Punter Hassle

[Guest]

Had three very different incidents of punter interruption whilst quizzing this past week:

1) Playing drunkenly nr Baker St I realised that someone was right on my shoulder watching me bone TextTiles. Turned out to be a similarly inebriated PC Zone journo and quiz machine enthusiast who, on seeing a WU clearance for the first time, decided to honour me with deep bows of respect. Head-swelling.

2) Whilst deposing BEN at one of the Stevenage Spoons this morn (before the arrival of Ernest), a bespectacled middle-aged bloke propped himself against a shelf 2m to my left and pointedly watched me play. As he was jangling his change, I asked him whether he wanted to use the machine, but said he 'just wanted to watch' in a cold monotone. Creepy.

3) Having come back into Kings X from Stevenage a few hours ago and (as usual) having nothing much to do, I installed myself in front of the itbox in The Rocket, only to have to put up with a bunch of PST (public school tosser) media-student-types taking the piss out of me (word games=geeky; alone in a pub=outcast) in voices gauged to be just loud enough to hear.

Although my mood had unimproved from merely 'simmering' after the first 5 mins to 'frizzling' :x at the point at which I had finished my WU session, I decided not to throw my career down the plughole by 'going crazy on their (collective) ass.' Instead, I calmly (well, as calmly as I could muster) approached them and had this conversation (being aware that their type would never ever actually want to kick off):

'Hello, I just want you all to know that I could hear pretty much everything you were saying and I have to say it's pathetic. I'm a schoolteacher [ie. not lifewastes like you] and I have to put up with this shit every day - what you were doing is fucking pathetic. How old are you?'

PST: [looking sheepish] 'erm, twenty'
PST no.2: 'No, we were impressed - we'd never seen someone play it like that.'

'Well, I prefer my compliments not to be back-handed, do you understand?'

PSTs: 'Yes - sorry.'

'Right - have a good evening, lads.' [Game Set Match: Bob (I think)]

I've played WU alone in all manner of dives and the first time I get hassle is from fecking media students - unbelievable.

Anyway - anyone else need to vent?

[microhead]

Never had any problem from punters looking on. Did have a guy in the Spoons/Lloyds in Maidenhead* the other night asking if it was "ok if he shouted out the answers" to Itbox Soccer. Fine by me, but it got a bit creepy so I scarpered.

*For I now live here.

[Orixa]

Never really had any hassle but we have had come hussling!

HT9 and myself would, when the union machine was in the incapable hands of lesser WU players, challenge them to a Word-Off for control of the machine. (kind of like the basketball match in American History X )

One board each, winner takes all (control of the machine).

Was always good for a laugh!

[Guest]

[quote="Orixa"]
HT9 and myself would, when the union machine was in the incapable hands of lesser WU players, challenge them to a Word-Off for control of the machine. (kind of like the basketball match in American History X ]

That sounds really cool - in our earliest days we had an impromptu head-to-head vs the then 2nd strongest team at Cambridge Uni (Peterhouse, at Peterhouse bar). It was pretty much even stevens, tho' we topped their top score (a mere 1280) after they left and, by doing so, hastened their eventual demise.

The problem is that, now, we're so damn good that nearly every other team would get taken to the cleaners. viz. DAVEJONs' continued lily-livered flight from our challenges.

[Orixa]

I reckon myself and the Sublime Prince (AKA HT9) could give you a run for your 50p. It will happen, but perhaps not in the immediate future!

Till then, may your boards be clearable and your words lengthy.

WU Sovereign Grand Inspector General

[David Healy]

I challenge anyone to beat my "punter hassle" story.

I was playing a machine in a bar when I noticed that someone was standing to my left and taking a bit of interest. Nothing unusual there as I was used to people reading the questions over my shoulder. Only this bloke didn't appear to be paying that much attention to the questions. He started asking a few questions, again nothing I hadn't had before - where I was from, what I did for a living, etc. I gave him the courtesy of vague answers and continued to play the machine, making it fairly clear I wasn't really that interested in getting involved in a conversation.

