Do you really think that this turnip-for-brains doesn’t already know that homophobic insults and threats aren’t against the “rules” (of society, let alone the particular pub in which he’s currently oozing) or that he cares?
Hello folks, sorry I haven’t been back since my initial rant, I’m just sorry most of you weren’t there to back us up. Thank you. Just to clarify a few things:
- Landlord is indeed to title for a pub owner in the UK
- The pub is a very liberal family-orientated kind of place with a very arty/liberal clientele. This guy stood out precisely for NOT being a regular. Even without the abuse, it would’ve been in the Landlord’s best interests to chuck this lowlife out.
- As to whether we obviously looked like lesbians, meh, probably. We’re not butch or frumpy (no flannel shirts, no way), but we’ve got shortish hair and live in an area full of gay couples, so it would be a fair guess. I really couldn’t care less, I’m not interested in living in the closet.
Er, because this is a US forum? Besides, get your facts straight, British police can indeed arrest you for any of the following offences related to alcohol:
* public drunkenness
* creating a nuisance
* urinating in public
* threatening behaviour
This guy fitted at least three of these categories.
Please tell me, what are women like? The complaint to the Landlord was a loud:
" Excuse me, this bloke is being threatening and abusive on the basis of my sexuality"
which resulted in the landlord’s weak response. My partner followed up with
“That’s not good enough, HE does not belong in this pub behaving like that”
At which point we left, because this scary piece of shit looked more than able to start throwing punches. And I draw the line right there.
No, all my own invention
Sadly, he was only about 30. He looked like one of those angry white working-class boys who thinks he’s a minority in his own country. What you’d call a redneck, what we’d call a chav or white van man.
How, exactly, does one determine babies are gay/lesbian?
May I suggest staple gunning the scrotum to his thigh instead? Gets the point across much faster. Plus it’s a larger target 
Would “being a sack of piss” count as “urinating in public”? Cos we’re up to 4 out of 4, then.
I had to give a short verbal presentation in a language class, about the evolution of the family. I chose “adoption by non-traditional parents” as my subject (thanks again by the way, matt). The group was too big for all the presentations to be done in a single day; mine was on the first and I got an elephant-sized hunch that the teacher didn’t like the subject, as she got all stiff. This was confirmed on the second day, when she had similar reactions as two other students talked about same-sex marriage.
I don’t think she’s realized that all that rainbow and purple stuff a fourth student wears is not just a fashion statement, and I’m definitely not planning on informing her. We’re shocking the poor baby hard enough as is (she’s young, second-generation and evidently a lot less modern than she thought she was, we’re putting her through her paces bigtime).
Well done Nava, I guess sometimes even the teachers need educating
Well, if you did that then I think that changes my viewpoint as he really should have done as you asked.
Even so there isn’t anything wrong with being publicly drunk, unless one is drunk and incapable in Scotland.
Right. However, future-garbage-truck-attachment-man was not just publicly drunk, but publicly drunk and belligerent. That’s not just drunk in public, that’s disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, etc.
What are the chances that the landlord was simply a coward? Have you seen him toss other abusive and scary drunks out?
Big chance, the landlord comes across as quite a gentle soul, and is fairly new to the business, I think (the pub only reopened under new management last year). I suspect ‘how to deal with abusive drunks’ is one of those things he’s still working on.
For the record, I haven’t seen any other abusive scary drunks in that particular pub, it doesn’t tend to attract that sort of person - as I said, it’s a family kind of place, at least on Sunday lunchtimes.
Most likely then the landlord was simply not up for doing what was right. Our local pub is like what you describe - not a place that usually needs a bouncer (or indeed ever - I don’t think I’ve ever seen an openly abusive patron; someone with a few too many, sure, but no fights or anything like that). Dunno how the barkeep would react to a nasty drunk abusing people. I hope better than your guy.
That’s a different situation from a landlord in a rougher sort of place well capable of chucking drunks who simply didn’t think abusing lesbians a big deal (or even worse, agreed with it).
SV - I have nothing witty to add - just wanted to be one more voice saying I am so sorry you had to experience this.
I’m just baffled as how one identifies a “carpet muncher” at birth? Most of my lesbian friends didn’t figure that out until much later - not to mention the one that just married a man (and this is a woman with comfortable shoes, rainbow and “See You In August” bumper stickers on her small car and the hair and dress style of a shorter Rachel Maddow).
And is one still a “carpet muncher” if your lover shaves?
I was just trying to figure out what we’d do if we were in a pub and someone started acting like that, and it occurred to me that I have never, in 20 years living in Calgary, seen this kind of public abuse of homosexuals. Take that, Rest of Canada calling Albertans rednecks! We (and everyone in the pub, I suspect) would be horrified - you just don’t do that, to anyone, for any reason. I did see a guy throw a chair once, but it was over a Roughriders game - you know how that is.
I’ve been known to chew the carpet now and again and I’m not even a lesbian!
For that matter, wouldn’t “fucking carpet muncher” imply a certain versatility?
Limberness, at the very least.
Hmmm…on the drunk in public thing…I don’t think its a crime in New Zealand - until its coupled with something else (vomiting, being disordely etc etc).
I do know that pub patrons are positively encouraged to walk home after a night out drinking.
On the handling of the arsehole - my father used to be a bar manager for a small family pub of the sort described in the OP. This place I think had one fight in like 15 years of operation.
I don’t KNOW what his reaction to the drunk in the OP would have been - I can well imagine that if it was a regular or local (this was a small country town, most patrons were known in the community) I THINK he would have reminded the guy that the language not appropriate and asked him to keep it down.
I can also well imagine other patrons saying something if the drunk was from out of town - that sort of thing is not well tolerated around families (not that I think people would have been confrontational though)
I also know that dad did once ask a gang of Hell’s Angels to leave to pub carpark at 5:00 am…so I don’t think he’s exactly a coward, just not a confrontational sort of guy.
“This guy” under discussion was such a jerk off his straight “friends” had probably just shunned him for good.
So, in his mind, he “stepped down” a bit and was experiencing remorse. He felt like he had to take it out on someone.
Over here, assholes like that tend to get a good, old-fashioned, country ass-kickin’ on a regular basis. It is what he expected.
On this side of the pond the law varies by State.
Where I live those 4 you listed are all serious crimes as:
“Public intoxication” (intoxication is chemically measurable–drunkenness is not as easily measured)
“Disturbing the peace” (in contrast, a public nuisance is a swimming pool with no fence around it)
“Moral turpitude” (urinating in public, prostitution, etc.)
and…saving the best for last:
“Terroristic Threat” in Texas Statutory Law
applicable:
(a) A person commits an offense if he threatens to commit any offense involving violence to any person or property with intent to:
…place any person in fear of imminent serious bodily injury;
…prevent or interrupt the occupation or use of a building; room; place of assembly; place to which the public has access; place of employment or occupation; aircraft, automobile, or other form of conveyance; or other public place;
…place the public or a substantial group of the public in fear of serious bodily injury…
Disclaimer, this is not legal advice.
Meant to add, sorry you went through that.
Idiots like that guy are best avoided, like a pile of dog shit on the sidewalk.