I just spent two hours in traffic driving to Forbes hospital in Monroeville, taking one of the fraternity boys to a physician to have some golf ball sized cyst on his head drained. Traffic was sheer hell as the entire state appears to be under construction, and right now I am in a waiting room with a bunch of chatty, smelly, unhealthy people with inadequate air conditioning and shittier internet access.
In other words, I am in a solid fucking mood right now.
Why do all hospitals have shitty lighting? The tv is blaring some awful show with people yelling and screaming at each other. I’m miserable. Help me.
The saving grace is a late 30’s early 40’s woman who is apparently a greeter or something or other who is just supermodel gorgeous. The nice thing about being 45 is it really expands your options regarding who you can well, let’s be honest, perv on from a distance is radically increased.
I’ll just stop now. Someone get me out of here.
CONGRATULATIONS!
Amen. Right there in your age bracket and I can testify that this is truth.
Trentrunner
Hospitals have greeters now? Sexy, mature greeters?
Thanks, Obama!
fordpowers
“perv on from a distance”
???
???
trollhattan
Sounds like a Greyhound station, only without the benefit of a hobo bar next door.
different-church-lady
Isn’t there a Twitter argument you could be having to take your mind off things?
rikyrah
I’m with this poster. Trump is speaking to the heart of the GOP…the problem for them is that he’s not doing it in Frank Luntz-approved dogwhistles. Those dogwhistles enable to MSM to pretend that the GOP isn’t what it is, which makes everyone upset. And, if they can’t go along and pretend that the dogwhistles aren’t dogwhistles, then they can aid and abed the GOP. How is a man who is leading in every pole NOT speaking to the very HEART of the party. Trump does not speak for a SLIVER of the GOP. He is every much the MAINSTREAM.
…………………
FROM TOD:
Jeffro
Also 45 here – represent!
But shouldn’t that be “One of the few nice things about…”?
different-church-lady
@rikyrah:
There is no increase. It’s always been like this. The things that’s changed is that people are finally taking notice.
Tinare
Yep, in PA we joke that the three seasons are Almost Winter, Winter, Still Winter and Construction.
Hang in there.
Turbulence
Last time I was in the ER with Mrs. Turbulence, the TV was blaring some incredibly annoying daytime Fox News shit, but I looked up and noticed it was a samsung. 30 seconds later I had installed a samsung tv remote control app on my phone and then the TV mysteriously muted, all by itself. No one complained.
Tinare
Crap, four seasons…
Betty Cracker
@trollhattan: Comment of the day.
Louise
Too bad you didn’t go in and video the cyst removal. You could make some decent ad revenue with that on YouTube.
shell
Just keep thinking about piano-playing puppies
different-church-lady
@Louise:
I hate this world.
Morat20
So I got formally introduced to the “personal injury attorney/scum of the universe” today. A year+ old car accident was unable to be resolved so is now going to trial. Low speed impact (not rear ended), the plaintiff is asking for 30,000 dollars. Coincidentally, and totally unrelated to the way that number was arrived at I am sure, 30,000 is the minimal amount of personal liability insurance you have to carry in Texas as a drive.
Weird how she hit upon that very number. What are the odds?
No ER visit, all soft-tissue damage (in short: Unverifiable) and a truly appalling number of chiropractor visits. Like so many that my first thought is “I bet someone’s getting a kickback for visits that never happened”. My insurance company, strangely, has no interest in paying out 30,000 dollars for minor injuries. (In fact, I saw their offer. It would have paid for care and treatment of more than one broken bone and several days lost work).
I can’t imagine what her lawyer is thinking. Or what she’s thinking.
kathy a.
John Cole, get yourself out of the room with loud TV and so on, and take a walk. Many hospitals have outside garden areas or such — ask the volunteers. You won’t be able to stay away for long, but just go anyway. Check out the gift store. Check out the cafeteria. Lots of places to wander that aren’t too far.
Roger Moore
@Morat20:
I assume they’re hoping to get a sucker jury.
Bex
Is the gorgeous greeter wearing a ring? Does she have some adorable pets? Find out.
Mary G
You are a good man doing a good deed, Cole. Go chat up the nice lady. That might improve your mood.
