Thread by @JoshuaGuess

Let me tell you about the most savage comeback I have ever had the pleasure of seeing in person. This will take a minute. 1/

In my early twenties, I worked at a community habilitation center for adults with autism and mental retardation, or MR. Note on terms: 2/

At that time, MR was the clinical term (and yes, an awful insult) and that matters to this story in a very real way. 3/

One of the things we did at the CH was take our people out for doctors appointments, rehab trips, classes, work, community stuff. 4/

A pair of us would drive them in a mini bus up to the store a couple times a week so they could buy whatever. Generally a fun time. 5/

We'd get the expected stares, and as far as we were concerned, our job was to eyeball fuck the people doing the staring, and we did. 6/

Usually that was the end of it. Until one day...7/

One of my guys, we'll call him D, was in line with the rest of us. He was the last of our group in line, ppl waiting behind us 8/

D had accidentally picked up too many items. Happens to me all the time when funds are short. So he's trying to decide what to keep. 9/

D is kind of a nervous guy, but he's an utter sweetheart. Would give the shirt off his back for you, sit and talk with you for hours 10/

He spends maybe thirty seconds talking with me, working out the comparative benefits of keeping/leaving items. No big deal. 11/

When all of a sudden, a wild asshole appears. He uses asshole and slur. It's super effective. 12/

Asshole gets all huffy and says to D. "What's your problem, buddy? Are you retarded or something." Oh. MY. GOD. 13/

I had to physically restrain my coworker. She cocked back to punch this dickhead in the face on pure instinct. 14/

Of course, I wanted to kick him in the balls, but then everyone would have been in so, so much trouble. But D? He won the day. 15/

After a pause of about three seconds, he looks the guy straight in the eyes and utters the most brutal thing I've ever heard. 16/

Perfectly calm, D says to the dude, "Yeah, I am. What's your excuse?"
Holy shit, y'all. You could hear a pin drop for twenty yards. 17/

Here's the thing, though. I'm not going to say I'm proud of D, because honestly? He was a grown ass man. He could handle his shit. 18/

D knew his limits and always pushed them, and this was in his wheelhouse. Easily. 19/

I talked with him about it on the drive back to CH. His thoughts were basically, "People been calling me that all my life..." 20/

"It bothers me, but it always makes them think I'm less smart than I am. It comes in handy sometimes." That's some Art of War shit. 21/

D handled it really well. Far better than me and my coworker, because for him it was a common thing, not a huge event. 22/

Just remember that next time you look down on someone or think you know who they are or what they've been through. 23/

Because you might think they're an easy target right before they dunk on you so bad you wanna be hit by lightning on the spot 24/

All these years later, I still run into D once in a while at the store. He gives me a nod and a smile. I give him a high five. 25/25