So "this" happened again.

[Headsprouter]

Well I hope when/if something like this happens to me I have the animal instincts within me kick in so I can dart off with the speed and unexpectedness of a sucker punch. That's all I can say. The closest I've ever had to this is being approached by what was likely a paedophile on the way home from school, I situation I handled by looking at him sternly while sidestepping around him saying "Hey, just no, just no. Keep whatever you have."

Edit: Actually, you know what, I've noticed a funny difference between my story and everyone else's, this creep was actually offering ME money. That's kind of disturbing.

My mum phoned the police and all and I left a report of the encounter. No biggie, thankfully.

If you live in an area where you think getting mugged is a real possibility, here's a tip for you:

Step 1. Buy a cheap, cheap wallet.
Step 2. Fill it with stuff to make it look like a real wallet (random business cards, fake money, etc.)
Step 3. Get mugged.
Step 4. When told to hand over your money, throw wallet on ground and run in the other direction.
Step 5. By the time they realize the wallet is fake, you're long gone.
Step 6. ???
Step 7. Profit.

All the satisfaction of giving a mugger the finger with none of the danger of getting stabbed/shot.

Haha! Honestly, that's brilliant! I feel I just have to do that, now in case a mugging ever happens, it feels good to outsmart people, especially thugs.

 

[KOMega]

Someone tried to mug me once.
Apparently I was oblivious as balls at the time too.
This guy wanted me to give him my iPod nano.
I just kept on correcting him that it was actually the tiny ipod shuffle (which I got for free from some promotional thing a while back)
He kept referring to weapons he had in his jacket and he would totally knock me out if he had to.

Anyways I eventually snapped to my senses ("Oh, this guy is trying to mug me.")
Fortunately, this guy was doing this in the middle of the sidewalk. It was mostly deserted but a group of people were walking past and I sorta just slowly assimilated myself into the group and just walked past him.

Makes for a funny story now, especially since no one was hurt.
Not because of that situation or anything, but I doubt I look appealing to steal from nowadays.
The way I casually dress now sorta makes me look like a hobo
(Baggy clothes, nondescript coat and toque everywhere I go. Carrying a bag makes me look extra hobo like apparently, as described by my brother.)

edit:
Oh, there was that time when that highschool bully tried to stalk me and then tackled me to steal stuff from me. All they got though was that day's lunch plastic wrap covered in wet grease. Would have thrown it out if I weren't being chased.
Anyways I think that sufficiently grossed them out apparently and it never happened again.
Funny stories

 

[Leemaster777]

If you live in an area where you think getting mugged is a real possibility, here's a tip for you:

Step 1. Buy a cheap, cheap wallet.
Step 2. Fill it with stuff to make it look like a real wallet (random business cards, fake money, etc.)
Step 3. Get mugged.
Step 4. When told to hand over your money, throw wallet on ground and run in the other direction.
Step 5. By the time they realize the wallet is fake, you're long gone.
Step 6. ???
Step 7. Profit.

All the satisfaction of giving a mugger the finger with none of the danger of getting stabbed/shot.

 

[RoBi3.0]

does it bother anyone that it's legal to be killed, robbed or stabbed but not legal to defend yourself?

There's a lot of talk of appropriate force. How am I supposed to know what that is? Do I know this man's tolerance for pain? Is there any way to assess that? In New York State, it's not legal to do anything but call the police, basically. A knife for protection is illegal, forget about carrying a gun, Batons. The police here are more happy to clean up your body then you having a go of protecting your own life.

I remember doing Grand Jury when I was 23. It was the last day and the prosecutor asked if there were any general questions, since we finished up early. Since they bored me, I figured I'd be an ass and ask a stupid question. I asked if there was any truth to martial artists being arrested for protecting themselves.

You could hear my jaw drop when he said yes. That Defending with Appropriate Force thing again. That a lot of students were taught to break hands or arms. And when they do it, those who started the issues say they didn't have to go that far.

You obliviously do not live in Florida. You can kill someone there in "self defense" and get away with it.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

Well, I'm in Australia, which explains why I don't have to act like people have a gun, but I find keys are some of the better improvised weapons, in between the knuckles. Or carry a knife. But as I said, this probably isn't applicable in the US.