Tenar Darell
Do you read fic? I have some Marvel based, publicly safe links to reading materiel. Or, do you like science fiction? I’d be happy to give you a link to podcast or reading preferences as needed. For the hospital, I’d go with the podcast, but up to you man.
Amir Khalid
@Morat20:
The obvious answer: “Why leave thirty grand on the table?”
bystander
@trollhattan: If Cole falls off the wagon in a hobo dive, his next thread will be about waking up with a houseful of bums. And I don’t mean the kind of bums he’s perving on at the hospital.
trollhattan
@different-church-lady: Sadly, I have a path to hating it a bit more.
Sunday in America. Shining city on the hill. Rinse, repeat.
Turgidson
Go up to the attractive greeter and do the thing that insufferable Ivy Leaguers do, “I went to this little school called Cornell…ever heard of it? har har har” except about Balloon Juice. But maybe don’t mention that you showered with Rahm.
Tenar Darell
@Turgidson: Really? That’s just terrible.
Cole, go ask the greeter where she’d recommend to go that’s more relaxing in the hospital to wait, and/or ask her where you can get good coffee and if you can bring her a coffee or something before her shift is over. (Seriously it is fine to chat her up but don’t monopolize her time, she’s at work).
Morat20
@Roger Moore:
Good luck to her. She’s suing a teacher who was in town for the purposes of helping improve their local school districts. Enough so that the district specifically invited her back the next year and plans to again, for the express purposes of improving their teacher quality.
Not exactly an unsympathetic defendant. Nor a fly-by-night insurance company.
Hand to God, as someone who makes decent enough money — I’d have taken the settlement offer in a heartbeat for any injuries short of compound breaks.
MazeDancer
@Turbulence:
Had no idea that was possible. How wonderful!
During a time when I was having to take Amtrak to NYC often, I seriously considered getting a cell phone jammer. (Yes, they’re illegal.) Because the onslaught of loud yakkers was constant. No longer was quiet considered the default for travel. Loud, personal and business details shared with everyone had become the norm. Sheer misery. I got better headphones instead. But that meant no quiet unless got really lucky.
(And no, all the Amtrak trains to NYC do not have quiet cars. Actually, up and down the Hudson, 90% do not. Because they want to keep people for each town in specific cars.)
Turgidson
@Tenar Darell:
What do you mean? I claim to be the founder of Balloon Juice and it works for me every time.
different-church-lady
Cole, throw yourself on the floor and fake a seizure.
Trust me, these other folks don’t know what they’re talking about.
And neither do I.
BillinGlendaleCA
@MazeDancer:
Many Samsung phone have a IR blaster, so you can use them to control anything that uses IR for a remote.
the Conster
@trollhattan:
gun enthusiast = psycho loser
Louise
@different-church-lady: Yup.
Mustang Bobby
A friend of mine goes to a medical practice complex where he is greeted by the Director of First Impressions. If I went I’d start out with Groucho, then move on to W.C. Fields, then finish off with John Cleese because I’m told I look like him.
MazeDancer
@Tenar Darell:
That’s really good advice, John. You get a quieter spot. You get to practicing being charming.
Also, mention you’re there helping one of the college kids of the organization you mentor. “Nice to young people” is appealing to many women. As is having pets. You could say it’s more relaxing taking your 4 animals to the vet.
Can’t hurt to practice chatting up lovely ladies. Plus, gets you out of the loud room.
jl
Loud TV? Fox, Springer or Povich?
” The saving grace is a late 30’s early 40’s woman who is apparently a greeter or something or other who is just supermodel gorgeous. ”
I never ran into a ‘greeter’, but usually somebody called a ‘coordinating’ nurse or something. Always chirpy and cheerful.
Some require you to always be chirpy and cheerful too, and never say anything not completely loving and positive about the patient (Like “But, X always says they will follow instructions to the letter, but it’s never happened before, X does what X pleases.”), or they become alarmed and give you a look of shame that you are not agreeing with her that everything will be wonderful.
WaterGirl
@Turgidson: That advice is most excellent!
Tenar Darell
@Turgidson: Hah! I claim to be two science fictional characters on the internet, but I wouldn’t use it to try to pick up a woman. I’m not aware of all internet traditions, but does being the founder of a great online internet community supported by donations work as a pickup line? (if it is, then I’ll add it to my repetoire toute suite).
