TheAgitator.com
Another Step Down My Road to Misanthropy
Saturday, January 3rd, 2009So I was returning something at Walmart this afternoon. Needing an afternoon pick-me-up, I stopped by the in-store McDonalds for a coffee. It was self-serve. I walked over to the coffee station, and noticed they only had decaf brewed. So I told them, and a guy came out, started brewing a fresh pot of regular, and told me it would be four minutes. No problem.
A couple minutes later, as the pot was about half-done, a guy stepped in front of me with his own cup, and poured from the decaf pot. He apparently didn’t notice the bright orange rim, because he spit the coffee out, and went back to the counter to demand a new cup. The guy at the counter told him the regular was still brewing, that I was in line ahead of him, but that he should get his coffee in a couple of minutes. I guess that was too long. The guy butted in front of me, then slipped the decaf pot under the regular spout to catch the drip, and poured himself a cup from the half-brewed regular pot. He took his time with the pour, so the decaf pot was about a third filled with regular coffee by the time he was finished.
I wanted to pour his own coffee on him. I did loudly ask him what the hell he was doing, and explained that it probably wasn’t a good idea to be slipping caffeinated coffee to people who might want to drink decaf, possibly for medical reasons. I also explained to him that, additionally, he is a giant asshole.
He didn’t seem to mind. He just sorta smiled evilly, then scurried out with his coffee. I’d like to think that a few minutes later, he had to slam on his brakes on his way to wherever he was going, causing his coffee to spill into his lap, inflicting severe, hot-coffee-related crotch pain.
People like that always get away with their wretched behavior, because McDonald’s is afraid to lose them as customers, and slapping the bastard around isn’t worth the legal/physical hassle to the other customers.
sorry, radley, for my behavior. i get that way in mickeyd’s. i just love my caffeine!
Balko, you’re a pacifist. You don’t support War, even against the most anti-libertarian group of the 21st Century Radical Islamists.
So, it was right for that guy to step all over your rights, and for you not to react. Consistent with your Girlie-man pacifist wrong-headed approach.
It’s people like this for whom the word “cockstain” was coined. Congrats on keeping your cool.
… and then the guy sues McDonald’s.
assholes get so much positive reinforcement. look at the loud, obnoxious bitch howling at the help in jc penney’s- the staff falls all over themselves trying to make her happy (hoping she’ll just go away), no matter how assinine her issue, while the polite little old lady waiting at the register for 20 minutes continues to be ignored. the polite lady doesn’t make them uncomfortable. the bitch (asshole, in your story) is rewarded, while the nice person suffers.
until we make them more uncomfortable than they make us, we’re doomed to have to put up with them. I would’ve done something similar to what you did… does anyone have a real idea that works?
DONDERRRROOOOOOOO
You’re right Dondero. I should have followed your boy Bush’s example.
That is, I should have flexed my manhood by hauling off and slugging the first person I could find in the restaurant who remotely looked like the coffee swiper, made up some BS story about how the guy I slugged was secretly aiding the coffee swiper, thereby making everyone in the restaurant hate me more than the actual coffee swiper, all of which would create a giant clusterfuck, while the actual coffee swiper gets away.
Oh, and to complete the analogy, I should have thrown all of my money and a copy of the Constitution in the trash on the way out.
Republicans rule.
I’m one of those people you referenced who drinks decaf for medical reasons. More than about 10 milligrams of caffeine and I start having heart palpitations and get the shakes. I can’t even have some decaf because it has too much caffeine – Starbucks comes to mind. I hope, for the sake of other decaf drinkers out there, that you notified the staff that the decaf had been contaminated with regular.
@ Marty: over time, refusal to acquiesce to an asshole does work. The person is either cowed by your refusal, or realizes that he or she is an asshole and changes. (Bob Sutton wrote a book about assholes in the workplace and some of the research is summarized there). In a situation like Radley’s, all you can do is pretty much what he did, depending on how comfortable you are with confrontation.
As an aside, before I went to law school I spent 8 years in retail, mostly as a manager. Those folks who are really loud and obnoxious are a lot of the time there to distract employees from someone else who is shoplifting. Shoplifting is surprisingly sophisticated. Most of the time with a an asshole customer, the person feels abused by people who don’t give a damn and is just aggravated. Those are pretty easy to deal with for managers.
People who are just assholes for no reason are harder to deal with, because they don’t even want to be reasonable (I have one client who is like that in negotiations. It makes it very hard to defend his position a lot of the time). The way I always dealt with those folks was simple. I just told them that apparently we were not able to meet their needs and perhaps there was another store that could. Then I would just ask them to leave.
My district manager always backed me on those few occasions because an asshole like that is corrosive to the employee’s morale, and affects other customers (many people will leave a store even if they want something when someone is ranting). If you don’t deal with them and tell them to leave, then they keep coming back because you let them push you around. Retail is a hard enough business without assholes, and it’s much better for business to get those people out the door.
“He didn’t seem to mind. He just sorta smiled evilly, then scurried out with his coffee.”
They never do. Tools like this are oblivious to or enjoy the animosity they inspire. Typical responses: “I do what the fuck I want,” “I don’t care what people think about me.” These types are also the first ones to tell you how to do your job, though many I have dealt with have probably never held a job for more than a few months.
I work as a hospital security officer, and on most days I am called to deal with people like this guy. They LOVE to give working people a hard time, even if those working people are trying to help them or even save their wretched lives. I have learned to take their abuse (verbal and physical), but the way they treat the medical staff can be deplorable. Every once in a while, I get to send one of these “characters” out in cuffs. Even though I usually prefer other solutions, it can be theraputic to perp walk a self-absorbed, leering psychopath through a crowded public place. It is difficult to define the concept we know as “justice” (I had to do this in a college essay once), but that feels kinda like justice to me! Thanks for putting up with my rant. It’s been one of those weeks.
