What would you do during a Bad Guy Attack

[Dannyalcatraz]

A lot of it has to do with:

1) reality- as noted before, not everyone has it within themselves to stand up to aggression

2) liability- if you're an employee of a business and you stand up to aggression, you may well expect your company to pay for your injuries (or death expenses) incurred while doing so. And if there is collateral damage, those others may go after your company as well. As a result, many companies state it is non only against company policy to resist, it is a fireable offense to do so.

3) law- a legal regime which has been drafted to foster such behavior is difficult to imagine, and has its own issues...like how well armed (and well trained) does the populace have a right to be

 

[Deset Gled]

In the situation you describe, my first reaction would probably be to pull the fire alarm.

IMO, the most dangerous part of the scenario you describe is that the attacker is continually catching people off guard. The best thing you could do in that case is to warn others of a threat, and remove as many people as possible from the location. I suppose this could also be done by sending a message over the intercom, but I doubt I would want to be sitting still in my cube long enough to look up the right phone code for it (plus, fire alarms are everywhere, especially near exits, which makes them a very easy tool to use).

Another thing to remember in your scenario is that the attackee's weren't privy to the same information you knew as a viewer. They had no way of knowing if this was a lone crazy guy, or an organized attack on the building. The guy could have been going after specific people, or just attacking anyone. He could have been completely reliant on his weapons, or he could have been a kung-fu master high on PCP that wouldn't fall down even if you shot him. With so many unknowns, it would be somewhat foolish to attack him head on by yourself. It would be much better to get information, organize, and remove the threat in a controlled manner than to try and become Chuck Norris.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

While your fire alarm idea has MUCH merit, it also has a big problem: those evacuating will be looking for exits, not some nutter with weapons and bloodlust. Evacuees may just have walked right up to him...

What we REALLY need is what has been a staple of Sci-Fi shows for decades- a dedicated intruder alert.

 

[Pentius]

I don't know about cube farms specifically, but most jobs I've ever worked in, if I was on the clock and got a chance to throw a chair at someone in a socially-acceptable fashion, I'd do it.

 

[Jhaelen]

I call BS. Sure, each one of us is going to gut check and decide to run away or not. But for one man to walk in an start hitting people and nobody thinks to gang up and take this guy out as a team attack just seems ludicrous.

Is society so pansy arsed that we lack the testicular fortitude to take out a bad guy ourselves? Especially when the weapon set isn't extreme (a blunt object and a squirt gun, probably bleach).

I call BS on you calling BS
My expectation in such a situation would be that after the initial shock most people would just run away and _maybe_ later try to call in help.

There is a (small) chance a single individual may decide to take on the 'bad guy', but there definitely wouldn't be any ganging up. You don't 'gang up' with strangers, normally.

If the single individual is easily defeated, that's that. Noone will dare to attack the 'bad guy' afterwards. Only if the single individual seems to be on the verge of defeating the 'bad guy' other people might take heart and help overwhelming the 'bad guy'.

Unfortunately, this kind of situation comes up fairly regularly and generally nobody tries to take on the bad guy. Sometimes someone trie to engage the bad guy and more often than not, this means bad things for the person engaging the bad guy. It's sad but true.

Myself, I definitely wouldn't engage the bad guy. I also know from a past incident that I practically 'freeze' if someone starts attacking me. Again, it's sad but true, but I'm apparently no help at all in such a crisis.

 

[Thunderfoot]

8 years of Military training tell me....

Fight from an advantage. If utterly surprised, get the hell out of dodge and regroup. If his only visible weapon it the hammer then yeah, chair out ranks hammer as does stapler, phone, computer, operations manual, printer... etc, etc.

However, as for the squirt gun... I'd really have to know what's in it to answer (I know, it's a show with unspecified stingy stuff). One of the things they do to Soldiers and Marines is take us into the gas chamber so we can properly don and clear our masks...
Then they take them from us and gas us using CN gas (that's the Military equivalent of CS or Tear gas, more potent, higher concentration.) Then they teach you how to ignore its effects.

So if the dude was using pepper spray, he'd be at the disadvantage because that stuff is like breath freshener to someone trained to operate while choking on your own vomit and leaving a 6 foot trail of snot behind you, blinded due to your eyes pumping all available liquid in your body out of your tear ducts. (And if it doesn't have dye in it, makes for a great spray on spice for sandwiches and salads.)

All that would do is piss me off...then the attacker would be having the bad day.

 

[JRRNeiklot]

Personally, I'd just shoot him.

 

[Janx]

Personally, I'd just shoot him.

If I had a CHL and carried my piece on me, I probably would as well.

As thunderfoot describes, I expect any place to have a couple of ex-military guys. Those are the kind of guys who if opportunity exists to strike, will take it.

As always bear in mind, any of this bravado talk is talk until you get to the situation and fear kicks in or the specific details enable the opportunity.

Seeing a bad guy a ways down the hallway is different than walking around the corner of the cube farm into a hammer.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I'd really have to know what's in it to answer

It was hydrochloric acid...which made me wonder about the composition of his squirt-gun, which appeared to be clear plastic. I don't remember my chem well enough, but I could swear you'd need a glass container for acid like that. (Of course, if the baddie works glass as a hobby...)

That would take the wind out of most people's sails.

 

[Janx]

I missed that detail and im waiting for the next episode.

Since it looked like an orange squirtgun i assumed it had to be limited in potency lest it wreck the gun