Oh this happens to me a lot actually I specialize almost specifically handling this kind of patient as a nurse (I started out on a unit for criminally insane men and now work lower acuity using that experience to mostly help and educate other nurses when they occasionally run into it).

Basically you do everything you can to look like you’re ignoring it while actually keeping yourself safe, then let the natural consequences slap them in the face like a cartoon character stepping on a rake.

So for me that looks like doing my assessment / negotiation (what looks like) alone a few steps into the door but I actually have two people outside on either side of the doorframe. I then also have multiple witnesses to all of the bullshit they spew and write it down for someone to read to the judge at their hearing.

For you it’s more likely something like recording your interactions then giving those to someone who can make their life suck.

“I hear you. Like, right now?”

I don’t need to coddle the dramatists.

If you ever want to get revenge with someone, there are 2 very good ways you can get your revenge:

The Pissplate

Gather some pee, pour it onto a plate and put it in your freezer until its completely frozen. Now you can deposit it everywhere you want, and wait for the pee to melt. Common places for a pissplate are sliding it through the slit at the bottom of a door or inserting it into the mailbox.

The burning poop

Collect some poop, wrap it into some paper, deposit it in front of your enemies house, ring the doorbell and light the poop on fire. When they open the door they will probably try to stomp out the burning paper and stomp right into your poop.

I love how many responses in this thread boil down to “I don’t know, maybe try being a mature and emotionally balanced adult?”

Documenting it and reporting them to the authorities.

Cutting them out of your life is the best revenge.

If you know their address, sign them up for a scientology newsletter. It’s borderline impossible to convince them to stop

I don’t remember where I read this recently, but if you have access to their home, inject a slurry of watered-down raw egg into the padded parts of their furniture. It will take a little while before it stinks like rotting shit, and will be impossible to ever clean.

sardines in their curtain rods

Collect evidence. When you get enough hand it to the police. Otherwise just live a happy life, that will surely piss them off.

I bought a really strong flash light, if they tried. Hard to attack when you’re blinded, and it eliminates any risk of having to plead self defense

The guy who threatened me (actually, it was an indirect threat intended as coercion to my ex) actually ended up being murdered by someone else last year.

It’s the first time in years herself and i are actually safe (and it’s fortunate we she broke up with him finally last year too, or she’d be dead too). She was always scared of leaving. However, she’s a witness to the court when it goes to court (so not completely out of the woods I guess)

Also, report to police. But In my case, she couldn’t or her life would be at risk

Don’t escalate. Just really stupid. They’ll know who did it

indifference is the best revenge, but few are capable of it.

Publicise their threat. Then go into hiding for a few weeks and watch them be interrogated up the ass through the nose for where they hid your body.

If this is someone you’ll be seeing a lot, it’s best to try to make peace with them. Instead of “pouring fuel on the fire” it’s best to “pour water on it”.

Personally I’ve had conflicts in my life with others, but instead of reacting negatively, I made an effort to do the opposite. In one case that resulted in a friend instead of an enemy. In other cases it has diffused the situation.

It helps to try to put yourself in their shoes. Try to understand where they are coming from and what has driven them to react like this towards you.

If you don’t actually feel threatened, I’d probably ignore it. I’d point out that pretty anyone can kill someone else, given a will to do so, so I don’t think I’d take “oh, they’re physical weaker than me” or something as grounds for not taking a threat seriously.

But if it’s a credible threat…depending upon where you live and the form of the threat, a threat to kill someone may be illegal. They are one of the few exceptions that case law has established to the First Amendment in the US.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_free_speech_exceptions

“True threats of violence” that are directed at a person or group of persons that have the intent of placing the target at risk of bodily harm or death are generally unprotected.[41] However, there are several exceptions. For example, the Supreme Court has held that “threats may not be punished if a reasonable person would understand them as obvious hyperbole”, he writes.[42][43] Additionally, threats of “social ostracism” and of “politically motivated boycotts” are constitutionally protected.[44]

In California, for example:

https://law.justia.com/codes/california/code-pen/part-1/title-11-5/section-422/

CA Penal Code § 422 (2025)

422. (a) Any person who willfully threatens to commit a crime which will result in death or great bodily injury to another person, with the specific intent that the statement, made verbally, in writing, or by means of an electronic communication device, is to be taken as a threat, even if there is no intent of actually carrying it out, which, on its face and under the circumstances in which it is made, is so unequivocal, unconditional, immediate, and specific as to convey to the person threatened, a gravity of purpose and an immediate prospect of execution of the threat, and thereby causes that person reasonably to be in sustained fear for their own safety or for their immediate family’s safety, shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail not to exceed one year, or by imprisonment in the state prison.

(b) In sentencing a person convicted of a felony violation of subdivision (a), the court may consider, as a factor in aggravation, that the defendant willfully threatened to commit a crime that would result in the death or great bodily injury of a person the defendant knew was a state constitutional officer, a Member of the Legislature, or a judge or court commissioner, as defined in subdivisions (a), (b), (c), (n), and (q) of Section 7920.500 of the Government Code.

(c) (1) For purposes of this section, “immediate family” means any spouse, whether by marriage or not, parent, child, any person related by consanguinity or affinity within the second degree, or any other person who regularly resides in the household, or who, within the prior six months, regularly resided in the household.

(2) For purposes of this section, “electronic communication device” includes, but is not limited to, telephones, cellular telephones, computers, video recorders, fax machines, or pagers. “Electronic communication” has the same meaning as the term is defined in Subsection 12 of Section 2510 of Title 18 of the United States Code.