Steeplejack
I am basking in a mild feeling of accomplishment after finally putting together and deploying a dee-luxe ceramic drinking fountain for the housecat. Now I am stting here looking at her asleep beside me and willing her to wake up and go get a drink. Drink, stupid cat! Drink!
The fountain has a quiet sound of running/falling water, which will either become a pleasant white-noise background or eventually drive me mad.
Tenar Darell
@Steeplejack: Huh. They just make me want to pee.
jl
Maybe this will brighten Cole’s day, if he is in the mood:
16 GOPers Qualify For CNN Debates In September, One Fails To Make Cut
So far, 16 Republicans have qualified for CNN’s two-tier presidential debates in September, but one candidate has failed to make the cut.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/cnn-debate-candidates-qualify
My dream of 54 GOPers up on the stage is dead, but this is fun consolation prize, and I will survive.
Cole can stock up on diet root beer to join in on the drinking games.
Tree With Water
Nothing escapes the eyes of San Francisco’s medical examiner. Now the SFPD can roll up their sleeves and finally get to work:
SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Medical Examiner says a man whose dismembered body was found in a suitcase is a homicide victim.
Belafon
@Morat20: I had that happen about 10 years ago. I was in an accident that was my fault (I crossed in front of the other person’s car on my way to a test in college. I don’t remember any of it, because the concussion a received wipted my memory; my first memory afterwards is about 10 hours later). They waited until the end of the two years to file and then sued. The insurance had originally offered her bills + $5k. After paying for the doctors and the lawyers, she netted about $500 they said. The lawsuit amount was for $25K.
Steve in the ATL
@Roger Moore: Good luck. I’ve never seen a jury get close to $30k on a soft tissue case with chiro treatment. You need a broken bone and an orthopedist to get that much.
Brachiator
@rikyrah:
Balloon Juicers, and others, have grabbed hold of this idea like a pit pull biting a guy’s leg, and won’t let go no matter what. Trump, Carson, Fiorina, none of whom have any past political experience, account for a big chunk of the favorable ratings of people who watched the debate. The most vociferous Trump supporters keep talking about how they are fed up with the same old crap being shoveled by the most seasoned GOP politicians. These people even note approval of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
But nope. Big Daddy Trump is just another dog whistling GOP huckster.
This will also make it easier to ignore these people when Trump inevitably drops out and leaves a vacuum. Many will conclude, wrongly, that there is no reason to court these people since they are obviously GOP boneheads and need to be avoided like Ebola flavored cooties.
different-church-lady
I’m currently in a cafe. I am watching and overhearing two women sitting at a table. Each is looking at their own computer, apparently at the same camera-phone photograph of a hand-written letter. One is reading it out loud to the other.
This world confuses me — I can’t understand how they skipped the photocopy and microfilm steps.
different-church-lady
@Tree With Water: Unless, of course, Robert Durst was involved.
different-church-lady
@jl: Now that the play-in game is decided, when do the elimination rounds begin?
Tenar Darell
@different-church-lady: How old? They might be having a tough time with the handwriting if it’s script. It really is becoming a lost art. (Archives are starting to post plain text transcriptions of the scanned PDF’s of documents posted online).
Steeplejack
@Tenar Darell:
Great, now you’ve given me something else to fret about.
Will be interesting to learn whether the sound is audible from the bedroom at night. (Small apartment here; fountain is in the big front room.) “Doctor, I’ve been dreaming about raging cataracts every night for weeks!”
Roger Moore
@Tree With Water:
Sure that’s the way the smart money was betting, but you never know. He might have died of natural causes and then been dismembered and put in a suitcase. Those San Franciscans are a weird bunch.
WaterGirl
@Steeplejack: Do you have a link for the one you chose? I always browse those but never pull the trigger. Maybe I can just get the one you got! :-)
Edit: that’s what I did when I wanted a gas grill, and I love the one you linked to!
Tenar Darell
@Steeplejack: I am so proud. I live to pass on my anxieties to others. /evil grin
EdTheRed
So basically another episode of Appalachian Emergency Room?
http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/appalachian-emergency-room-ferret-bite/n36904
jl
@jl: Oh, gosh darn. CNN is splitting them up into man event and kiddie table too. I misread it and thought that part of the story was recapping the Fox debates. Too bad, would be nice to see them all up there together. Sorry.
