Dark Pattern Goes Wrong

So I was hanging out at my favorite local watering hole and this terrible drunk gets kicked out. Usually this is no big deal, they usually move along and I get to enjoy my beer in peace, and hang out with my smoking friends. But no, this time the guy says to the bouncer "F* you and your gay girl friend" To which the bouncers respond with laughter and comment on how that isn't much of an insult as they thought that would be hot if their respective girlfriends were bi.

Not to be dissuaded the inebriated fellow continues to heckle the bouncers and the crowd at large. This goes on for about 15 minutes, much to long for me to endure without doing something about it. I wanted him to leave. My thought was if he was a sad drunk he would leave, perhaps crying or perhaps not. So I say to him "So what makes you sad?" Now I do this with a down turn in my inflection and tone and simultaneously slouch to create a congruency that he would understand. Well this makes him remember something sad, and he mentions some nonsense and begins to get angry about the injustices of the world. Yeah, so what the world is unfair, we know this. In an effort to make it work... I say "And how does that make you feel?"

He freaks out! Starts yelling and screaming and flailing his hands about in a drunken tirade. Eventually another patron tries brute force and pushes him down into the street, which only serves to make him more incensed, though his tone goes down several decibels, thankfully. He even goes so far as to get into a race conversation with two black fellows, they look at me rolling their eyes trying to be as polite as possible, as the subject matter is volatile in nature.

Just goes to show you, though Dark Patterns can work, you might not get the result you were looking for. Be careful and be nice.

Zedd