It's been my experience as a bartender that a lot of the younger men, between ages 21-30, sometimes go looking for trouble. They step into the bar and brace themselves with 'liquid courage' and become obnoxious and ,above all, insultive to those around them.
Once they set their sights on a potential victim that's it. I've seen a lot of guys get the snot knocked out of them for retaliating, and neither knows the other.
Here's an example. Last November, this guy from Toledo came to visit his cousin for the holidays. He came into the bar with his cousin for a few beers. Two locals, who had been there since happy hour, were playing pool. Local time was 10:20 pm.
No sooner do the cousins sit down and order the locals started in on them. Calling one 'fat-boy' and the other '***'. I instructed them to knock off or go home. They laughed and went back to playing pool.
However, the cousins were ticked and the visitor wanted an apology. Here we go, I thought. I told him his chances of getting that apology were slim, like absolute zero to zero. He wouldn't listen. But his cousin convinced him they should go drink somewhere else.
Now the pool players couldn't shoot straight and kept knocking the cue onto the floor. As the cousins were leaving, the visitor made some offhand remarks on the way out the door.
Well the fuse was lit and the powder just went off. Both locals bee-lined for the door as the cousins headed for their car, which was parked in front of an insurance office next door. Local time 10:35.
Me? I was the only one on duty. My responsibilities were to the bar and to safeguard the register. I grabbed the phone and called the police. In the meantime, the cousins were beaten and bleeding on the sidewalk. The locals left. By the time I made it to the door it was over.
The next day, my boss told me that last nights episode continued in another bar. The local boys had been busy. Three more guys got beaten up in two more bars.
So my experience has taught me, you can't ingore a drunk nor should you turn your back on one whose aching for a fight. Because chances are that his buddies will appear from out of the woodwork and join in on kicking your butt.