 

[144_v1legacy]

A lot of people in this thread are either trying to one-up you, or give unreasonable solutions as if they would have the balls to do such a thing themselves.

You did the right thing, for the most part. I would have not given my age, or any type of information at all. A potentially dangerous confrontation, possibly drug-related (meaning ideas lacking the predictions of consequence or other irrational behaviors), is one to avoid. Just let him feel superior, and leave. It's probably worth the cost of a table tennis bat (a laptop might be a different story, I don't know about that).

 

[volcanblade]

I personally haven't been mugged, but this past winter I'm not sure exactly what the person was planning but it freaked me out. It had just snowed a lot and there is a big hill behind the middle school I used to go to. The top has an open back that goes to an old folks home and the street nearby.

Once it got late (around 8 or 9 at night) I went there to sled with some old friends from highschool, about 6 of us in total. The hill was empty because it was late enough and we had been out there for almost an hour so one of my friends had stopped sledding and was just watching from the bottom. All of us went down the hill one by one to see who would be fastest and when we got to the bottom my friend asked if I was still up on the hill. When I told her we were all down she asked who the person at the top was and told us right as I went down someone walked over the top of the hill and laid down on their belly. They were still there watching us. As a group we acted normal and headed back to my car and on the way called up to the person, mostly to show we knew they were there. We got no response and I drove my friends to their car on the other side of the school. While we got in the car the guy got up and walked over to the only exit road from the parking lot. We had to drive by and he was nowhere to be seen and must have slipped into the woods by the street. It really freaked me out, but it made me glad I've been taking martial arts and self defense for two years.

And on the note of self defense I'm going to leave these here for you guys:
http://www.nononsenseselfdefense.com/knifelies.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tueller_Drill

You really shouldn't confront the mugger or get in a fight, you should be getting away and out of the situation as fast as possible even if it means giving them your wallet (if you can't escape). This is especially true if you get in a bar fight. My instructor knew a few people who got n a fight, won, and then enjoyed themselves in the bar and got shot or stabbed later when they went to their car. He himself has had both happen. Having a weapon doesn't make you invincible, and if they really intend to hurt you it may not help.

 

[Clowndoe]

No need to be angry at yourself man. You did nothing to provoke him in the first place, you didn't have to get violent and you didn't cry (I assume). Even if you could, beating him up wouldn't have done nothing for no one.

I remember this one time me and a friend were walking home from the baseball diamond. This possible mugger starts acting tough at us while I had a bat slung across my shoulder. My friend glances at me and back at the guy and goes "Are you serious?" I stood there following his lead while he walked around the other guy. When that guy looked at me my friend pulled the guy's jacket over his head and punched him in the stomach. As he balled up and fell to the ground we each pulled out a five and left it on him. I yearn for the day I get to feel badass like I did then, oh how it felt to be young.

 

[lacktheknack]

I live in the murder capital of Canada.

...The muggers are rare, and the only "common" encounter is crazy homeless people on the public transit. They can be intimidating, but they tend to be built like spaghetti, so they aren't really dangerous.

I know. Some murder capital, huh?

 

[DragonStorm247]

If you live in an area where you think getting mugged is a real possibility, here's a tip for you:

Step 1. Buy a cheap, cheap wallet.
Step 2. Fill it with stuff to make it look like a real wallet (random business cards, fake money, etc.)
Step 3. Get mugged.
Step 4. When told to hand over your money, throw wallet on ground and run in the other direction.
Step 5. By the time they realize the wallet is fake, you're long gone.
Step 6. ???
Step 7. Profit.

All the satisfaction of giving a mugger the finger with none of the danger of getting stabbed/shot.

I was thinking something similar, with like a cheap fake phone.

I was once approached by a guy whilst walking home at night (from a midnight launch incidentally). Claimed he was a local legend for his ability to do one-handed push ups, and waned to show off. I was extremely suspicious naturally, though he made a point to state he didn't want money or anything. Still incredibly weirded out, I kept walking until I saw a group of maybe four people, got their attention, and dashed across the street while he was distracted by them.

A couple weeks later I saw him doing the same push up thing to some other people, in broad daylight in the middle of a busy college campus. So he was probably harmless for the most part.

