How should I have reacted?

[West_Indian_Archie]

You're right.

It goes back to high school where I sucked at comebacks so I never learnt to confront attackers.

Can you recommend any remedies to learn confrontation?

So that I can be "prepared" for such situations.

Any social situations I can put myself into to learn it?

You basically need to hang out with guys that mess with each other. So that's developing a friend group. It's less about words and more about the willingness to act.

In terms of quickwittedness outside of a social context
- Learn how to Freestyle Rap. Listen to a lot and practice. Don't become a rapper, let me be clear. We got enough as is. But forcing yourself to freestyle builds that improvisation muscle
- Reddit has a sub called "roast me" - sometimes it's funny, sometimes it's not. You can learn how to roast, not by repeating what other people say, but understanding how they tackle the particular subject. The easy stuff is to make fun of looks. The better stuff is getting at their character.

Both of these are practices that lead to formulas. It's very rare that you're going to have the best comeback, the best AMOG, the best whatever in the moment. The more you see these situations, the more you can remain calm, keep your adrenaline and cortisol down, the better you'll be when the time comes.

WIA