Odd/eccentric/high? WWYD?

[Sir William]

OK. This is something that is becoming common in my area. Meth freaks, the mentally ill out in public and wasted people out and about. We are having a total breakdown in controlling these individuals because of state budget cuts. Now, I will give you a scenario. A wildeyed, snaggle toothed, stinking, unkempt and extremely nervous individual bounds into a eatery that you are patronizing. He jumps literally in the air and claps his hands on entry. He goes to a booth and sits down. No, he jumps up and goes to a table. No, he jumps up and goes to a different booth. No, he jumps up and goes to a front window booth. He is now pouring sugar in his hand and licking his filthy palm. He is seemingly agitated. He belches. He is looking around nervously. You are a paying customer and so (maybe) is he. What is your next move? Where is your awareness level? The three primates? See no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil? If you watch him, he may stare back, even confront you. Leave? There is NO law that says he must be locked up. There is nowhere to put him unless he is a obvious threat to himself or others. Are you nervous/irritated by his behavior? He is now picking his nose and using a toothpick to clean under his nails.

[stratus]

What is your next move?

My next move would be to become quietly annoyed.

Where is your awareness level?

Pretty alert, but discrete.

The three primates? See no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil?

Do see it, do hear it, don't speak it - for now.

If you watch him, he may stare back, even confront you.

Well, a glance out of the corner of my eye every few moments is warranted. I'd try not to make myself too obvious that I find him to be a dubious sort.

Leave?

No way. Why should I change my plans... he's the one who sucks at life!

There is NO law that says he must be locked up. There is nowhere to put him unless he is a obvious threat to himself or others.

Yeah... so in fairness, I'd choose to tolerate his presence, since after all he hasn't really done anything horrendous. But I'd keep tabs on him, if he seems to be a little out of his mind or if his behavior merits raising my alertness level in the first place.

Are you nervous/irritated by his behavior?

Yes. I'm just wired that way. I get nervous/irritated when unkempt freak shows clap their hands for no reason and try every seat in the place while I'm eating. Did they have to show up while I was eating? In all seriousness though, sometimes you just get a feeling about people. I get that feeling about quite a few people. I wouldn't say most people, but it happens plenty.

He is now picking his nose and using a toothpick to clean under his nails.

Hey, something we have in common? Maybe the guy's not such a bad sort after all!

Oh wait, I only do that in the car while pretending to be invisible. He probably doesn't even have a car. Yeah... back to being irritated/nervous.

[Dwight55]

Our society, by definition, is a free society, . . . and as long as this individual is not harming anyone else, . . . he should be allowed to continue in our society.

If not, . . . then we better start by fencing in one of our larger western states, . . . just to have a place to put all these marginal folks our society has produced.

Always keep in mind, . . . the acorn always falls near its parent tree, . . . and conversely, . . . all members of a society are produced by that society.

May God bless,
Dwight

[NukemJim]

If not, . . . then we better start by fencing in one of our larger western states, . . . just to have a place to put all these marginal folks our society has produced.

Western state, Why is it always a western state that people want to fencein/wall off to put all the wackos in ?

I say we wall off an Eastern state. There are many to choose from Mass, New Jersey, New York etc... AND don't forget a lot of the wackos are already in the eastern states so it would be less work.

NukemJim

PS the western states work better for shooting ranges anyway.

[Tim Burke]

East, West, as long as it's the right state, I'm happy.
Now, back on topic...
I leave.

[SMITH910]

Sir William: What did you do? That must have been scary and nerve racking.

[XavierBreath]

Sir Will,
What you are describing is a man who is out of touch with reality. As such, he is a danger to himself and others. Think not? Just allow him out in traffic. Somebody will get hurt.

As a danger to himself and others, he can and should be committed for 72 hours observation. This can be done by a physician, a judge or the coroner. The trick is getting him there. The trick is getting him out of your face so you can go on with your meal. That is the restaurant owner's job. If the owner can't keep nut jobs out of my face while I'm eating, I will find a place that can. Period.

If he becomes a threat, it's a different story. To tell the truth, I do not do well with unrestrained nut jobs. That's my wife's area of expertise. I would simply take the top off a pepper shaker and wait.

The real question is why this is happening in your area, and what you can do to reverse the trend. These people were institutionalized at one time, before their individual rights became more important than the rights of society.

There is NO law that says he must be locked up.

While there may be no laws that say he MUST be locked up, there are laws saying he CAN be locked up, at least for 72 hours. The trick is making certain they are enforced.

[Doug.38PR]

Pull your gun and shoot him.