Ya know…
Ya coulda just taken the coffee pot out, put your cup under the drip, filled up, replaced the coffee pot and been on your way.
That’s what I woulda done.
Some years ago, I was a manager in a full service restaurant, part of a regional chain. We were taught “the customer is always right” as a mantra, but no one believed it.
If a customer was unhappy with their food or service, even if they had unreasonable expectations (and you wouldn’t believe some of the special orders I saw), I would do what I could to make it right. Pacifying picky petulent jerks is just part of the job, because you not only want their repeat business, you don’t want them driving away other customers.
But there is always that “special” customer out there who lives to cause a scene. Try to pacify them, and you’ll actually lose business because their continued presence is pissing off the other customers.
I got a big round of applause once when I kicked out such a boor. He didn’t want to be pacified or satisfied, he wanted to throw a big fit in public, so I told him he was no longer welcome in this restaurant. “But I want the food I ordered!” “You haven’t paid for any food, but you’ve already eaten your salad and appetizers. If you don’t leave immediately, I’m calling the police.”
I got thanked multiple times by various customers who were tired of having their evening ruined.
Radley: “You’re right Dondero. I should have followed your boy Bush’s example..”
Jeepers Cripes, Radley. You’ve some how summoned Eric Dondero to your blog. Jesus titty fucking Christ!!!! Legend has it that Dondero haunts many libertarian-leaning blogs and engages in nasty, ad hominem attacks in order to bully people into giving up their principles. Listen carefully, buddy. Run to your bathroom, look in the mirror, repeat the word “Dondero” three times in rapid succession, and he just might go away. I AM SO SCARED RIGHT NOW! Do it now, man!
“breaks” -> “brakes”
I have a medical condition where misspellings cause me physical trauma. Damn you Balko! (/sarcasm)
Radley, take a picture of the next jackass who gets you all fired up. It will serve two purposes: It will piss him off (which will probably make you feel a little better, from the sound of things), and it will give your readers a nice visual. We like visuals.
Helmut –
I think Dondero has commented here before. But his M.O. with me is generally to send me explicit, profane emails, usually expressing his disagreement with me by placing me in graphic homoerotic situations with other people Dondero hates, like Daily Kos, George Soros, etc.
It’s really quite charming. And convincing!
Radley,
Yeah, that’s not suprising. A fixation w/ homoerotic situations. That would be a standard tactic of the manly, god-fearin’ uber-Right. And the George Soros as epitome of evil fits right in there too. Fine line between disagreement and cyber-stalking, but I’d have to read up on that. Hope the rest of your weekend is pleasant and asshole free.
Actually, as a single guy, what sets me down the road to misanthropy is this:
http://www.hotchickswithdouchebags.com/
It’s really quite maddening
#13 KB Craig: “I got thanked multiple times by various customers who were tired of having their evening ruined>”
That’s pretty common. Most people don’t go out of their way to treat workers like “the help.” People like this guy make things harder for everyone. And when a dickhead gets tossed out, people are generally relieved and appreciative. Sounds like your actions benefited everybody but Mr. Personality.
I went to the grocery the day after Christmas. They were very low on milk, as their truck was late. I grabbed two of the remaining 1/2 gallon jugs and continued my shopping. I stop to talk with a friend. I notice a gentleman walking nearby with 2 1/2 gallon jugs of milk. I thought “Hey, he’s doing the same thing as me”…When I get to checkout, I find out that those were my jugs of milk. The guy stole them form my basket, most likely when I was distracted talking with my firend. I paid and left the store, drove across the street to another grocery, and bought two gallons of milk as they were stocked extremely well, and they were on sale at that. Unbelieveable.
I feel for you Radley.
There is no Kharma, that guy will never pay for what he did. I’d bet $100 he’s a democrat.
Radley:
Good on you for speaking up, but you were spot-on for eventually stepping aside and letting the asshole do his thing.
In my more headstrong days I almost got walloped for calling a guy out for being a total dick on the road (weaving, cutting people off, riding people’s bumper). He followed me for a good mile or so, and at the next light got out of his car, marched to mine, and (when he couldn’t open the locked door) started trying to smash my window open. I honked my horn like crazy and sped off through a red light to get away.
My takeaway was that assholes in one situation are invariably assholes in another. It’s just not worth it.
(But man is it irritating to take the high road.)
Radley Balko and George Soros erotic fanfiction. HILARIOUS! He must write women’s novels on the side for extra money, or as a masturbatory hobby, some men just love to fantasize about being wrapped up in the arms of a strong man and have him lead them (NTTIAWWT).
In regards to the story, calling a dude an asshole really isn’t a very rewarding insult for you to throw at someone. The guy was in a rush in a McDonald’s INSIDE a Walmart, that’s just a target rich environment right thar. If he was fat, something along the lines of asking him if he was worried they were going to run out of XXXL sweatpants would of been much more satisfying.
Your McDonald’s has self-serve?
Now I know why more don’t.
Radley,
No need to throw punches, but this is one of those rare opportunities to use some of the most colourful language you have.
I think you missed it such an opportunity. Calling someone an asshole just doesn’t cut it anymore. It surely would have been a better story.
There is no Kharma, that guy will never pay for what he did. I’d bet $100 he’s a democrat.
I’ll bet $1000 you’re an idiot. HA! I’m kidding. Make it $10,000.