Gin & Tonic
@different-church-lady: Win.
trollhattan
@Mustang Bobby:
Hilarious. Has a Ministry of Silly Walks vibe to it. Does he/she hand out buttons that say “Never get a second chance to make a…”?
John Revolta
@Tree With Water: Obviously he was trying to smuggle himself into the country illegally. Wake up sheeple!
Tree With Water
@Roger Moore: A few years ago the SFPD had a van at a crime scene towed to their lot at the Hall of Justice. A week or so later they got around to opening it and surprise! they found the corpse of a murder victim. And 40-some years ago the last Harley still in service with the department- they had transitioned to Japanese bikes at the time- was stolen from that very lot. It took years for it to occur to me that a cop probably stole it as a retirement gift for himself.
Waldo
TPM says the Trump-Fox War is over. Any guess who won?
Steeplejack
@WaterGirl:
Here it is: PetSafe pagoda porcelain drinking fountain. I did a fair amount of research and think I will be happy with it. Some friends in Atlanta who have many cats (six?—but in a huge house, don’t judge) also have it and say it is a big hit with their beasts.
The housecat previously had a small plastic fountain, from which she drank a lot—she much preferred it to a bowl of standing water that was refreshed once or twice a day—but it was hard to keep clean, and I worried about grodiness in the inner nooks and crannies (confirmed when I dismantled it in the bathtub). This one has very little plastic: only the housing for the charcoal filter, and it’s a hard, apparently non-absorbent plastic. I think one reviewer on Amazon was even ranting that it’s BPA-free.
Gravenstone
Yeah, having crossed the north side of 50 a few years back, I find it interesting how what I view as physically attractive has changed. Of course, I also find myself appalled at being the target demographic for all manner of advertisers these days, and how they play directly upon my evolving physical tastes (and musical nostalgia).
Morat20
@Steve in the ATL:
We just saw the papers. She’s now asking for 100k to 200k. Weeee! Somehow….just somehow…I don’t think my insurance company is worried.
Peter VE
@CONGRATULATIONS!: Wait until you’re 60, and the options expand even more (except that i start to fell really ashamed at anyone under 30 or so).
rikyrah
@Turbulence:
the vision of that sounds so cool.
Tree With Water
I know it’s unfair to equate this as being on par with the political temperament of an entire region, but does this sound like NY-New Jersey, or what? Anyway, for some reason it puts me in mind of Chris Christie’s bellicosity, as well as the folks who elected him.
“..The Jets head coach Todd Bowles confirmed that his quarterback will be out of action for six to 10 weeks with a broken jaw after being “sucker-punched” in the locker room. The 261lbs linebacker IK Enemkpali is believed to have delivered the blow, and has been released by the team..”.
WaterGirl
@Steeplejack: Thanks, Steep. I just ordered it. I used to have a stainless steel kitty fountain but it was a pain to clean and pieces got separated in the move out/ move back in after the tree repairs so I gave up on it.
High hopes for this one!
rikyrah
@Brachiator:
if it were easy to ignore these people, then why not stand up and say ‘ DONALD TRUMP IS WRONG.’
Donald Trump’s views are NOT MY VIEWS.
IF they were the fringe, then the other candidates could do it. But, it’s not the fringe.
Mike L
How on earth did you end up there?
I used to live in Monroeville, and that hospital is where I once had arthroscopic surgery on my ankle. My Dad was a surgeon there.
I’d tell you how to keep yourself amused, but I left that town decades ago and haven’t looked back. There is a Primanti Bros on Northern Pike, though, maybe a 10-minute drive.
Tree With Water
From the comment section at Deaspin.com:
“I know we all love to pretend professional athletes are only controlled by the unwritten rules and culture of their sports while in the locker room, but shouldn’t Enemkpali, you know, go to jail if he cold-cocked a guy hard enough to break his jaw?”
22 159 Reply
Icecold Davis sleepyirv
8/11/15 1:40pm
“No jury in the tristate area would convict him”.
