I once confronted the guy that broke into my car and stole my stereo. He gave everything he still had back (he didn't have the CDs anymore).

For what it's worth, I only went to him directly after the police shrugged it off and wouldn't pursue it. I gave them his address, description, other crimes he had been involved in (drug dealer), etc. They didn't care, and when the crime happened couldn't even be bothered to lift a couple of prints.

I was so angry when he said "sorry man, I figured your insurance would cover it, no hard feelings". But, looking back, he was just dumb as hell and stealing from a friend of a friend you met once made sense to him...In this sort of situation, handling the issue directly worked out for me better than going to the police.

>You cannot go to authorities with "he called me a butt."

Depends on the country. You very much can in mine, for "public insult".

Public order offence here; UK. But I don't see how it makes sense to do that over a little tiff, or even how it could be practically enforceable unless the policeman was right there. I mean what are you going to do; film all your life incase someone says a mean word to you?

Well, in my country's case, you could have a witness willing to testify as to what he heard. Happens quite a few times, especially from litigation-trigger-happy people.