That’s what concealed carry permits are for.
I see you’re not denying your Girlie-manhood Balko?
Hey, btw, just curious, but did you ever serve in the Military?
Thought not.
Nuff said WIMP!
If you are such a manly man, why did you take the short cut of joining the Navy instead of the Marines?
Ha! Toolbag Donderturd who figuratively fellates Bush/Cheney, neither of whom served a single honest day in the military, calls out Balko for not serving.
I heard they were serving some free troll chow over at the Huff Post. Go, run along now.
Well, one thing is certainly obvious.
Donderoo is *still* a skidmark on the underwear of humanity.
I strongly recommend “The No Asshole Rule” by Robert Sutton.
I’m pretty sure contaminating the decaf coffee is illegal. Which means you had legal justification to use physical force to make him stop doing it.
Eric Dondero: “Nuff said WIMP!”
Eric seems to have the intellectual depth of Biff from back in the future. What are ya lookin’ at buttface? Last I checked, you David Horowitz stand-in you, military service was still voluntary in this country. Nuff said douche.
opencarry.org
Balko/George Soros erotic fanfiction. That’s just disturbing, Donerdo. Truly.
Don’t. Feed. The. Trolls. If you just ignore trolls, they tend to crawl back under their bridges and leave you alone.
Rimfax and John Jenkins- thanks for the book suggestion- great reviews here:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0446526568/theagitator-20/
//We were taught “the customer is always right” as a mantra, but no one believed it.//
It’s not a bad saying, for the most part, if one couples it with, “but not everyone who walks in the door is really a customer”. If someone walks into a business wanting something they can provide under mutually-agreeable terms, the business should strive to accommodate them. It’s important to recognize, however, that not everybody who walks through the door will have reasonable demands; some people should best be escorted and dis-invited.
Well, for one, you can kill someone who is allergic to caffeine or who can’t drink it because of a heart condition. A coworker of mine told me a story about how someone he used to work at Starbucks with nearly killed an old woman by pulling a stunt like this. He didn’t mean for it to go that far, but, well, it did because she had a heart condition and couldn’t take even moderate caffeine.
Given the potential for actually maiming and killing people, Radley would have been justified in using force to stop the man because for a good chunk of consumers of decaffeinated coffee, what the man was doing was damn near like lacing food with cyanide or arsenic.
“…inflicting severe, hot-coffee-related crotch pain.”
That wouldn’t matter RB. “Yes it’s true. This man has no dick.” (Bill Murray in Ghost Busters).
Never fuck with the socio-etiquette-coffee power grid.
Why did I join the Navy instead of the Marines?
Cause the Marines get stuck in one shithole for 4 years, while Navy guys get to see the world. (And I did – some 25 different countries on 5 continents.)
Hey Helmut, damned right the Military is voluntary. And it’s Bush that made sure of that, despite the screams of Democrats who wanted to bring back the Draft. Said Rumsfield: “We’ll bring back the Draft over my dead body.”
But does Bush ever get any credit for that from libertarians? Nah! Just silence on the issue. They can’t credit Bush for anything. Just gotta bash him all the time for everything.
Stub your toe, blame George W. Bush.
Toilet not flushing right? Just blame it on George.
Libertarians don’t make it on the ballot in Maine, Louisiana or West Virginia? Must have been Bush behind it.
Balko, you should change the name of this Blog to:
Agitator for Girlie-manism – If you’re a wimp, we’ll “agitate” for ya.
This article you posted today, completely backs that up. Not only are you a Girlie man when it comes to fighting War – never served in the Military, don’t support the Troops, hate America, support surrendering to Islamo-Fascism, ect… – but when confronted at a store, by a bully coffee drinker, what do you day?
Mumble under your own breath. And let him walk all over you.
I’m laughing my ass off at your silly Leftism. You ain’t no damned libertarian.
You don’t deserve the label. We libertarians are REAL MEN. Not little snot-nosed whiners who go home crying to our momies (substitute pants-wearing overweight 40s something suburban wife).
dondos not a real man, he is a security mom
I got your security mom right here buddy.
We libertarians are REAL MEN. Not little snot-nosed whiners who go home crying to our momies (substitute pants-wearing overweight 40s something suburban wife).
Actually Dondero, my girlfriend of 5 years is 25 years old, libertarian, a well-paid economic consultant, and a smoking hot pilates model. You are right about one thing, though. She does sometimes wear pants.
Best thing? I don’t have to pay her to sleep with me. That makes one of us, eh?
Radley,
I can well understand your frustration, and God knows, I tend to be too confrontational in situations like that. But I don’t think that’s a good thing.
The key thing is to NOT let this take you “down the road to misanthropy”. Honestly the vast majority of people are decent when you start thinking of the number of them you encouter each day. It’s just like dealing with terrorism. If you change your general outlook and attitude towards people, the assholes win.
Why oh why is it so much fun to egg on Donderoooo?
Ooh boy! My toilet just flushed! Time to go blow W.
Back when I worked for the Evil Empire(Disney), we used to have a saying in guest relations: The customer(guest) is not always right, but the customer is always the customer.
What that meant was that, okay, you treat the customer in the best possible way in order to keep them coming back, but there’s a line in there, and don’t feel bad about calling security on their asses if they cross that line.
But call security with a smile.
Strangely, Disney has the reputation of the best customer service in the business, and they do it without bowing and scraping to an asshole’s every whim.
>Honestly the vast majority of people are decent when you start
>thinking of the number of them you encouter each day.
My personal feeling is that most people are really only decent out of laziness.