Dany Heatley Speedwagon Barry Petchesky
8/11/15 1:53pm
“Saying he was sucker punched implies Smith didn’t throw any punches which I find hard to believe. Most likely he threw some but most of them landed 10 yards past Enemkpali or out of bounds”.
Logan Brown
@trollhattan: Damn… Iredell County is one of the poorest in the state. I remember going there with Dad when he defended the state as they wanted to put a low level nuclear waste incinerator there. Nice enough people but backwards as all get out.
Those kids deserved so much better but none of the “pro-lifers” seem to care much once they are alive. Then it’s up to Darwin.
CONGRATULATIONS!
@Tree With Water: I don’t what it is about the Bay Area but in the six years I lived in Santa Cruz we had five dismemberment cases.
One of which made quite an impression on me as they could not figure out who the victim was, so they showed her severed head, live, on the 11 o clock news. Sitting on a motherfucking plate. My buddy and I had been partying and just sat and stared, stupefied, at the TV. For years after any particularly horrible news story, we’d both start chanting “show the head, show the head!” I think it kinda fucked us up a little.
Anyhow, it worked. Hooker from San Jose. What a shitty way to go.
Iowa Old Lady
@Morat20: A surprising number of people believe they’ll get rich from a lawsuit. They’re like the folks that put all their hopes in the lottery.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
What is it about doctors’ waiting rooms? Why do so many of them have televisions going? Who the fuck wants to sit and listen to that? Once I was waiting to see my doctor, and the had Fox going. After five minutes of that shit, I asked them to put something else on, and they did.
One thing I’ve seen is that it seems like psychiatrists don’t have televisions going in their waiting rooms. Maybe they know it doesn’t do anything good for people’s minds…
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
@rikyrah:
Is there a link to that? What’s it from?
Tree With Water
@CONGRATULATIONS!: It’s macabre. I didn’t see the telecast, but know of that (recent) murder and how it unfolded. Could it be we all are nuts in this state?
grandpa john
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.): Reminds me of the Captain D’s that we go to. They have TV’s in each room , one tuned to FOX the other CNN and both are muted since they also have piped in music being played from speakers in the ceiling
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
I have a cyst story!
I had only just gotten insured through my temp agency at the time when I had a quarter-sized cyst pop up on my forehead. When it started to get to the size of a 50-cent piece, I made an appointment with a dermatologist.
I swear that the doctor walked into the room and STOPPED DEAD when he saw the angry bright red Thing growing on my forehead. He said, “Uh, wow, that looks like it hurts.” Yeah, ya think, doc?
He ended up having to lance and squeeze it out, plus antibiotics to make sure it wasn’t a staph infection. Good times, good times.
trollhattan
@Tree With Water:
Once worked in a Sac area bidnez park (oddly, not spelled “Parq” or “Centre”) and would take midday walks at a nearby empty lot. A use trail wound its way through the brush around the perimeter for a mile or so. Anyhoo, after having done this walk a year or two somebody noticed a body had been buried there, basically under the path. The authorities published pics of the victim’s fancy-schmancy nail job and it proved to be a Bay Area woman who had disappeared. IIRC a boyfriend was convicted of her murder. I was massively creeped out at having walked on/over this poor woman all those many times. Never went back.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@Steeplejack:
Let me know how it is to clean. I’ve owned other fountains by that manufacturer and while they’re now easier to clean than the early models, they’re still kind of a pain.
Plus we have very hard water in Los Angeles and the damn things always end up with a layer of white lime that is impervious to any cleaner, including CLR or Lime-Away. I’m pretty sure even a chisel would b useless.
danielx
That would seem to be prudent, yes.
rk
@Turbulence:
I’m incredibly impressed by this. Had no idea this was even possible.
Roger Moore
@Mnemosyne (iPhone):
I’m thinking there has to be a “cease and de-cyst” pun in there somewhere, but I’m not smart enough to find it.
Roger Moore
@Mnemosyne (iPhone):
I avoid this problem by filling my cat’s water fountain with water machine water, the same as I drink. At $0.25/gallon, I’m probably saving money in the long run by not damaging the thing with hard water deposits.
NotMax
@Roger Moore
Cysterhood of the traveling rants?
moderateindy
Cole: I live in WV and had to deal traffic today………….Boo as well as Hoo.
