So I got into a fight today...

[complich8]

Hah. I love how people always get bad impressions of America as a whole from the people who've seen the worst of it.

I've lived in the USA for all 25 years of my life. In that time, the only guns I've seen fired were at a trap-shooting range out in the woods, and were in the direction of clay pigeons.

I've heard gunshots in the distance ... but on a quiet night in the suburbs you can hear a gunshot from 3 miles away. Even in times of fairly intense gang activity in my hometown, the sound of gunfire was very unusual.

If you're living in the ghetto, running with gangs, yeah, you're going to get dirty, yeah you're probably going to learn of the searing sweet kiss of hot lead. If you're living in a nicer place, and avoid associating with people who insist on always wearing the same combination of colors, the US is a generally pretty safe place.

Despite the bad representation we get from the media, the rate per capita of both violent crime and property crime is hovering around the lowest it's ever been, and has been on the decline since the 1970's. Statistics (with pretty graphs) here

[ChaosK]

are you serious you've been shot and stabbed? america IS dangerous

When the majority of the land in America is wild farm area, yes very dangerous...

[EL3RD]

are you serious you've been shot and stabbed? america IS dangerous

Yes I'm very serious...When I was younger I lived a completely different life than I live now. I guess somebody high above us gave me a second chance. If you ever met me in person I'd show you all my gunshot wounds and stabs etc. I got alot of them, I guess those are my tatoos for life.

[msmush]

i'll be looking forward to it elerd

[Winged Dancer]

As the title reads, I got into a fight today...

First of all I'd like to say I'm not exactly proud of how things happened. I don't regret it either, but it doesn't make me proud. Here's how it went...

Exams will soon be over and I had just finished studying at the school library, where I met a friend whom I'll call Martin. We chatted for a while and then decided to take a walk down Copilco, a close avenue - the campus is enormous, so we took a bus and soon were there.

After walking for a while, we stopped at a small, family-run drugstore, to buy some water. These stores, by the way, usually carry all kinds of things, from medicines to ham and yogurt, and are meant for local consumers. Specially in the morning, they don't carry a lot of money in case there's some burglary or an incident of the kind, so it's considered good manners (and common sense) to use small bills when paying.

It was perhaps around eleven o'clock, we were just joking around, deciding what to get, when from behind us we hear someone yelling - in English.

"Fuck!!" exclaimed what was obviously a tourist, slamming down a bottled Coke and a $500 pesos bill. "I - want - this. Here - is - the - money."

"These people are so slow," said his girlfriend, a skinny blonde with cheap sunglasses. Yes, she was a walking cliché.

Seemingly, he wanted to pay for a sixteen pesos coke with a five hundred. Ah he seemed to think that, if he spoke loudly and slow, the woman at the counter would suddenly understand English.

Well, she didn't, but she did get what was going on.

"No tengo cambio," she answered; 'I've got not change.' She waved her hands in front of her, "No."

"Why not??" the man exclaimed and dangled the bill in front of the woman's face. "Here's money. You want money? Give me the Coke."

The woman tried again, taking English out of some movie or TV show, perhaps. "No moonee."

"What? Speak correctly, damn it!"

At this point, Martin sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Hey, pal," he said to the tourist, "She's got no change. Try to pay with a smaller bill, like a twenty or a fifty."

Now, if it was me, I would've been glad for the help. But this guy, he turned, and glared at us.

"Why the fuck should I? This is what I want to pay with, this is what I pay with," all the while danglng the bill in front of us.

"Well, she's got no change, so take it easy, try another store," Martin replied.

"Yeah right. I'm tired of your fucking country, fucking sticks. There's nothing to do, and the people are stupid, like this broad. Ya hear me, broad??"

Needless to say, the woman at the counter didn't know what the hell was going on, but she looked rather scared.

"Damn beaners," the guy added.

Which was enough for me. "You tired of our country? Then you get the fuck out of it! Damn gringos, you think we want you here? Do you? The whole fucking world hates you, and we more than anyone else. Get the fuck out of here, gringo de mierda!"

"Get out," added Martin. And you could see he meant business.

Martin is a tall guy, broze skin,of broad back and rather filled. When he gets angry, he looks just like the kind of man you wouldn't want to encounter in a dark alley.

"Get the fuck out of here. Now."