Ya know what they say about the navy ….
400 sailors set sail from port, 200 couples come back.
Take your homoerotic anti-fanfiction, your delightful warmongering, and your ad hominem attacks and shove them up your … actually, no never mind. Please stick around, your posts are hilarious.
We libertarians are REAL MEN.
We libertarians are REAL freedom lovers. How often have I heard this tripe, libertarians are leftist. Perhaps if you actually studied political philosophy you’d understand how patently absurd that statement is.
Holy shit, Radley! That was you?
I’m sorry, man! When I needs my coffee, I needs my coffee.
No hard feelings, huh?
/you f’en knew that was coming …
Lighten up, Francis!
/Stripes
Dondero is Dwight Schrute from “The Office.” He’s convinced himself that he’s a wise warrior, but the objective reality is that he’s insane and only capable of beating up children, though he’s proud of that fact. And, like on TV, all you can do in response to his particular brand of crazy is say, “Okay…” and look at the camera knowingly.
Doesn’t Eric Dondero get -48 just for being Eric Dondero?
“Jesus titty fucking Christ!!!!”
Helmut, thanks for this new wrinkle. +1 for just you being you.
Lay off the roids, Dondero, and maybe leave Texas for a while. Your brain could use some exposure, it seems. You may fool yourself, and you may even fool non-veterans, but you don’t fool combat veterans. “I wanted to see the world, and not get stuck in some shithole” translates to “I can run my suckhole and act real tough, but I ain’t got the balls to back it up.” (no offense to sailors, either, only this sailor)
You know what? I would have dealt with the coffee situation the same way Balko dealt with it. To most halfway-intelligent humans, a piece of shit who can’t wait four minutes for some coffee isn’t worth throwing your freedom or integrity away for. And besides, it was a funny story.
But hell, I’m not a real man either – I guess jamming a Ka-Bar into his throat in the middle of McDonalds would have been the “real man’s” way of “taking care of bidness,” right? Yeah, “that wooda showed ‘im!”
Anyone who needs to throw their military service around to belittle others has something they’re not telling you – “I don’t quite feel like the big man I tell others I am”-syndrome, perhaps. Only an idiot wishes for combat, you moron. You see, people DIE there! It’s not like lurking below decks and bullying other swabbies, waiting to grease-up in the chow line.
Guys like Dondero have nothing to take pride in, other than their military service. A great accomplishment, sure, but if that and cyber-bullying are the only accomplishments of your life, not so much. The best thing he can do is belittle others who didn’t VOLUNTEER, all the while never realizing that ALL people can perform other valuable services for our country without enlisting. When was the last time you were published on Fox or Cato’s sites, Dondero?
And to hold out George AW.OL Bush as some paragon of military prowess, that’s just f***ing hilarious!
I’m a big fan of punching people in the face when they piss me off.
It usually gets the point across rather nicely.
Odd how we notice the jerks and ignore the decent people.
Well it’s nice to know that all it’s going to take to get Dondero in jail is someone cutting in line and then an ensuing assault charge — shouldn’t take long for him to be cutoff from the interwebs.
Also, about the coffee swiper, decaf tastes the same as regular, so I don’t understand how he could sip it and then have a problem unless he really knew it was decaf all along.
Finally, I hear in gas stations sometimes the employees will mix up the decaf and regular because they hate everyone. Especially lottery players.
Mr. Balko, if you continue to spar with Mr. Dondero like this, the Internet Blogging Commission may have to suspend your license for fighting so far below your intellectual weight class.
Damn, Dondero. It seems like you feel cheated that putting on a uniform and being an “instant hero” didn’t yield the endless supply of blowjobs from fawning groupies that your recruitment officer promised.
Radley, you were in a Walmart, at McDonalds. What did you expect?
This is what I get for missing staff meetings, but who the fuck is Eric Dondero?
(The best way to render a pest irrelevant is to ignore him/her/it.)
As far as giving Mr. Bush credit for doing something right, a wise old saying from my Navy (Never Again Volunteer Yourself) days, comes to mind – “One “Aw Shit” cancels a thousand “Attaboys.””
BTW, another saying from the Navy, has to do with Navy Wives – “You get them back the way you left them – freshly fucked, and crying.”
A Dondero appearance in a thread about misanthropy? Classic.
This is just too fucking hilarious.
Holy shit, I make the DONDERROOOOO call-out and only come back now, and I miss Eric going crazy. Plus responses from Radley.
More please, Eric. This is beyond funny.
*Best thing? I don’t have to pay her to sleep with me. That makes *one of us, eh?
You might want to rephrase that–A quick read of this makes it sound like he is paying your girlfriend to sleep with him
Okay, I’ll bite. Please tell, what constitutes masculinity to all y’all?
I mean you Lefty Libertarians don’t support War under any circumstaces. You don’t support fighting back against some bully who twicks his thumb at you in a coffee line at a Wal-Mart McDonalds.
Tell me why you guys are not considered Pacifists?
Is there ANY instance when you support fighting back?
Half you all didn’t even support the Afghanistan War after 9/11.
Convince me. Why should you not have the label “Pacifist” plastered all over your foreheads?
BTW, for the gentleman above, serving in the Navy does not mean that one cannot also serve in combat.
I served 9 months in the upper Persian Gulf hell hole at the height of the Iran/Iraq War in 1984 on a Guided Missile Destroyer. All 380 of us received decorations for our War Service.
And soon after, our sister ship The USS Starke was attacked by Saddam Hussein’s forces. 37 of my shipmates were killed.
So, careful next time you start spouting your mouth off about shit you know absolutely nothing about.
