“Honky” was used in an insulting and derogatory way - I took immediate offense and was forceful, but polite, in telling the offensive person how I felt about the use of insulting and derogatory terms such as that.
I, personally, do not insult people based on any accident of their birth. After all, we cannot help who our parents are!
I do, however, insult based on character and behavior!
Well, being a Correctional Officer is a tough job, and I guess if you can’t shrug off those kinds of insults pretty easily, you’d go nuts. I would, fer shure, fer shure!
We probably ought to thank you for doing, what, IMHO, is a thankless, but necessary job: THANKS!
Well don't worry about me. I didn't really shrug it off as much as you might think. You really can't. I gave as good as I got. Better in fact. I learned all about "the escalation of force" ladder. That includes verbal force. Always stay one level of force above your opponent. Smack talk is a weapon. Some people are better than others and verbal judo can serve a man well. It's also important to not let your opponent think he's rattled you.