I was playing Table Tennis with my mate, and a ball from the other TT table came near our board, and trying some of my football skills I tried to juggle the ball and kick the TT ball back to the other guy.
Try is a major word here. I failed big time, and stomped on the ball by mistake. People who’ve played TT will know, once you step on the ball it gets stomped and you can’t play with it anymore.
I apologized to the guy, and offered another new ball which I had in my pocket. I handed him the ball, and within a second he threw that ball at my face. I was a bit mad, but I left it there.
Resumed playing ping pong with my mate, and our ball flew to the other TT table. The guy on purpose jumped 2 feet in the air and stomped on the ball. Then he says “SORRY”.
I got really really mad. But i left that guy there. Didn’t say anything, didn’t do anything. If I wanted to could’ve broken his bones there and then, but I controlled my anger really well.
The only reason I left him was that he had a physical disadvantage against me, if I decided to best the shit outta him. I’m quite stocky. That guy was about 165cm and maybe 120lbs.
A little worrying that you said that the “only reason” you didn’t clobber him was that he was smaller than you. Okay, that’s chivalrous… But nobody should clobber anybody. He was a jerk, but that doesn’t warrant a fight.
Shoulda laughed at him (heck, I laughed just reading your account), and then if he made a move on you, then go all Hulk on him.
Or maybe not, little guy might be crazy.
i believe a similar incident in 1837 involving a loose croquet hoop, a mud puddle, and a contemptuous smirk led to the first recorded use of the now classic “piano wire garotte.”
Break something by mistake and replace it? Yes, that’s the right thing.
Not lose your temper when somebody else was acting like a jerk? Again, the right thing.
That guy was a dick. Anger issues. You even offered him another ball.
As for whether you did the right thing, well obviously. You didn’t beat him up or start yelling at him. You did control your anger quite well. I am impressed.
Right. The initial gesture could be taken as flippant and derisive. It sounds like you did the best you could after that, but stomping his ball, even by accident, was the Wrong Thing that set the tone.
As a general rule, don’t try to be cute or clever if you don’t know you can pull it off.
I’ll dissent from the popular opinion. You did the wrong thing by not calling him out for his behavior. Sure, you shouldn’t have gotten violent, but you should not have rewarded his behavior by doing nothing. If there are no consequences for bad behavior, people will continue with that behavior.
It’s also quite likely this guy is going to pull something similar with someone who can’t control his anger. It would have been far better for you to have scolded him now than for him to be hurt later.
I don’t think you are some horrible guy or anything, but with a choice between doing the right thing and doing a wrong thing, you did the latter. It was better than having beat him up, but worse than having let him know what he did was wrong.
IMO you forfeited any “bigger man” points you may have earned when you went online and bragged about how restrained you were despite being such a (theoretical) badass.
