Deliberately Mucking Another Hand

[pfapfap]

Last night at a boisterous 6/12, several characters took a bit of prompting to keep things going. The focus was an older gentleman, in seat 5, who I felt was putting on a bit of an act. Not a regular. Midway through my down, some kid in the 2 seat, who had been joking with the old guy and I got a sense had a "rivalry" going, mucked his hand directly on top of 5's, who was looking away or having trouble reaching around his large stack on a cramped table, or something. I watched it happen and saw which two cards were whose, so I separated them out (5 folded anyway). I've seen people sort of fake try to muck, usually when cards are protected, but never so clearly a path from hand to cards. I looked the punk square in the eye and told him in no uncertain terms that his actions were unacceptable and would not be tolerated again. Thankfully he wasn't a regular, or he'd have known that I have no power and have told me to piss off, but I wanted everybody to be clear that I put up with a lot in the spirit of the game, but some things are completely unacceptable. I view this as one of them.

Okay, so, settled, right?

I related this story to an aquaintance, who tells me that he often mucks the hands of people who hold up the game. He sees no problem with it, and figures the players deserve it for not protecting their cards. I feel it's something he should ask the dealer to address.

So, what's your thoughts on this? Okay to do or not so much? How would you react to someone doing that? Oh, and this was no accident, because after I admonished him, he was able to aim his mucks over seat 1's hands, over my arm, and into the muck pile. Every time.