The girlfriend seemed to realize that they had seemingly crossed a line. "Hey, lets go babe. Try another store."

The guy looked at Martin, scowled and left the coke. "Yeah, whatever."

Then, he took the Coke again and made a run for it.

Bad idea. The woman yelled, I yelled, and Martin grabbed his arm and hit him in the face. The douche fell to the floor and started screaming.

"Police!! Police!!"

Martin took the Coke from his hand, and I stood on top of him. "Sure thing police. Sure thing. You tried to steal."

"Get off me, bitch!! Get off me!!"

"And you know what they say about police in Mexico. And here's a surprise - they like Mexicans way better than gringos."

"Hey, get off him!!" the girlfriend seemed to be getting hysteric. "Son of a bitch! Get off him!"

I said, "No."

She bitch-slapped me.

Which is a bad idea too, 'cause I don't bitch-slap, I back-hand, and I happened to be wearing rings.

Martin grabbed my hand and dragged me out of the store. There was too much commotion by then.

"¡Digales que eramos del interior!" he yelled at the woman, in case she was ever asked, he said. (Tell them we're from out of the city!)

We left and ran a good while. Almost back to the school, in fact, not because of fear but because of all the anger inside - running seemed like the best option. We ran and ran, and rested and ran (we ain't athletes!), and two or three ours later we went back to check on the woman.

The two tourists had left soon after us. They were pretty afraid of the rest of the people at the store, it seemed - they hadn't realized that there are plenty of Mexicans able to speak English, and specially so around the University.

The woman was fine and so was the store. We apologized for the commotion, but she seemed to understand well enough - in fact, even without speaking English, she could guess that it had been something racial.

And she was happy to announce me that I had managed to make a nasty gash on the bitch's cheek.

I somehow feel that I stooped down to the idiot tourist level - he called us "beaners," I called them "gringos," it's just no good. I felt racist afterwards, but at the time, it was just so maddening....!

At any rate, I thought this would make a good story to post.

[complich8]

It's a good story!

'cause everybody hates a tourist, especially one who thinks it's all such a laugh...

Some people need to be taken down a peg or two. Seems like you succeeded in doing so. And try not to feel too bad about it ... everyone's a little racist when pushed hard enough.

[Deblas]

Well to be honest I never thought Gringo to be all that racist. I say good job and they got what they deserve for being so ignorant. I've heard my share of racist remarks but nothing this extreme. So by looking at them, how old do you think they were?

edit below: True...

[XanBcoo]

And try not to feel too bad about it ... everyone's a little racist when pushed hard enough.

I agree. And the guy quite clearly deserved whatever you wanted to call him. I honestly cannot believe that people like that exist. Like, I'm seriously struggling to comprehend how someone could act like that in that situation. Maybe he was just in a bad mood??

I also cheered a little inside when I read that you wounded the Paris Hilton wanabee. Go you!

Well to be honest I never thought Gringo to be all that racist.

Debatable I guess, since it really is a derogatory term for an American (as opposed to someone who is white or black, or what have you), but it's still in the same league. However the guy was acting like a pretty stereotypical "gringo" so...

[masamuneehs]

She bitch-slapped me.

Which is a bad idea too, 'cause I don't bitch-slap, I back-hand, and I happened to be wearing rings.

I love that part. It's sort of horrible though, marking her up that badly... dumb as she was, she still seemed to have more sense than her d-bag boyfriend... and vain bimbos like that tend to let their emotions about their physical appearance dominate their already puny minds. So since you marked her up, I can imagine her telling "her horror story" to her friends and making you out to be a brutish, hostile, uncultured person who attacked her first and that this is more "typical" Mexican behavior...

So while it still makes me laugh, it reconfirms my conviction that violence almost never helps heal cultural rifts... Nobody's going to respect you or your people more because you beat them in a fight or marked them up, hell, the opposite will probably be the case.

Good job teaching the guy a lesson though. I approve of that.

also, i've merged this with the pre-existing fight thread.

[Spiegel]

Well, that was a great read. I have to say that I most likely would have done around the same thing with the man. I hate people that disrespect others trying to serve them. I hope that he did leave soon enough as I do not think it will be taken lightly that he tried to steal.

Also, good job on the girlfriend, She deserved it!