I think you owe me an apology.
donderlolz, donderloz, ooh ooh my donderlolz.
we should set up some kinda libertarian celebrity wrestling tournament – all proceeds could go to the IJ or maybe MAPS or something like that. i’d chip in a hundred bucks for a shot at donderlolz.
i want souvenir pictures, though, so i can photoshop thought bubbles in later.
“But does Bush ever get any credit for that from libertarians?”
no i congratulated him last week when i said “hey good job not instituting a policy that would be wildly unpopular with all involved constituencies.” he thanked me and asked me where the nearest restroom was. i directed him to the ladies room by mistake.
“You don’t support fighting back against some bully who twicks his thumb at you in a coffee line at a Wal-Mart McDonalds.”
so what do you do? do you assault him? over coffee?
You don’t support fighting back against some bully who twicks his thumb at you in a coffee line at a Wal-Mart McDonalds.
Uh, he wasn’t a bully, he was a dick. A bully is someone who threatens you physically, giving you a moral and legal right to fight back. Dicks, as much as we’d all like to slap them around, aren’t threatening you.
There’s this concept, Eric, that we call the “non-aggression principle”. You don’t beat the shit out of people for cutting in line. Sorry, tuff gai.
I would like to say that this thread is a classic example of ignoring the decent people in favor of the jerks.
But bagging on DONDEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO is just too much fun. Sometimes the fish just tastes better if it’s shot in the barrel, you know?
DONDEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
Here’s what I would have done. And this did happen to me in Michigan at a restaurant back in October. Two guys had a few beers, with their large family. I defended some old guy who made a stupid remark to them, asking them to leave the table cause their party wanted it. The guys ignored him and came after me, cause I was younger and part of his group. I bowed up. Said, “come on with it assholes… let’s take it outside.” One of them threw a napkin in my face.
Well, we took it outside, and their wives convinced them to back off.
I called their bluff.
If I was Radley I would have said, “Hey asshole, come on outside mother fucker.” I would not have slugged him there in McDonalds.
Cops are much more tolerant of two guys fighting outside than in a public venue. They probably would have just given him a ticket and sent him on his way.
And a $200 fine would have been well-worth it, to keep one’s masculinity. I can sleep well at night. Wonder if Radley can do the same, now knowing his got a serious Girlie Man streak about him.
Well, we took it outside, and their wives convinced them to back off.
It was good of their wives to convince them not to beat up on a mentally ill person.
Episiarch, you also don’t sacrifice your masculinity, and let someone walk all over you.
And btw, FUCK THAT GODDAMNED LOONEY TUNES ANARCHIST NO AGGRESSION PLEDGE!!!
That Rothbardian cult oath, has no bearing on real Libertarians. Only Leftist Anarchist so-called “libertarian” Fruitcakes subscribe to that Bullshit Pledge… “We the member of the Omni-Potent Cult blah, blah, blah… Fuck that bullshit!
Eric, have you been drinking? Seriously, pacing yourself is important.
Episiarch, you also don’t sacrifice your masculinity, and let someone walk all over you.
Your masculinity seems to be very vulnerable. The guy was a dick. Radley called him an asshole. He didn’t meekly stand by and do nothing. The guy wasn’t violent, and Radley wasn’t violent.
You’re being a massive Internet Tuff Gai today, Eric. Please regale us with more stories, as they are TEH AWESOME, but not in the way you think.
yes more stories please.
also what do you think of the wrestling for charity idea eric? do you believe that charity is a good thing to wrestle for? (tip: you don’t lose your masculinity unless you make eye contact)
So, DONDEROO, ya got one o’ them “boots on the ground” “medals”, huh?
I know a guy who didn’t even finish boot camp (medical/psych release) who has that one. Says so, right on his discharge papers.
Real combat vets roll their eyes and chuckle when they read shit from the likes of you.
Next you’ll be telling us about the Purple Heart you got for the paper cut you got got processing requisition forms for asswipe.
I like making excuses for people. I have a great deal of fun with it. For the coffee guy, I’d just assume he’s being a dick because his wife left him and his hemorrhoids were acting up. See? You’re no longer angry when you feel sorry for the poor schmo.
As for the gentleman who is over preoccupied with his own perceived masculinity – I just figure he’s upset for failing the Penile plethysmograph while viewing hot homoerotic porn.
See? It’s easy to feel sorry for him too.
You’re not a real man unless you beat him bloody, grab him by the hair as he tries to crawl away, make him plead for his life and then shoot him in the back executioner style…
Wow, so this is why comments went away. All it took is one asshole and for 10 people to take the bait. I’m surprised that Radley and the rest of you tried to engage in intelligent debate with a guy who is obviously getting his jollies from the attention.
Mr. Dondero says;
“I served 9 months in the upper Persian Gulf hell hole at the height of the Iran/Iraq War in 1984 on a Guided Missile Destroyer. All 380 of us received decorations for our War Service.
And soon after, our sister ship The USS Starke was attacked by Saddam Hussein’s forces. 37 of my shipmates were killed.”