I see people like that from time to time hanging around courthouses. They seem drawn to government buildings for some reason (maybe they are government officials, we've seen enough of them on CSPAN and FOX)


There was a guy that used to come into Fort Bend Texas county clerks office all the time. He was a bum off the street, you could smell him all the way over in Harris county clerks office :barf: He was looking for a will that didn't exist that his family supposedly left him money and property. He could never find it, he snagged my dad into helping him search the records for it. One of the clerks whispered to me that the guy had a few loose screws and that dad didn't need to feel obligated to help him. I slipped over and whispered that note to dad. He had already figured it out long before and corrected me that the guy didn't have a few lose screws.....he had A LOT of lose screws. . Anyway, this guy came in about once a week. He had been coming there for months or even years constantly going over the probate indexees and deed records looking for something that didn't exist. He believed that the family had denied him the will and hid it from him and that the county clerk officials were working with the family conspiring against him as a plot to deny him his heirship (really you feel sorry for the poor guy)
One day he came in to look, ask one of the clerks, started yelling at her "I'm sick of this, I have been coming in here for years and you won't give me my family will. You are hiding it from me!" etc. etc.
Two sheriff deputies came downstairs and kindly told him (he was old and crippled and walked with a cane BTW) gently it was time to leave and escorted him out. (I thought he was going to hit the clerk over the head with the cane at one point...he was that worked up)

Another time in Leon County Texas a guy happend into the clerks office and "announced" that "George Bush creates nuclear weapons out of toxic waste plants in Wisconsin just like Gerald Ford did back in 1922 bla bla bla" or some worthless blather of information like he had just read it out of a bunch of magazines and formed a conspiracy theory. After his calm 10 second announcement he turned and walked out leaving us to chuckle. The clerks told us he did that all the time. I would see him at the gas station up the street talking to "someone" over the pay phone (probably the FBI about terroists in Leon County )

The guy you are refering to is obviously not as harmless and certainly not amusing and should be delt with. I wouldn't call the manager I would call the police and get him out of there ASAP as the manager has hopefully already done.

[alpineman]

The awareness would get "cranked up" (if you'll pardon the pun), that's for sure. Other than that, I may get my cell phone accessible, but not much else. Just keep an eye on him and try to ignore him & finish my meal, all at the same time.

I hate it when crankheads interrupt my supper...

I live in rural KY, and meth is a huge problem here, too - though it's more of an issue of them cooking their stuff in your woods or barn.

[Sir William]

I had my elderly mother with me. I simply took her to the car, went back in, paid my bill and tod the manager on duty why I was leaving. My first concern was my mother. If I had been alone, I most likely would have called 911 and asked for a prowl car to check the guy out. I did this recently though and the dispatcher said that they didn't check out these reports as there were so many. He did offer to send an ambulance. I found that to be a odd response.

[stevensc]

Hand him a knife and a ticket to New Orleans!
Steve

[USP45usp]

You're lucky, one just happened to come into the eatery you were at.

I just had one knocking on my door about .5 hours ago.

At least you can leave, I live here .

Wayne

[azurefly]

I would go straight to the manager of the place and tell him that I am made very uneasy by this person who is creating a disturbance ("disturbing the peace") and I suggest that for the comfort and safety of his patrons and employees, he needs to call the police immediately to have the person removed from the premises.

I would NOT intervene with the lunatic unless directly confronted and threatened. And before I did anything physical to him I would attempt to leave the establishment: a guy like that starts following me to my car and shouting at me, I will turn and face him, ready to defend myself, and I will not turn my back again until he is gone or we have gone at it with me ending up on top.


-azurefly

[The British Soldier]

Pull your pistol out and start stroking it like a cat; then start having an even crazier conversation with your piece. Crazy people recognise crazy people for what they are - crazy.

[stratus]

Originally Posted by The British Soldier

start having an even crazier conversation with your piece.

Hahahaha....

"Leonard talks to his rifle. I don't think Leonard can hack it anymore. I think Leonard's a Section Eight."

"That don't surprise me..."

[k9lwt]

I would casually observe them until they either left, or became assaultive. I don't think they are just going to spontaneously come back to reality, so that's probably out of the question. If they were assaultive to me/my family, or to someone that needed help, I'd step in. It's probably not a bad idea to involve an official if you choose to do so.

It's annoying that people are like this, but there's also usually a reason for it (and it's probably unfortunate, sad, blah blah blah). Maybe the ha-ha hotel can get the reason out of them.

[rapier144]

Break both his legs that will stop him from jumping up and down. If he starts to get loud from the pain in his legs hit him forceably in the throat under his chin,as for the tooth pick well you might as well go ahead and break his fingers too.