Last week I did something that once upon a time I would have scorned. I asked a bouncer to remove a particularly dickheadish customer from a nightclub.
I don't really regret it, I gave him plenty of chances to move himself and ultimately I had no choice but to get him thrown out or to flatten him myself. He wasn't very drunk, just a wanker.
However, there was something very distasteful about it. I was using authority against someone. I was using hired muscle to enforce my will. Worst of all, I was using a bouncer -a mercenary- to do this. It did not feel right, and I am still troubled by it all. Short of actually flattening him, this was the most aggressive approach I could have pursued. Even if he was an asshole, I disliked dealing with him in this fashion.
In many ways, I think a fight would have been a more desirable outcome (at least for me). I have felt despicable all week for strongarming him in this way. At least in a fight, he would have had a fair chance of standing up for himself. He was pretty big and it wouldn't have been an unfair fight.
Perhaps it was laziness, or cowardice, or concern for his wellbeing, or to keep up appearances -but it seemed better to get the bouncer than to deal with him myself. But I wish I had had to do neither.
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