Not a funny story, please skip...
Mrs. Maneki and I were riding the bus back from town when a young couple (a young black man and an asian girl) in the back of the bus start arguing. He was extremely aggressive, and I was concerned for her safety, and carried on riding the bus past our stop in case I needed to intercede. Suddenly, she shouts in pain and says "You think you can hit me here on the bus?" He had just elbowed her hard in the face. We asked if she was OK and he starts mouthing off to us, blaming her (!?) for causing a scene. I was worried that the situation would escalate and we persuaded her to get off the bus. She did, but of course he follows, now angry at my wife and I for humiliating him.

Long story short, it soon became clear there was no way an immediate resolution would be forthcoming. She didn't want us to ring the police, or to 'impose' on us when I invited her to Chez Maneki for a cup, which I offered to make it clear to him that she was under our wing. He discovered that I wasn't scared of him, no matter how Lesta he got or how much he paced and postured, giving Mrs. Maneki the time to counsel the young woman ("You don't have to put up with this, etc"). Eventually things seemed to have calmed down a little, and she called a friend. We finally left them to leave together, which was the young ladies idea and which I advised against.

I have no idea if that was the right thing to do, to let it end that way, but it was quite clear that the situation was not one we could fix. When she spoke out on the bus it was clearly a cry for help, and she was brave to make it. The young guy didn't at any point think it at all wrong or shameful to have done what he had done, and seemed almost perplexed that we thought it unacceptable or would go out of our way to intervene. After all, no-one else did.

The whole thing was depressing and every time I think about it I regret my inability to have done more.
(ManekiNeko loves horses, Thu 25 Jun 2009, 16:29, 5 replies)

Respect for stepping in
But to be honest, *dons Daily Mail outfit* they sound like chavvy scum to me and I reckon I would've left them alone. Being the puss I am..
( whenanimalsattackhumans clad in global hypercolour, Thu 25 Jun 2009, 16:44, closed)

^This
but with more not getting involved
( Colonel Dracula Two manky hookers and a racist dwarf, Thu 25 Jun 2009, 16:50, closed)

You
are a nice person; it's difficult to see how much more you could have done in the face of her wish to leave with her "man".
(anvil, Fri 26 Jun 2009, 0:42, closed)

Battered wive's syndrome
blows. It's horrible to see it, and horrible to know you can't do fuck-all about it past pointing out that it's a shit situation.


Domestic violence. Proof that some people shouldn't breed.
(Scritty Bakerman., Sun 28 Jun 2009, 14:00, closed)

Sounds like
you did what you could, it has to be up to the person involved to take the next step and leave the abusive scumbag. You definitely did more than what most people would have done, myself included.
(RVD420 has his world coming down on, Tue 30 Jun 2009, 13:06, closed)