Continued from "Confrontational Types, 3"
My wife keeps chickens -- mostly Rhode Island Reds. She also has a little Bantam Rooster maybe a little more than half the size of the hens around him. But his diminutive size does not deter him from strutting around and acting like king of the roost.
The human confrontational type that I call the Bantam Rooster shares similar characteristics. He struts and postures, but only to cover his innate insecurity. He's a wannabe.
Because he's just posturing, the last thing that the Bantam Rooster wants is for someone to take him up on his challenge. It's all a bluff.
Like the bully, he confronts others for the sake of his ego. The difference is that his ego is vulnerable, and he knows he cannot deliver. If he feels threatened and pulls a knife, he will display it prominently, perhaps waving it around to make sure you see it.
Years ago, when I worked hospital security, a bantam rooster was brought in for admission to the drug rehab program. He was about thirty with a worn leather jacket, tattoos on his neck -- looked like a tough customer. His mother brought him in.
He was loud, obnoxious and uncooperative, a real pain in the neck -- though some of the medical staff had a much lower opinion of him. They refused him admission, and asked me to escort him out of the hospital. In the parking lot, he said he wanted to fight me.
I did not want to fight him, and I admit his appearance did intimidate me, but he would not get in the car to leave, and kept advancing on me. I had drawn my baton, but ended up tossing it away and tackling him. (Note to my barber: this was before we received the PR-24 training.) He went down, and his mother started yelling for me not to hurt him.
In the end, he just caved, and it was no problem putting the cuffs on him. Just a Bantam Rooster, strutting and posturing.
If you do call a Bantam Rooster's bluff, though, get out of there as quickly as you can, and do not turn your back on him. He may decide to reclaim his injured ego by attacking you from behind, or he may go to his car to retrieve a firearm.
He's a bluffer, but he may still be dangerous.
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2 comments:
Because of a rather sheltered environment, I have not been experiencing "real world bulliness" until recently. But I would say that a very watered down version of the "bantam rooster" type occurs in families between brothers and sisters.
Because of a rather sheltered environment, I have not been experiencing "real world bulliness" until recently.
Similar situation here, Stephen.
I may have encountered one or more of these, but I never got to the stage where I could actually tell I suppose. One "big deal" was particularly cowardly and never committed to anything but display. Perhaps he was one.
Thank God I no longer work with him.
Spencer
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