Well said. Very glad you came out of that situation unscathed. Your quick wits saved your butt from something worse.

Many Portlanders who grew up here are notoriously kind, the the point of being overly considerate drivers and hospital hosts. It all makes the perfect home for abusers who suck onto enablers.

Today I was blasted multiple times by different people with altercations on the street outside my work. If I am not in control of my triggered emotions it might reignite the social phobias I struggled with for years.

One dude was shouting things like "false prophet, pariah, rapist" at me when I entered the nearby convenience store, and again when I returned taking a wider walk further away from him. When I got to the cash register to warn the clerk about him scaring away people by the door, the dude entered the store and was standing twenty feet away near the other register, so I didn't say anything. Turns out he was acting sugar sweet to the store clerks so he could recharge his phone again.

The guy was putting on an act inside and outside, and the clerks are feeding the neighborhood rats. One of these days I am going to snap, and woe to the poor sap who pokes this hornet's nest on his own turf.