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Blade hypocricy
- Thread starter BenchCo Spydermade
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Unfortunately as it stands now, it does have to mean maximum punishment (which might not necessarily be outright expulsion immediately. But definitely suspension pending such a decision.) That's just the way we're expected to handle it.
That story I used of the kid who drew a pic of his dad, I left one part out. Not only was the kid suspended (this was a real little guy by the way, in the grades where drawing pictures and coloring are the norm) but the father's employment suspended HIM pending possible termination. Terrible.
went to HS is the late 60s early 70s it was common for boys to have pocket knives, but since this was long before the current "Tacticool" knife days most knives I saw were what we now call Traditionals. I carried an old Case Stockman my Dad gave me when I was 8 or a single blade trapper I bought in HS. There was a lot of racial tension in those days and a lot of fights. Never once did I see or hear of anyone pulling out a knife! Baseball bats, pieces of rebar yes but no knives. First time I was ever told I couldn't carry a knife somewhere was the first day of Army Basic Training. Had to dump it in the Amnesty Box, they were afraid we might hurt ourselves.
Don't know how I would handle knives in school today. But the type and size of knife would factor in.
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I think I recall reading about that very incident. Did it make the national snooze-media ?
Ankerson
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Well you know how people seem to get all whacked out over even the slightest little things these days... As in everything is like the world is going to end.....
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I stopped at the Home Depot to pick up some push points, glazing compound, putty knife, and a new glass cutter for a replacement window project. As I was going through the "Self Checkout", I was running my items through the bar code reader, when all,of a sudden the register locked down on me. The marquis read, see self checkout associate. The associate looked in my bag she pulled out the putty knife and asked to see ID. Dumbfounded I asked her why, she said store policy is anytime someone purchases a knife they have to be at least 18 years old and show proper identification.
Rather than just give her my drivers license, I decided to question the stores motive, so now the store manager shows up and asked me what my problem was. I explained to him a putty knife has no sharpened edge on it and is used for scraping. I asked him that if I bought a 12 inch saws all tree cutting blade would I need to be 18 also? Anyhow I've been around long enough to get that "peripheral feel" of causing a scene, so I showed him my ID, paid the machine then grabbed my bag and walked out into the parking lot while carrying my Hinderer XM 24 clipped to my front pocket and my concealed carry 38 revolver in an ankle holster all the while laughing to myself as I got into my Jeep. I mean WTF is going on here with our society, are we that paranoid that a manager has to ID a 60 yr old for buying a putty knife.
Rather than just give her my drivers license, I decided to question the stores motive, so now the store manager shows up and asked me what my problem was. I explained to him a putty knife has no sharpened edge on it and is used for scraping. I asked him that if I bought a 12 inch saws all tree cutting blade would I need to be 18 also? Anyhow I've been around long enough to get that "peripheral feel" of causing a scene, so I showed him my ID, paid the machine then grabbed my bag and walked out into the parking lot while carrying my Hinderer XM 24 clipped to my front pocket and my concealed carry 38 revolver in an ankle holster all the while laughing to myself as I got into my Jeep. I mean WTF is going on here with our society, are we that paranoid that a manager has to ID a 60 yr old for buying a putty knife.
Ankerson
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"Sir, WHAT SEEMS TO BE THE TROUBLE HERE?!?"
He probably felt good that day, protecting his female sales associate.
"Zero Tolerance" or similar policies are probably the most flawed prevalent concepts in any educational institution except maybe the new Common Core. As an attorney, I can tell you that in the real world, the is no such thing as Zero Tolerance/guilty until proven innocent/etc. In a twisted way, Zero Tolerance in schools is kind of a symbol of how by and large part the American educational system, especially public schools, are failing badly at preparing young people for real life. Badly designed curriculum, lots of poorly trained and even worse performing teachers, broke districts, and completely misguided discipline policies.
Here's my amateur psychoanalysis of non knife people as it pertains to this topic-
People are comfortable with knives being in "their normal place", like a kitchen, etc. Familiarity breeds comfort.
But the idea of people carrying knives around scares them because they regard the act of carrying a knife to be something a criminal would do, and therefore they regard a carried knife as a dangerous weapon. And since fear is an emotion often prone to irrationality, peoples fear of carried knives includes even small knives that we, or any rational person, would regard as harmless.
