Mid- to late-November, 2010
I was discussing Harry Potter with some customers who were standing near me by the door.
Suddenly, some loud noises caught my attention - a fight had broken out not six feet away from me! Maybe I should have been paying attention to the crowd rather than discussing Hogwarts, but, well, no use crying over spilled milk at that point.
I grabbed one of the guys who was fighting, the other bouncer grabbed the other guy. He would NOT calm down - I had to hem him up and pretty much wrestle him out the door, then haul him up the stairs and get him out the door. He fought me every step of the way, but I had a good hold on him and got him out fairly quickly.
In the doorway, as I was getting him through the door, I yelled "EXPELLIARMUS!" and pushed him away from me.
This cheered me up, lightened the mood of the crowd, and confused the guy enough that he calmed down a little*.
After a few minutes I was able to talk him into leaving the premises & I walked back inside. I was still breathing hard and my hands were shaking a little bit from the adrenaline.
I decided to step behind the bar to grab a glass of water, and as I passed my group of fellow Harry Potter fans, one of them said, "You know, you got that wrong. You really should have said 'wingardium leviosa'."
He sounded all snotty and condescending when he said it, so I answered back, "Why? Are you volunteering?"
I must have sounded a little more aggressive than I intended to (damn that adrenaline...) because he put his hands up and backed away quickly. "NO! No no no! I'm good, I'm good!"
"Well... all right then."
And I got myself a glass of water.
Harry Potter was not discussed again that evening.
*****
*I often find that confusing angry dunk people is an effective speedbump for their rage. It doesn't always work, but it almost never makes things worse, so if I can take a shot at it I usually will.
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