Mr. Dondero, you’re as full of shit as a Christmas Goose…
The USS Stark (correct spelling) (FFG-31) was a Perry class FFG (Fast Frigate, Guided Missile). Her ships complement consisted of 15 Officers & 190 Enlisted, plus a LAMPS (Light Airborne Multi-Purpose System) complement of 6 Officers & 15 Enlisted – giving her a total ships complement of 226 Officers and Enlisted…
She was struck by 2 Exocet antiship missiles, launched by an Iraqi Mirage F1 fighter, on May 17, 1987 – THREE YEARS after you say you were there…
IF you were ever in the Navy at all (which I seriously doubt) you would know that the ship you claim to have been on, with a ships complement of 380 Officers and Enlisted (roughly the complement of a CG, or Cruiser, Guided Missile) would not have been a “sister ship” to the USS Stark, and that the 37 people killed on the Stark (and 21 injured) would NOT have been YOUR shipmates…
The next thing you’ll be telling us, is that you were an instructor at Coronado (SEALS)…
Eric,
It’s nothing short of a miracle that you’re working as a police officer. I mean, you’ve got the ‘stache, the anger management issues, and the sense of entitlement/ superiority over “civilians”. Tell me you wouldn’t have fun blowing away dogs to prove your manhood.
Edit that to read “not working”
Wow, so this is why comments went away. All it took is one asshole and for 10 people to take the bait. I’m surprised that Radley and the rest of you tried to engage in intelligent debate with a guy who is obviously getting his jollies from the attention.
This one’s a special case, because unlike a troll, Dondero really believes everything he’s saying.
@22 jason, who said “There is no Kharma, that guy will never pay for what he did. I’d bet $100 he’s a democrat.”
And, he walked out to the parking lot and climbed behind the wheel of either an Audi, a Mercedes, or a BMW.
That kind usually does.
Radley, congrats on keeping your cool. More congrats on speaking up.
In similar situations, (eg: Assholes on the road who pass you then immediately brake in your lane to make a turn.) I console myself with the notion that their actions will come back on them at some point (In my example, I hope that it’s a loaded 18 wheeler with no brakes.)
Ah, nostalgia! This thread brings me back to my college days, when I worked various bars in Navy towns and listened to the puffed-up resumes of guys desperate to get laid. I met more self-proclaimed SEALS than there are sailors in the entire Navy. I met a guy who swore he’d proven Einstein was wrong about the speed of light (something about how “Einstein measured the amount of heat in the universe, but forgot to measure cold” [yeah, I know]). I even met guys who thought “Hey, baby, what’s your sign?” was a good pick-up line. In the mid-90s.
But I never once met a male clueless enough to think “I know I’m a real man, because a ship that looks kind of like mine got attacked in the Persian Gulf a few years after I left.”
The moral of this story is: “The desperate horny hard-ons with legs you’ll meet if you work in strip clubs are still a hell of a lot smarter than Eric Dondero.”
One has to wonder why, if Eric is so proud of his service, why he would be on here flaunting it in everybody’s face and generally acting like a prick?
Generally, people who have served are proud of it, but in a reserved, humble way that befits the way Service Members should act.
You’re embarrassing the entire Service, Eric.
Thanks, John Wilburn. Aside from misspelling “his sister ship” ["Stark" not "Starke"], getting the class wrong [frigate not destroyer], and getting the complement wrong [226 not 380], Donderoo also claims to have been decorated for action that the USS Samuel B. Roberts (Stark’s sister) didn’t see until 1988 [not 1984].
Since he takes credit for service that he didn’t render, I can see why he so reveres W, Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc. They are the masters at it. I can only wonder what he really did for to those two guys out back of that restaurant in Michigan.
Shits. Nothing like trying to show someone else’s ignorance and revealing your own. I was wrong to assume that Dondero was claiming that he served on the Roberts when she hit a mine.
“I served 9 months in the upper Persian Gulf hell hole at the height of the Iran/Iraq War in 1984…”
You’re old (fuck you)
keyboard warriors are the best.
“I stopped by the in-store McDonalds for a coffee”
That’s the real problem right there…
Anyone who puts himself in a position of having to kill on someone else’s orders, just because someone else says somebody needs killing, is just plain pig-ass stupid. It’s that simple. Anyone who substitutes someone else’s judgement for his own in such matters is a shithead, pure and simple. One reason the founding fathers considered standing armies a nursery of tyrants is that their institutional culture breeds authoritarian shitheads like Dondero.
But it’s nice to know Dondero thinks Dick Cheney is a wimp.
Hey, maybe Radley had “other priorities” too.
John Wilburn,
The USS Starke, yes a Fast Frigate, was absolutely our Sister Ship. We were both stationed out of Mayport, Florida in the mid-1980s.
Now, I honestly don’t know if my old ship – the USS Luce DDG-38 has been mothballed, moved to another home port, or what? But I can tell you that in the middle 1980s, when I served on the Luce, the Starke was most assuredly our Sister Ship. This is what our Captain told us. This is what all the sailors in Mayport knew. Just a cold hard fact.
BTW, thank you for acknowledging the 37 sailors who were killed by Saddam.
Anti-War Libertarians love to rant and rave, “Saddam never attacked the United States.”
Really now. Tell that to the families of those 37 dead Sailors.
At least you were honest enough to recall the event, I’ll give you that.
David, where in the hell do you get the idea I’m a Police Officer?
I work as a Professional Petitioner for Property Rights, Spending Cap, and other libertarian/conservative initiatives, and occasionally for the Libertarian Party.
It’s Police Officers who mostly try to keep me from doing my business, in front of Post Offices, public libraries, and County Courthouses.
Mr. Dondero’s constant shouting about masculinity and wimpiness seems a bit too loud and a bit too earnest. As if he were trying to make up for something, or cover it it. Quite breathlessly, too.
Projection, perhaps?
