Can't get past Measurehead

[Isley]

So I refused to internalize his race theory (I'm locked out of that now.).

I cannot win in a fight with the big dude.

I failed the perception test to sneak in the back door to talk with his boss.

What are my other options to get into the dock?

[Du-Vu]

You'll have to go do something else for now. You can always come back and try again. Or you can actually give up on getting into the docks altogether. That's another option.

[RJM]

There is another route to the docks. Have you found your police coat yet?

[Du-Vu]

That's the Perception check to the back door they failed.

[Isley]

I ended up save scumming the fight with like a 12% chance to win. Took a while, but I did it. Trying to not do it too much, but I wanted to move the narrative forward.

[Du-Vu]

Hey, it's your game. Just know that there's a lot of stuff to do if it feels like you hit another (harbour) wall.

[Dunk]

How did you pick a fight with him on the second conversation? Or was it part of the initial one? I went through (or at least I think) the entire dialogue tree and didn't see an option to fight him.

[Th0rgar]

You can steal the key card in the bar.

[pilotwilot]

Originally posted by Th0rgar:

You can steal the key card in the bar.

do you know how to initiate this action? i’ve already spoken with him and now the game won’t let me interact w him

[Space is the Place]

Either save scumming as someone suggested or just do something else. Sometimes it seems you need to progress on a specific way but other than one particular scheduled event and one interrogation that needs to proceed yes or yes, for the most part you are pretty free to do a lot. And all side quests can advance the main plot.

While doing other stuff you will win new thoughs to internalize, XP to boost skill, clothes...

[Shattered mind]

Originally posted by Andrew Isley:

So I refused to internalize his race theory (I'm locked out of that now.).

I cannot win in a fight with the big dude.

I failed the perception test to sneak in the back door to talk with his boss.

What are my other options to get into the dock?

if you haven't already, I believe, speaking both with the scab leader and Call me Manaña after the initial failed attempt(s) grants you another attempt each(they will both give you hints at how to handle him).

[Space is the Place]

Originally posted by Shattered mind:

...

His name is Mañana, not "Call me Mañana", that´s just something he says.

[Charles Entertainment Cheese]

You basically have to save scum, it's how the game is built. Even if you tried all of the legitimate options you'd still run a reasonable chance of getting stuck.

[The Sylvan Learning Center]

Lol at the idea of this game forcing you to save scum at all.

Very bad advice.

[Shattered mind]

Originally posted by Charles Entertainment Cheese:

You basically have to save scum, it's how the game is built. Even if you tried all of the legitimate options you'd still run a reasonable chance of getting stuck.

blatantly false.
I've been through the game 13 times now and didn't get stuck once.
if you're save-scumming you're playing the game wrong and I highly advise against it, Disco Elysium is actually one of those rare gems of a game where failure isn't always failure and it's possible to "fail forward" so to speak - my advice to anyone playing the game; "Roll with the punches".

[Donathan Cheadledge]

This game's tasks that look like side quests actually all feed in, it's part of why the game's design is so brilliant. If you ever hit a wall you do not need to save scum - go and do something irrelevant to that task. You can come back with a skill point later if you're dying to try a particular thing (getting a point in the relevant skill re-unlocks the check to try again, as well as sometimes talking to people - try talking to the big bloke in the crowd of protestors after f'ing up the fight)

Absolutely everything helps you solve the case eventually, and you do not have to do everything. The only things you need to make sure to do are the room payments on days 1 & 2.