 

[SouthernStar]

Stand up be a man you gotta get physical? Then that's what you do. Surviving a car accident that broke my femur (one of the most intense pains I've ever felt in my whole life) and then recovering from it has made me realize that there is nothing that can hurt me more then that. Physically and mentally. You just have to seem threatening 50% of the time and that guy would of left you alone. People like that can sense ever the most tingling little feeling of fear and then they dominate on that until your in their submission. Tell him to leave you alone and he doesn't? Get right in his fucking face and start screaming at him to leave you alone. He steps to you? Well now its time to bash his skull into the pavement. Most of the time I usually keep some kind of weapon in my bag. Bowie knifes are usually the best most threatening thing you can shove in someones face that's harassing you. If you don't got that then you just have to swing at him as hard as you can and put all your weight into it. Try to catch him when he's not looking directly at you and then just aim for the throat.

 

[michael87cn]

Stand up be a man you gotta get physical? Then that's what you do. Surviving a car accident that broke my femur (one of the most intense pains I've ever felt in my whole life) and then recovering from it has made me realize that there is nothing that can hurt me more then that. Physically and mentally. You just have to seem threatening 50% of the time and that guy would of left you alone. People like that can sense ever the most tingling little feeling of fear and then they dominate on that until your in their submission. Tell him to leave you alone and he doesn't? Get right in his fucking face and start screaming at him to leave you alone. He steps to you? Well now its time to bash his skull into the pavement. Most of the time I usually keep some kind of weapon in my bag. Bowie knifes are usually the best most threatening thing you can shove in someones face that's harassing you. If you don't got that then you just have to swing at him as hard as you can and put all your weight into it. Try to catch him when he's not looking directly at you and then just aim for the throat.

*Protection from life in prison after such needlessly aggressive reaction not guaranteed. Act recklessly at own discretion.

Hint: You can defend yourself without trying to kill someone. And you can defend yourself without acting like a retarded maniac.

 

[nepheleim]

Situations like this are why I conceal carry a .45.

How does that actually work?
Not the piece, I mean how do you draw and aim before the mugger, who most likely already has shiv in hand, shanks you a few times, and jacks the .45 to mug more efficiently with?

By keeping an eye on people within shanking distance? How many of the above got shanked? I read one guy got stabbed in the leg. Everyone else was intimidation or threat of force. Keep your eyes open and your head up and you'll know who's approaching you. That lizard part of your brain has had ten million generations of practice on gauging approaching predators and they all made it just to make you. So don't mess up.

 

[nepheleim]

Situations like this are why I conceal carry a .45.

Fantastic advice. Pure brilliance. This way, if he asks for your wallet, you can just kill him with the pull of a trigger and spend life in prison!

That's using ur brains!

You must be in Illinois where protecting yourself from a mugger is cause to put you in jail for life.

In all seriousness though, every state has something on the books allowing force, including deadly force, to be used to prevent what the actor perceives (that's important) as a imminent commission of any assault that may result in injury, serious bodily injury, or death.

*standard lawyer disclaimers: I'm not a lawyer, go get a lawyer, expect to go bankrupt for saving your own life*

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Hint: You can defend yourself without trying to kill someone. And you can defend yourself without acting like a retarded maniac.

That's a complete and utter lie. If you're in a situation where you have to defend yourself you defend yourself with everything you have, and with every intention to kill the person attacking you, because you can be sure that if things have escalated that far they will be willing to kill you to win the confrontation. There's no such thing as honor in a fight, there's no such thing as fighting fair.

 

[SouthernStar]

Stand up be a man you gotta get physical? Then that's what you do. Surviving a car accident that broke my femur (one of the most intense pains I've ever felt in my whole life) and then recovering from it has made me realize that there is nothing that can hurt me more then that. Physically and mentally. You just have to seem threatening 50% of the time and that guy would of left you alone. People like that can sense ever the most tingling little feeling of fear and then they dominate on that until your in their submission. Tell him to leave you alone and he doesn't? Get right in his fucking face and start screaming at him to leave you alone. He steps to you? Well now its time to bash his skull into the pavement. Most of the time I usually keep some kind of weapon in my bag. Bowie knifes are usually the best most threatening thing you can shove in someones face that's harassing you. If you don't got that then you just have to swing at him as hard as you can and put all your weight into it. Try to catch him when he's not looking directly at you and then just aim for the throat.