“Methinks the lady doth protest too much” if you know what I mean…
;)
Mr. Dondero, the more you say, the more you confirm that you were never on a U.S. Naval vessel, and were almost certainly never in the Navy at all…
I’ll go as slowly as I can, and regret that I haven’t included pictures, but try to keep up, anyway…
A sister ship is a ship of the same class as, or of virtually identical design to, another ship. For instance, the U.S. warships USS Iowa, USS New Jersey, USS Missouri, and USS Wisconsin, are all sister ships, each being an Iowa-class battleship.
1). There has never been a US Naval vessel named “USS Starke.”
2). There was once a US Naval vessel named “USS Stark” that was an FFG of the “Perry” class – she was 453 feet long, 45 feet wide (widest point). She was commissioned on October 23, 1982.
3) There were three US Naval vessels named “USS Luce.” The latest of them was originally a DLG (DLG-7) of the “Farragut” class. She was 512.5 feet long, 52 feet wide (widest point). She was commissioned on May 20, 1961. On June 30, 1975, all DLG’s of the US Navy were re-classified as either DDG’s or CG’s. The USS Luce (DLG-7), because of her size, was re-classified as a DDG. Since there was already a DDG-7 (USS Henry B. Wilson), the USS Luce’s hull number was changed to “38” and she became DDG-38.
4). No Naval Officer who is qualified to command a warship (even while drunk), would refer to a “Perry” class FFG, and a “Farragut” class DDG, as “sister ships.”
5). No one who has ever been part of the crew of a Naval vessel, would refer to a member of a different vessel’s crew, as a “shipmate.”
6). You, Eric Dondero, are not on the crew list(s) of either the USS Luce, or the USS Samuel B. Roberts.
You, Mr. Dondero, are a lying piece of shit, and your lies reflect enormous disrespect for those of us who did serve our country…
Now, do us all a favor, and shut the fuck up…
Mr. Wilburn, I can’t tell you how much I’m loving your demolition of the egregious Dondero’s much vaunted “service record.” But I do wonder, with regard to your point #6 above: is there, by any chance, an Eric Rittberg on the crew lists of either the USS Luce or the USS Samuel B. Roberts?
JR
Maybe Dondero’s captain was the guy who told me Einstein forgot to measure the amount of cold in the universe.
Mr. Riggenbach,
No Eric Rittberg that I can find…
JRW
My name is Eric (Dondero) Rittberg. I was on the USS Luce from 1982 to 1985. (Dondero is my Italian biological Father’s name that I adopted in the early 1990s.)
Provide me with a fax number, and I’ll go over to the Office Depot in Lake Jackson, and send you a copy of my DD-214, Honorable Discharge certificate, and our 1984 USS Luce DDG-38 yearbook with my photo – SK2 Eric Rittberg – in it, in the Supply Dept. section. I was stationed out of Mayport, Florida. Before that, I was on the USS Kittyhawk CV-63 out of San Diego. Also, in Supply. Though, temporarily assigned to flight deck duty as an Aviation Storekeeper, AK.
Also, I attended Boot Camp in Orlando, FL, early 1981. A School in Meridian, MS.
Additionally, I am a current member of both the VFW and American Legion. And am a 20-year Federal Appointee to the Selective Service Board – Houston Region.
Please email me your fax number at ericdondero@yahoo.com.
After that, I expect a full apology to you on this Forum.
(BTW, if you know Marine and Radical Libertarian Thomas Knapp, he can verify all this information.)
Riggenbach, I was never of the Samuel Roberts. Never even heard of the ship.
Try the USS Kittyhawk CV-63.
Of course, I meant to say a “full apology from you to me on this forum.”
Mr. Dondero (or is that Rittberg?),
You may consider this a full and sincere apology for calling you a lying piece of shit – I accept your word that you were in the Navy, and served aboard the Luce & Kitty Hawk.
Also, I ask that you accept my sincerest and heartfelt thanks, for falling squarely into the trap I set for you – from reading your posts, I had a feeling that you were either a Commissaryman (Cook) or Storekeeper (“Pork Chop,” in Naval slang), who suffered from delusions of grandeur – you’re not the first that I’ve encountered. I guess sitting below decks, counting boxes and filling out requisition forms for Toilet Paper and Condoms, wasn’t “heroic & manly” enough for you…
Now that you’ve been exposed as a wimp, by your own words, you can get over yourself…
BTW – attempting to align yourself with the 37 young men who gave their lives on the USS Stark (none of whom were SK’s), is thoroughly disgusting, and remains an issue that you need to resolve with them…
John Wilburn:
Dondero has no idea how much other stuff he’s giving away about himself from some of his more bizarre reactions on this thread. For example, his obsession with the alleged homosexuality of others and his obsessive dread of “sacrificing his masculinity” make me wonder just what he’s overreacting to. Could it be something that happened when he was a staffer for Congressman Mark Foley? Or maybe something that happened in the Navy (remember that old saw about “rum, sodomy and the lash”?). Anyone who freaks out that badly about threats to his masculinity, and obsessively questions the masculinity of others, has some pretty fucked up issues about SOMETHING. That ‘stache covers a real purty mouth.
BTW, for someone who’s worked in a professional capacity for more than one political campaign, Dondero’s pretty indiscrete about resorting to inappropriate personal abuse by email and commenting at blogs. He ought to know this stuff is all preserved in his “permanent record” for the next time he gets hired as a campaign staffer and someone brings it to the attention either of his employer or the press. This could all come back to bite him in the ass.
BTW, it just occurred to me: Is anyone familiar with the character Percy Wetmore in Stephen King’s The Green Mile?
@Kevin Carson 1/6/09 17:10
This could all come back to bite him in the ass.
Maybe he’d enjoy that. :-O
“Is there ANY instance when you support fighting back?”
