[MineralMan]

"People really can be rude to costumed characters.
"

They sure can. One year my wife worked part-time at a state fair, wearing a large, awkward, hot peacock costume for a local TV station. After the first day, she told me that she'd been kicked, punched, and knocked down several times by drunken men at the fair.

So, the next day, and each day following, I accompanied her quietly around the fairgrounds. She was right. Several times, guys approached this character and started in on her. She wasn't supposed to speak, as the character, so it usually began with some sort of taunting. Then it started to progress to pushing or shoving.

That's where I stepped in. Each time it happened, I stepped in, told the drunk that my wife was in that costume and that he needed to move off and leave the character alone.

Just one guy chose me out after I did this. The rest just swore at me and moved on. The one guy, though, wasn't so fortunate. I let him take a swing at me, dodged it, then beat the crap out of him. Lots of witnesses saw him start the fight, and nobody got arrested or anything.

I had to do this for two weeks while my wife worked that job, and dealt with dozens of drunken buttheads.

So, if you're reading this and thinking about harassing some costumed character, remember that it's usually a woman inside, and her husband just may be following her around.

[b9]

>>>I let him take a swing at me, dodged it, then beat the crap out of him<<<

LOL
What a man... if your wife doesn't know it (pretty sure she must) tell her she's a lucky little peacock.

[Xenalyte]

My first day of my first season out at the Festival, in my Xen getup, I was surrounded by five drunk rednecks. To say they were harassing me would be to put it quite mildly. I didn't break character (for which I'm quite proud) - I merely leaned my quarterstaff on one dude's foot, supporting my 150-pound weight, and told them they'd best back off before I divested them of their remaining teeth.

But then, I was allowed to talk.