Mr Fawlty: your nickname is perfect :)
0
FollowupID: 473304

Reply By: Member - Phillip S (WA) - Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 20:42

Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 20:42
I try to remember the situations where just with one punch, one of the people fell back and hit his head and is now dead today.........if only he instead just thought about it BEFORE he jumped out and started...then there would not be grieving family members today and senseless waste!!!!
The highway is full of impatient and unthinking people....prepare yourself each day(stick it up on your sun visor) to just take it easy, take your time and most of all, CUT everyone a bit of slack...you just might be pulling them out of their wrecked vehicle up the road ahead, for goes around, comes around.

AnswerID: 213077

Follow Up By: Member - bushfix - Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 20:49

Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 20:49
hear hear.

living in urban nsw now, i am glad i don't have to drive everyday. there are just too many "question marks" out there that i'd rather not concern myself with on a daily basis.

actually, your opening statement reminded me of Hookesy.

0
FollowupID: 473354

Reply By: Bonz (Vic) - Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 21:24

Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 21:24
Well I think most things are bearable, but we all have a breaking point.

Story One: 5yr old daughter comes home telling u that the 15yo next door made her "bottom" hurt, many questions and pointing later - sexual abuse established -try that one

Story Two: 13 yo daughter's friend tells her Mum someones been follwing them home and "stalking" them from his car. Turns out she was not the only one this creep has stalked.

Story Three: 8 yo son comes hoem covered in mud head to toe. "Neighbour's son" got him to stand near a puddle and proceded to drench him in muddy water

There are more.

Simple qn what would u have done in any of the above? THE only time I snapped was with a jerk at work who was bullying in a corporate sense. I didnt lash out at him, simply came home and prayed that John Howard had tightened up the gun laws
.
Time is an illusion produced by the passage of history
.

Lifetime Member
My Profile  My Blog  Send Message
Moderator

AnswerID: 213085

Reply By: Richard Kovac - Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 23:00

Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007 at 23:00
a piece of string [:-)
AnswerID: 213116

Reply By: Ozdyssey (QLD) - Thursday, Jan 04, 2007 at 01:18

Thursday, Jan 04, 2007 at 01:18
Interesting to think what different people would do in that situation in this day and age.

A lot of people seem ready to explode, just give them a reason and they'll take it all out on you. Probably the only thing stopping us all from complete kaos is that if you look the wrong way at someone these days you'll end up in court and we haven't got time for that have we? :)

Life has become too busy and too fast - an 'every man for himself' society it seems.
It's screw you, I gotta make a buck for me and my widescreen TV so this puts us all on edge ready to defend our little patch in a shrinking world.

6mths ago I was getting to the point where my tolerance level was almost non-existent. One day totally out of character I snapped and physically marched a bloke out of the shop and let off most of my well heated steam at his expense - he was an absolute PITA and I'd had enough of his crap which I'd put up with for years. It was a turning point and I started to ask what was the point to all this crap.

Being back in the big smoke for a xmas visit these last few weeks confirms the decision to quit the mainstream was not as crazy as we thought and we are not alone. When you hop off the merry-go-round it's hard to see a reason to get back on.

Only looking back now do I see how ridiculous and pointless it all was.

Is my time up....? OK off the couch.......
AnswerID: 213139

Follow Up By: Mike Harding - Thursday, Jan 04, 2007 at 07:03

Thursday, Jan 04, 2007 at 07:03
>Only looking back now do I see how ridiculous
>and pointless it all was.

Could not agree more - I'm five minutes behind you.

Mike Harding
0
FollowupID: 473428

Follow Up By: Ozdyssey (QLD) - Monday, Jan 08, 2007 at 23:01

Monday, Jan 08, 2007 at 23:01
get a wriggle on
:)
0
FollowupID: 474392

Reply By: Bros 1 - Thursday, Jan 04, 2007 at 21:26

Thursday, Jan 04, 2007 at 21:26
Beatit,
I reached my breaking point in November and cracked like an idiot.
I live over the road from a local gym and half of their car park is dirt. Combine dirt, high power cars (and low power) and pumped up young blokes and away you go.
Air borne dirt and dust is a problem in our city at the best of times, but when i saw this lad doing donuts and all the dust blowing over my place, i cracked and yelled out every form of abuse i know. Luckily for me he was only a weedy type and just looked the other way and bolted into the gym. I felt a bit silly after i had cooled down.
Maybe i should have walked over and explained to the lad nice and quietly what he was doing wrong.
Then again maybe i should have ran over with a piece of 3 x 2 and cracked him about the forehead.
Cheers,
Bros.
Work is the curse of the down and out bludger.

Lifetime Member
My Profile  Send Message

AnswerID: 213289

Sponsored Links