Dunno what I'd have done. If the guy was really fucked up and not a threat, I probably would have tried to de-escalate the situation... but, I don't blame the OP for uttering the "mama" comment. The guy was being a total jerk, and his invasion, even if only verbal at that point, was unwelcome. Once the guy threw a punch at the OP, all bets were off, in my book... we can analyse all we want... if the guy had swung wildly and missed due to obvious inebriation/stonage, I would probably have sought an easy retreat. But, the guy didn't miss... he hit the OP. In such a situation, its difficult, from my bias, to blame the OP for his reaction. The OP didn't, as has been pointed out, stomp the guy. He simply responded with a return punch.
Life happens quickly, usually. We normally do not have lots of time to analyse the situation...
The other day I was walking my wimp of a dog off-leash on the campus of NTU. Not only is my dog not a threat to anyone, he isn't even interested in other humans. But, some people occassionally demonstrate fear when they see him, and I take no comfort in seeing others in fear. As we turned a corner, a middle-aged couple suddenly stopped in their tracks when they saw my dog walking free and I immediately assured them that my dog will not bite them, let alone look at them. They nodded nervously and my dog and I passed them and headed for the gate to leave NTU. Just as we were about to leave, I heard the guy calling to me... "mister, mister, do you want to hear a joke?" I didn't really want to hear his joke, but I decided to humor him...
He asked, "how do you know your dog will not bite?"
I replied, "because I know my dog."
He pressed again, "but, how do you know he will not bite?"
Becoming annoyed, I reiterated, "because I know my dog."
He then smiled smugly, as though he thought himself very clever, and informed me, "you cannot know, because you are not him."
I really wasn't in the mood for this nonsense, partly because I felt confident that he would not ever speak with any of the multitude of Taiwanese people who walk visibly aggressive dogs off-leash every day at NTU but for some reason had picked me out because I am a foreign national. So, feeling annoyed, I looked at him and his wife, and I asked, "is that your wife?"
She nodded affirmatively and he replied, "yes."
I then asked him, "how do you know that she doesn't want to have sex with me?"
They stood there sort of gobsmacked. I turned around and with my wimpy dog left.
Yeah... I didn't need to be such a jagoff. But, neither did he need to be one.
I always believe, however, that if you look for trouble, it ain't difficult to find. And if you find it, well... hopefully it will not be big trouble.
Honestly, if it were me, had I hit the guy referred to in the OP's initial post, I likely would have regretted doing so... on the other hand, had I refrained from hitting the guy, I probably would have regretted not doing so.
Ah, well... I don't look for trouble... and when trouble looks big, I veer away. Works for me.
