How to Deal with a Belligerent Drunk Person

I was recently checking my email at a public WiFi lounge and a drunk man, licking food off of his fingers, came up to me. He reeked of beer. He was immediately confrontational, asking me how much I pay for my apartment in the city-when I declined to answer, he said, "What, does your wife pay the bills for you?"

Encountering a belligerent drunk person is something that will simply happen to you, sooner or later, and especially if you live in a large city or metropolitan area. In the case of this man, I just smiled and said nothing.

It is important not to appear confrontational and to diffuse any situation-I had the feeling he was definitely unstable, and possibly upset about something financially related because of his rambling about "all the bills", but I did not engage him.

Simply nod or make brief eye contact before returning to whatever you were doing originally. Some drunk people get quiet as they become more inebriated, but for others an increase in blood alcohol content (BAC) can lead to increased aggression and irritability. Trust me, you don't want to fight a drunk guy-you may win, but you'll still get some scratches, and you may face the jerk's lawsuit the next day.

In this case, I told him I had a lot of work to catch up on and wished him well. He said something mean and then left the premises. If a drunk person continues to attempt to "initiate" a fight with you, get someone who can help-either a friend, or better yet, a bartender or even call the police if you feel it is necessary.

Your safety is more important than the embarrassment of a complete stranger. If someone is making hostile gestures and is clearly inebriated, you owe it to yourself to tell the authorities and let them deal with it.

Challenging a drunk person or reminding them they are drunk are not wise options-this is likely to "enrage" the drunk person further, and could lead to physical confrontation. If you need to, leave the premises and wait for police to arrive. If the drunk person grabs any sort of object (such as a bar glass) and makes a threatening gesture with it, move away from them. Just leave; forget about pride or whatever slurred insults are thrown your way. Unlike in the movies, it can take months or years for a facial injury to heal-you don't need a glass thrown at your face.