Yeah–Cory Maye. And I’d support the Iranians fighting back with some Sunburn missiles if it comes to that, and sending a few carriers to the bottom of the Indian Ocean. Very few of us are pacifists. We just know who the real bad guys are. For someone who’s so worried about “sacrificing your masculinity,” you sure didn’t worry when you joined the Navy and let Reagan make you into his bitch.
Wow, I was a “staffer” for Mark Foley? Really? When was that exactly?
Actually, I was a staffer for US Congressman Ron Paul for 6 years, 1997-2003, his Senior Staffer, as a matter of fact, scheduler, and personal aide in the District.
Phil Blumel, Tom Walls and I walked some precincts for Foley, way back when, in the early 1990s, when he was running for State Senate in Ft. Meyers, Florida.
But can’t say I was ever on his Staff.
Wow Wilburn, now we’re judging people by what Rate they had in the Service? Golly gee, does that mean QuarterMasters are better than Boatswains Mates? Machinist Mates better than Postal Clerks or Corpmen? And Operations Specialist maybe more “superior” than a mere Gunner’s Mate, perhaps?
My gosh, you are warped.
And no I don’t accept your apology. It was laced with smart-ass-ism, and sny remarks, so fuck you and have a nice day. Apology not accepted.
Hey, apologies to all here. Sorry that my Military Service doesn’t live up to the standards that Mr. Carson sets. Sorry, I just spent 65 days out at sea twice on a deployment in the Indian Ocean, not seeing a speck of land. Sorry for my month-long assignment with the Seabees out on Diego Garcia. Sorry that us Storekeepers would work only 48 hours straight with no sleep and only box lunches on the Carrier during Vert-reps and Un-reps, getting the Ship’s supplies on board, one of the most dangerous jobs out to sea.
Hey, Carson, I’m just soooo sorry that I was just a mere Storekeeper for 4 years.
Sorry I don’t meet your very high standards. Guess you were some sort of Navy Seal or something, right?
Now, I’m questioning your knowledge of the US Navy. I was a Storekeeper for 4 years. And I was called a lot of things. But I never once heard the term “pork chopper.” Perhaps you have us confused with Cooks, or something?
I think you’re confusing Mr. Wilburn’s criticisms with mine. My comment was on the weirdness of your preoccupation with defensively asserting, re-asserting, and re-re-asserting your masculinity and questioning that of your opponents, combined with your obsessive fear of “sacrificing” masculinity, and what it inadvertently reveals about the sick little drama that plays on an endless loop in Donderoland.
As for your apology to all here, I’m sure if you can just go off somewhere and kill yourself, retroactively nullify your existence, and erase your entire worldline from the four-dimensional continuum, we’ll all be happy to call it even.
Mr. Dondero (or is that Rittberg?)
You misunderstand – it is YOU that see Storekeepers as wimps – this is why you so desperately need to prove that YOU are a man – by taking credit for, or otherwise aligning yourself with the actions of those who are men. (Hint – you can’t prove what isn’t true – manhood is about integrity, which is an entirely foreign concept to a lying, self-aggrandizing weasel like yourself).
The fact of the matter is that you were a wimp, before you joined the Navy. I’ll bet that when you were growing up, the other girls on the playground slapped you around a lot…
You say you were called many things while you were in the Navy (all of them perfectly true and applicable, I’m sure) – this is probably the first truthful statement you have made, in recent memory…
The term “Pork Chop” has been used to denote Supply personnel, for as long as the US Navy has had Supply personnel – because you haven’t heard it before simply supports the level of ignorance of the Navy, that you have already indicated (thinks that a sister ship is one that has the same homeport as your own, thinks that a shipmate is someone on that sister ship, and so forth…).
You really are to be pitied…
Dondero, your service is appreciated.
But manly? You’re exactly as manly as my wife.
Ahem, alleged service.
Mr. Dondero, the more you say, the more you confirm that you were never on a U.S. Naval vessel, and were almost certainly never in the Navy at all…
I’ll go as slowly as I can, and regret that I haven’t included pictures, but try to keep up, anyway…
A sister ship is a ship of the same class as, or of virtually identical design to, another ship. For instance, the U.S. warships USS Iowa, USS New Jersey, USS Missouri, and USS Wisconsin, are all sister ships, each being an Iowa-class battleship.
1). There has never been a US Naval vessel named “USS Starke.”
2). There was once a US Naval vessel named “USS Stark” that was an FFG of the “Perry” class – she was 453 feet long, 45 feet wide (widest point). She was commissioned on October 23, 1982.
3) There were three US Naval vessels named “USS Luce.” The latest of them was originally a DLG (DLG-7) of the “Farragut” class. She was 512.5 feet long, 52 feet wide (widest point). She was commissioned on May 20, 1961. On June 30, 1975, all DLG’s of the US Navy were re-classified as either DDG’s or CG’s. The USS Luce (DLG-7), because of her size, was re-classified as a DDG. Since there was already a DDG-7 (USS Henry B. Wilson), the USS Luce’s hull number was changed to “38” and she became DDG-38.
4). No Naval Officer who is qualified to command a warship (even while drunk), would refer to a “Perry” class FFG, and a “Farragut” class DDG, as “sister ships.”
5). No one who has ever been part of the crew of a Naval vessel, would refer to a member of a different vessel’s crew, as a “shipmate.”
6). You, Eric Dondero, are not on the crew list(s) of either the USS Luce, or the USS Samuel B. Roberts.
You, Mr. Dondero, are a lying piece of shit, and your lies reflect enormous disrespect for those of us who did serve our country…
Now, do us all a favor, and shut the fuck up…