I live in Chicago; STFU, and quit your whining, your traffic problem could be a whole lot worse
John Cole
@moderateindy: I was in Pittsburgh, clown.
John Cole
@Bex: I didn’t approach her. She was seriously supermodel gorgeous- like a darker skinned Halle Berry, and had on really expensive clothes and was sporting a ring with a rock the size of a ping pong ball. The last thing she wants in her life is to be hit on while at work by some bubba from West Virginia.
Brachiator
@rikyrah:
Who are you asking to stand up? Are you asking for Trump supporters to take a pledge before they be allowed to vote for a Democrat? OK.
But this is kinda beside the point. The only thing I’m saying is that there is evidence that not all of these people are regular Republicans. To continue to assert this is to underestimate Trump’s appeal to other voters besides standard issue Republicans.
Steeplejack
@Mnemosyne (iPhone):
I filled it with tapwater to start with, but I’ll be checking it and might change it up with filtered (Brita) or distilled water to see if it makes a difference.
NotMax
@Steeplejack
Not distilled water. Very bad thing to drink regularly or in quantity.
Roger Moore
@NotMax:
Nonsense. Distilled water tastes flat and awful, but it’s perfectly safe to drink.
NotMax
@Roger Moore
.pdf of a World Health Organization report on the risks of straight (that is, not remineralized) distilled water.
It also does not hydrate the body anywhere nearly as efficiently as does non-demineralized water.
Bex
@John Cole: OK. Fair enough…but quit selling yourself short. You’re not just “some bubba from West Virginia.”
jl
@John Cole: You didn’t approach a ‘greeter’ because you thought she didn’t want to greet you? What kind of greeter is that and what kind of greetee? I’d have gone up and greeted myself and help her do her job. I always try to be helpful when I can.
gogol's wife
@jl:
Yeah, who knows what kind of ring it is? She could have inherited it from her grandmother.
PaulW
So, anyone send their resume to the Jets for the QB position needing a temp replacement?
Gravenstone
@Steeplejack: I have a similar model (parabolic central core, rather than the pagoda). I found that if you keep it very full, the sound of the falling water is greatly reduced. Letting the water level drop allows the falling water to hit the central ceramic, which gets annoyingly loud.
Gravenstone
@Tree With Water: And that paragon of virtue, Cris Carter, is blaming Smith – because if he were a better clubhouse leader, he wouldn’t have gotten sucker punched.
/boggle
Gravenstone
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): As noted above, I have a similar style. I just toss mine into the dishwasher weekly. You could probably use a old toothbrush to clean the interior of the filter casing. One downside I’ve discovered (although it might be because my water sucks) is that the circulating pumps die after a couple three months. Cost about $15 to replace. I now stock two back ups, and replace one as soon as I have to replace the front line unit.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Gravenstone:
Thanks. I filled it pretty full, and no problems so far. The sound is pleasant and doesn’t interfere with the TV, etc.
I will see if I can hear it from the bedroom in the middle of the night.
yodecat
Hey John!
I hope that this missive finds you in a better mood.
I’m writing to tell you why hospitals have shitty lighting. For one reason, shitty lighting is less expensive than good lighting. Second reason, hospitals want bright lighting. The second reason is probably less important to them than the first, but they do both which gives a truly miserable experience. It helps to wear polarized sunglasses.
jw
yodecat
@different-church-lady: Your short post makes me sad. It’s a beautiful world. True that it’s inhabited by a crowd of fuck-wits. I solved this vexing problem by moving into the woods in a beautiful place and taking the news in small sips: sorta like drinking rum and not becoming drunk.
Fare well.
jw
different-church-lady
@yodecat: I may have been exaggerating a bit for effect.
Ha
I have that Drinkwell Padoga fountain and as long as you disassemble and clean out the motor every month or two, you should get years of service from the fountain. If you go to their website, they have a short video on how to clean the motor.
I always use filtered water and I don’t have any problems cleaning it.
Paul in KY
@trollhattan: Those poor young boys. Murdered by their POS father. Feel so sorry for them. Wish mother had taken them too.
Paul in KY
@Gravenstone: Obviously the LB that punched him has anger issues. That said, if he had paid him the $600 (chump change for a QB), then he wouldn’t have been punched out.
‘Sucker punching’ someone is a punk move, IMO.