But don't give up hope on American society. Go to Kniferights.org and you can read all about the various states in the US that have repealed many, and in some cases ALL of their knife restrictions. Heck, in some states it is now perfectly legal for ordinary citizens to carry any size of switchblade they want. And switchblades are historically the most terrifying knife in America.
People are comfortable with knives being in "their normal place", like a kitchen, etc. Familiarity breeds comfort.
But the idea of people carrying knives around scares them because they regard the act of carrying a knife to be something a criminal would do, and therefore they regard a carried knife as a dangerous weapon. And since fear is an emotion often prone to irrationality, peoples fear of carried knives includes even small knives that we, or any rational person, would regard as harmless.
But don't give up hope on American society. Go to Kniferights.org and you can read all about the various states in the US that have repealed many, and in some cases ALL of their knife restrictions. Heck, in some states it is now perfectly legal for ordinary citizens to carry any size of switchblade they want. And switchblades are historically the most terrifying knife in America.
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I agree, although if we're going for most flawed I'd give slight edge to zero tolerance over Common Core personally, as an educator.
For one small thing that I personally think we're improving, check out Standards Based and Competency-Based Education. I'm a huge advocate of CBE.
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Wow, I'm dumbfounded by this one! What does it say about their talent acquisition dept if the girl had to actually see the ID of a clearly older than 18 yr old before approving the sale? This is just scary to me how dumb people are getting. The brainwashing is working because I see it more and more all the time. People are losing their ability to think for themselves and apply common sense.
Sadly in this case it isn't all the poor girl's fault. It seems very silly to us (and it is) but retail professionals have gotten into trouble in the past for not specifically following rules and asking for ID where required, because the person was obviously over 18. Still, silly rules and even some sting operations have gotten people into trouble in the past.
So although we might look at this and think "how stupid can this person be not to see he's over 18" it's really more of a case of having to cover her own possibly fine and tight derriere in the ever jacked-up legal system we have.
Science teachers seem to have more of a use for them (I think Mr. Spydermade has shared a couple anecdotes in this thread) but as a Language Arts teacher myself, I admit I almost never need one. However, I do carry and at lunch time, more often than not one is useful for me to either cut food or deal with the packaging on whatever food I've brought for myself. I've used one a few times for various fix-it stuff I've had to do with my computer that was easier to handle myself rather than call IT.
In a typical week for me, it doesn't see a lot of use outside helping me at lunch time, but I'm still glad it's there for those times or any others where I've needed to cut stuff. We have a box of scissors in my room that mostly work fine. But sometimes they really don't cut it.
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Reflecting back on the Home Depot putty knife purchase, I believe their computers are programmed that if "knife " appears in the checkout bar code reader then the whole process goes into auto pilot mode. Self check out register stops further process, sales associate queued, ID required and entered into system, etc. Why, because we as a society have over re acted to a perceived threat, so instead of holding the individual,responsible for his actions we regulate the instrument that caused the injury or death. So where does it end or does it? So as RedLynx has pointed out, it becomes a program of protecting your self and the store, even if it is absurd.
You're right. Heck, maybe the sales associate didn't give a crap one way or another. Maybe her dad is in construction and uses knives all the time. But if her job is important to her, she had to ask you, even if she thought it was stupid. Maybe she didn't think that, just saying it's a possibility.
I can't really conceive of a way it could have been problematic for her NOT to ask you but, knowing what the "official policy" is, if it somehow came out, I wouldn't be surprised if she "had to be let go" for this slip up.
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I agree with the covering of their *sses from a company standpoint but I think this still speaks to my overall point. Even in a court of law it seems ridiculous that you'd need to cover your ass by confirming that you had to ask an obviously older than 18yr old to provide ID that he wasn't a minor. It's like asking a flat chested woman to show her jiggly bits to prove she isn't a man. Some things should just go without saying. And by woman, I don't mean someone like "Pat" the androgynous character from SNL!
Ankerson
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Yeah, people have to realize that things like this start up at Corporate level so the stores have to do it no matter if they like it or agree with it or not.
No matter how stupid they think it is or Management thinks it is.....
I have had to make sure my people did a lot dumber things than that over the years because some Corporate person came up with some idea....
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