[Kraco]

Heh. That was like an excerpt from a novel. No less from you, of course. Didn't you study something related to literature / languages if my memory serves at all..?

It was certainly a good read. Hard to believe there are so idiotic tourists around. Why do they pay for the trip in the first place if they don't even want to be where they travel? Strange creatures.

[RyougaZell]

WD... you rule. Seriously.

No, being serious here... I normally don't approve of fights (never won one!), but that guy had it coming... he was the perfect example of people I hate, be it american, mexican, asian or whatever. When someone believe he/she is better because of their country/race/social status... they deserve it. Whatever.

Glad to see you didn't get in trouble.

[Lucifus]

WD- Give props to your friend Martin there. A cousin of mine has to deal with people like that constantly and every time I visit him it surprises me how blatantly stupid people can get. It didn't surprise me to hear your story. I always wonder how there can be such stupid people running around in a foreign country acting like they're better than you when surrounded by residents. Especially considering a number of the locals around my cousins place are less than friendly to such behavior.

We usually have a bunch of people outside the shops though and again, I say it surprises me how stupid people are to act like that cause I brought some of my friends over once to my cousins birthday and they were scared shitless of some of the guys walking around. xD I mean, they don't even look any form of "nice".Yet dumb asses constantly show there faces. I haven't heard of any serious problem actually happening at my cousins shop but usually him and a few friends either throw em out or ruff em up a bit and send them out there way. Thats usually only when they cross the line or throw the first punch though. Police don't exactly respond till a few hours pass so its pretty inefficient to wait for em when you have an idiot messing up your shop and ruining business.

Its like people have no sense of self preservation.... Any way, Props to Martin and yourself. They deserved it.

[Inazuma]

WD, visa should be obtained after passing an IQ test.
And since I'm living in the most touristic country in the world I can tell you that if I was posting every asshole-tourist story I have, masa would kick me for spamming the forums.

And I don't think you were racist, you were just angry.
One can't be racist for a few minutes, it's a way of life implying seeing others as inferior beings based on what they look like or where they are coming from or what they believe in.

I won't say, " Yay those asshole deserved it ! " I think every pers- ... gotwoot member is smart enough to handle this kind of situation with words only.

BUT a good adrenaline rush is good for your health anyway.

[Winged Dancer]

Hah, when I saw the topic had turned six pages long, I was almost scared XD

Yeah, I have to say that guy had it coming, but I still wasn't sure how to feel 'cause it's the first time I've gotten into a fight like that. I mean, last time I slapped someone was back at 13th grade or something...!

I do feel kinda sorry for the girl, she was definitely the lesser evil there. Not her fault her boyfriend was an idiot. I'd like to hear the story as they'll be retelling it, though - I'm betting poor Martin will be transformed into the usual mexican thug, and me a rabid nationalist who attacked them 'cause they were foreigners or something XD

Heh. That was like an excerpt from a novel. No less from you, of course. Didn't you study something related to literature / languages if my memory serves at all..?

Why, thanks! English lit, just as you remember it. I'm thinking of turning the anecdote into a short story and try and publish it in some magazine, it seems to have just the elements needed...

[Carnage]

"And the day is saved once again, by the PowerPuff Gir..... I mean WD!"

Good story, but how did you remember the entire conversation?

[Board of Command]

I got in a fight with this guy over MSN last night about video games. The guy said Halo is godly (i.e. greatest game ever made) and is better than Xenogears.

That was a no-no.

*shakes head*

[kooshi]

Woot, you just made my day, WD! If there is one thing I love, it's assholes getting what they deserve! Like many others, I'm not the type who would get into any fight unless forced into (no fighting record for me, thankfully), but it's always so... refreshing and fun to hear these kinds of stories, considering how I've been surrounded by assholes almost my entire life (the neighbourhood punk, the "cool" kids from high school, etc.).

BoC, although I have never played Xenogears (I've been wanting to play it for about 3 years now, hahaha), I do have to say that Halo is NOT godly. Heck, I personally think the game SUCKS. I cannot see why people claim that it is one of the greatest games of all time.

[Carnage]

Counterstrike...soooooo addicting....

[Spiegel]

Counterstrike...soooooo addicting....

I second that, If only I was not on dialup right now. Wish I could play again.
I also have never played Xenogears... So I cannot say anything either way.