I was queuing at a vegan sandwich shop. Items are listed as 'chicken salad' or 'sausage and bacon', but there are multiple signs pointing out the plant based nature of the food. You can't miss them.

So this man in his early 50's comes storming into the shop, stomping like a cat that's wearing shoes against its will. He cuts to the front of the line and confronts the woman behind the counter. He points angrily to his sandwich and blurts, "what's this shit, I ordered real food!"

The server calmly explains that the menu is 100% vegan, and gestures to the multiple brightly coloured signs adorning the counter and shop walls. This throws him momentarily. The tiny cogs within his mind whirl fruitlessly, grasping for a reason why this is unreasonable. His chosen retort is to shout some barely comprehensible thoughts about how nowhere sells "real food" anymore, and the owners are criminals for tricking their customers. He demands a refund. His request is denied.

At this point the whole shop is silent. Aware of the scene he is causing, he decides to call the woman a bitch and storm out. The staff exchange weary glances at each other and go back to serving the next customer.

But, two minutes later our petulant protagonist charges back into the shop, you can almost see the rage bulging from behind his eyes like a frog in a vice. His mood has visibly escalated from angry to violent. He has the aura of a tea bagging victim.

He sucks all the air in the shop into his rage-filled lungs and cries, 'I just took another bite of this and it tastes like shit!' He raises the accused sandwich above his head, and hurls it at the wall. This action shocks everyone, including himself. He pauses momentarily, considering his next move, and decides to shout "fuck" very loudly. He storms out of the shop for a second time, and through the shop window we watch him aim a kick at the shop's sign, miss, take another attempt which connects, and then shout a final "fuck" through the window, before waddling off in search of an establishment that will satisfy his need to consume flesh.

This is not the first time I have witnessed a man of this age completely lose his shit over something trivial, and while on this occasion I was in a crowd so didn't feel too unsafe, it was still scary.

I don't know what else this man had going on in his life that day, and in a way I hope there was something more to trigger this than just a sandwich, but he was completely out of control and if there weren't so many witnesses I fear he might have done more damage or even assaulted the staff.

On reflection it is easy to make fun of this pathetic outburst, but equally it's scary to know there are men out there who can tip into uncontrollable rage at any point.