*Protection from life in prison after such needlessly aggressive reaction not guaranteed. Act recklessly at own discretion.

Hint: You can defend yourself without trying to kill someone. And you can defend yourself without acting like a retarded maniac.

I wasn't telling him to try and kill him. I was telling him to become threatening and if all else fails then your gonna have to fall back on your fists. Now if it were a different situation then if your in fear for your life then you have every right to use deadly force i.e the Bowie knife.

 

[DarthSka]

On the 4th of July in 2009, I went to the beach with 4 of my friends to shoot some fireworks early before we got together with the rest of our group. So we're just shooting them off, having fun and whatnot, when I see a bottle rock land near a friend and myself. I tackle him to the ground in fun because I thought one of our guys threw it at us and we were having a 'Nam flashback or something. Turns out they keep coming and they're from a 4 and a half foot drunk redneck (I'm from the Mississippi Gulf Coast). He walks up to us and for some reason he seems to have a vendetta for me. He's calling me out, goading me to fight him, and calls me a ****** repeatedly. He then looks nervously at my black friend and assures him that his racial prejudice is not directed towards him (what a nice guy!). I'm both angry, for obvious reasons, and confused. First off, as a woman from what I assume is Russia once said to me, "You are white as the snow." ****** doesn't really seem like a word that would be used to insult me. Also, this short guy walks, unarmed, to a group of 5 people and threatens the second tallest guy there. I understand that he was probably drunk, but he seemed to have enough wits about him to walk straight and aim fireworks at us with surprisingly good accuracy. There had to be something in his brain that screamed, "NOT A GOOD IDEA! DO NOT WANT!" But no, he got up right in my face, well more like chest, and threw a punch that I deflected. At this point I'm fully ready and wanting to lay him flat in the sand but my friends stop me. Then he walks off laughing.

Happy birthday 'Murica.

 

[sonofliber]

how many of you have actually been rob at gun point? because if you try to pool half the shit people are talking in this post you will end up with 2-3 new holes in your body.

honestly if you see anything suspicius either run or give them what you want, if half the people who are talking about how they kick their robber ass would have been mugged in my city they would be in body bags.

 

[leviathanmisha]

One night I was coming back late from work and whenever I'm in the general vicinity of my apartment, I have my keys out and I have this bad habit of swinging them. And this night was no different.

So I'm coming up the hill from the opposite of the complex where the bus dropped me off and I have my keys out and swinging them, I've got my earbuds in, and I've also got my bookbag that has my laptop in it. Coming down the hill is this guy that I don't really recognize, but that's to be expected, I go to a decently sized school, I don't know even half of the people here.

So I step a little off to the other side of the path, making room for this guy to go past me, but when we cross paths, he reaches out and grabs me around the waist. There was a bit of a struggle as he tried to grab me and I think throw me over his shoulder, but I managed to hit him several times in the face/head with my keys, finally catching him in the eye with the large metal '10' I have hanging on my keyring.

He dropped me after that and ran down the hill, heading towards the other side of the complex. I didn't move right away, too in shock to comprehend what had just almost happened. But when I did, I called the cops and reported it. I found out a few days later that they had found him sitting in the bus shelter, holding his face in his hand, cause apparently, I had messed up his face pretty well with that keychain thing of mine.

OT: Invest in self-defense or martial arts classes. I never personally took them, but I was taught how to fight by my father who was ex-air force and I've lived in some pretty shady neighborhoods that required me to be either smarter, faster, or stronger than whatever could hurt me. But I recommend one of the two things I said above, because my ex was a black belt (I forget what degree) and he could leave some damage if he wanted to.

 

[AndrewJamesDrake]

how many of you have actually been rob at gun point? because if you try to pool half the shit people are talking in this post you will end up with 2-3 new holes in your body.

honestly if you see anything suspicius either run or give them what you want, if half the people who are talking about how they kick their robber ass would have been mugged in my city they would be in body bags.

I'm more of the take an oppertunity to run if it comes, and arm yourself as you go just in case you can't outrun them type myself. Failing that, arm yourself and pray to whatever gods will have you.