It was then that he made his move.........
"I take it your not into homosexual sex then?"

I stress that this was an otherwise normal bar.

It made a change from the bloke who told me "I know who you are and if you ever do that to me again, I'll ******* kill you!" after I stepped onto a machine while he had gone to the bar/toilet (I honestly thought he had left), but that is a whole different story.

[Ernest W. Quality]

You left a bit of a cliff-hanger there... what was your reply to his question?

[Istenem]

the trouble is, what we do is actually quite geeky. only a couple of my friends have any interest in SWP and only one is capable of adequacy on WU. i only occasionally play without a beer but when you go to the bar for a softie/coffee you often get this:

but who cares? some tossers mouthing off doesn't bother me, people are so unfriendly round here anyway. the two people who spring to mind are one trampy fella around paddington who is always on my shoulder if i'm within a mile. he has never ever said anything to me and i've never seen him play anything but he is bold as brass in standing right next to you.
the other is in a little pub i go to sometimes but don't normally play the SWP it is full of Chinese who (stereotypically) enjoy any sort of gambling and they will hover around anyone who is on any of the machines. they appear to have very, very little English so why watching me clear WU is of any interset to them is beyond me.

on the flipside, if i've gone to a pub meaning to play SWP and someone is already at it i do take an interest, i may feign reading the paper but it must be as obvious to them as it is to us that they are being watched.

[Guest]

Aye, you're right in saying that it is geeky, but quite what right a stranger has in taking the piss is beyond me, as I explained to them. They can think whatever they like, but expressing their opinion with a mind to piss me off is stepping over the line.

As a mate of mine said yesterday, it's pretty fucking stupid of them to pick on some random in a pub as said random could quite easily be a nut - especially if they're the type who doesn't need the armour plating of a few friends to shield themselves in social contexts. In a different life, I would have set upon one of them properly - I certainly felt like doing so at the time. Do something atrocious to one of them and the rest would scarper.

[Guest]

I reckon myself and the Sublime Prince (AKA HT9) could give you a run for your 50p. It will happen, but perhaps not in the immediate future!

When are you two going to get to practise tho'? You're miles away from each other.

[Istenem]

here's a little story.

i went for a pint in a charming little pub yesterday 9ish and the pub was quiet. so i pulled up a stool and put £2 in a paragon (old release) two loser suits came in and played the fruit machine next to me incredibly slowly while clocking whether i was any good.
after six losing spins lasting two or three minutes they gave up and went to sit at the bar, and proceeded to get nowhere trying to chat up the barmaid. meanwhile i'm drinking and mopping up the easy wins from the easy games a bit later the berks' attention is caught by the chugging of the payout chute and they come and put £2 more through the fruit and make some snide remarks about it being it being sad to go to a pub on your own and play the quiz machine. i'd finished my pint but i fancied some sport so i made a (slow) charade of leaving while they hovered.

then i pretend to read a text message and take my coat off and resume my position at the machine, order another pint and put 50p in the paragon before going for a piss. the miffed clowns seem nonplussed and go back to their seats at the bar.

after taking forever in the bog i came back and get looked at with daggers. thought it was time to take dirty cardgame money so got £5 then £2 of 7s and £4 off 8s. collected £11 and this got their backs up so they decided to watch and commentate about my choice of tie, lack of any social skills, latent homosexuality, predilection for women's underwear etc.
anyhow i pressed WU and one of them says something along the lines of "aha, let's see how you get on with this clever-clogs" in a stage whisper to his mate. they soon shut up when i cleared it (admittedly a deliberate clearance with little panache for £1).

i didn't say anything to them but l'esprit d'escalier kicked in afterwards. any wit i might have is pretty sluggish which is a pity.

[Nil Satis]

l'esprit d'escalier kicked in afterwards. any wit i might have is pretty sluggish which is a pity

Bravo, UP! This must surely be the first time anyone has ever managed to get the phrase "l'esprit d'escalier" into a post.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L'esprit_de_l'escalier

[Guest]

Good work, UP - outstanding WU coup-de-grace!