Had my first "non knife" guy moment.

aquaman67

aquaman67

Joined
Jan 27, 2012
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My computer monitor was acting wonky so I needed to buy a new one. Best Buy had one on sale that I wanted. I go to the local Best Buy and find a sales guy and ask for the monitor I wanted. He couldn't find on on the floor so he had to go in the back to get one. The one he brought up looked like someone played football with the box.

I asked if that was the only one he had and he said it was. I said I wanted to look at it and wanted a discount. He looked at the taped up box and started looking around. I asked if he needed a knife and he said yes.

I flipped open my Benchmade 300SSN (yes, mine flips open with no wrist) and started cutting the tape.

The sales guy literally took 4 steps back. He didn't step forward again until the knife was back in my pocket.

I wonder what he was thinking.

Here's a pic of the offending knife.

D082127F-E3A2-4965-84E2-B79B72378A7D-511-000000D815AC3D78_zps239dbe6b.jpg
 
His reaction doesn't sound all that unusal to me. I could see how a stranger flipping open a fairly good sized knife next to him in a public store may cause him to think twice about your intentions.
 
That's too funny!! Had the same sort of situation happen to me at work a few weeks ago. I pulled out my para2 to cut open a box at work and my coworker got all freaked out and said
It was a HUGE knife. Haha
 
larson1122 said:
His reaction doesn't sound all that unusal to me. I could see how a stranger flipping open a fairly good sized knife next to him in a public store may cause him to think twice about your intentions.
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It's a 3" bladed knife which was opened in order to open a box, after the employee said that a knife would be useful.
To back up in that situation is stupid. Illogical. Lame.
 
larson1122 said:
His reaction doesn't sound all that unusal to me. I could see how a stranger flipping open a fairly good sized knife next to him in a public store may cause him to think twice about your intentions.
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I don't know, they're was an obvious reason why took out the knife, and his intent was clear, not to mention the 300SN is a relatively small knife, 3" blade and under 7.5 open. :)
 
A very dangerous concealed weapon. Some guys are wimps. Not all learning moments come to fruition.
 
I just think the story is funny! No real need to argue over the guys reaction. Everyone reacts differently to every situations! Thanks for sharing aquaman67!
 
9blades said:
I don't know, they're was an obvious reason why took out the knife, and his intent was clear, not to mention the 300SN is a relatively small knife, 3" blade and under 7.5 open. :)
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I don't think the employee was being unreasonable. I don't trust people flicking their knives around me. Even at Blade :D
 
I learned real fast with my ZT and Kershaw speedsafe knives to just open them two handed and slowly so people don't freak out. I don't like attention drawn to me either and my ZT's in particular make a nice solid thunk sound when they get flicked open and that sound alone seems to freak people out lol. It just seems kind of dramatic and unnecessary to be flicking knives open in public places especially inside stores at least in my opinion anyway.
 
I was in Walmart. I had to return a toy that did not work. The walmart employee handed me another and said "open this one to make sure it works so you don't have to come back again."

The toy was boxed and strapped. No way to remove it without cutting the bands. I took out a 3 inch fixed blade that was on my belt. I kept the blade spine covered by my finger, and sliced the bands.

The lady at the customer service counter said "That's a weapon".

Another time I was in the hard ware store shopping for a microwave. My long time family friend helped me (she was in charge of the Scouting program when I was a young kid). . She had another employee go and get a pallet. The micro wave was on a pallet shrink wrapped and banded with the heavy bands. The employees were patting them selves looking for something to cut the bands and shrink wrap. I had a 4 inch warncliff re-curve on my belt. I cut the bands and sliced the plastic. The other employee said "woah, that is a huge knife"

I went to lawschool with what I would call "tool adverse liberals".

They were always bugging me to use my knife. After they took advantage of the fact that they could cut something cleanly, they would invariable ask me "why do you carry that knife?"

My response was usually "I've been carrying that knife for years just so you could cut that bagel (or what ever they needed to cut)"
 
Well sounds like that guy needs a knife for his job (and to man up). I get what you mean by meeting non knife people though, the 300 is bulky for the blade length but still is not an overall big knife. I would consider it a medium sized knife.
 
Bladeforums can be funny. People are discussing whether or not some store clerk (whom they've never met and don't know) overreacted at the sight of a knife. Here are my thoughts-

1. Maybe the OP is exaggerating just a little. No offense to the OP, but sometimes people exaggerate a bit when they tell a story, even if it's unintentional.

2. Maybe the clerk stepped back as a simple safety precaution, not because he was scared. If I was standing within arms reach of a TOTAL STRANGER when they pulled out a knife to cut something right in front of me, I too would step back. After all, I don't know how responsible the TOTAL STRANGER is with knives. I think we all know that some people are COMPLETE IDIOTS with knives and cannot be trusted to use them safely, even for the simplest of tasks.

3. We're only getting one side of the story. Maybe there's more to it. Like they say " There's your story, there's his story, and then there's THE TRUTH".

4. I always find it fascinating how so many people see things from only THEIR OWN perspective. Who knows what the clerks story was, or what he was thinking. According to the OP, The clerk answered "Yes" when the OP asked if a knife was needed, he didn't run away, or say "Why would we want to use a knife?!", nor did he scream "OH MY GOD HE'S GOT A KNIFE!!! CALL THE COPS!!!". So obviously the clerk wasn't "anti-knife", or had some unreasonable phobia of knives (and this leads me to wonder if there is more to the story). According to the OP's story, all the guy did was step back for a moment. Perhaps the clerk was just a very prudent individual. After all, in this day and age, if a TOTAL STRANGER pulled out a knife near you, for any reason, wouldn't you exercise a bit of caution. When it's your personal safety on the line, how much are you willing to gamble on a TOTAL STRANGER, better safe than sorry. Like I said, it's fascinating when people see things from only their own point of view.

For all we know the clerk could have been a "knife-guy". Maybe the workplace rules don't allow employees to carry knives. Or maybe he forgot his knife that day.
 
Gallen1119 said:
Did you get the discount? If so, then learning occurred.
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Funny!


9blades said:
I don't know, they're was an obvious reason why took out the knife, and his intent was clear, not to mention the 300SN is a relatively small knife, 3" blade and under 7.5 open. :)
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Not all people are rational. :)

Finally- killgar, well played Devil's Advocate...I too always back away from anyone, that I do not know very well, using a knife. Stuff happens, and I got tired of being injured a while ago.
 
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Flippers (and fast thumb stud openers) - especially of the "tactical" variety (chunky/robust) can be surprising to those unused to seeing them. Most expect two hands to open up a swiss army knife, not a blade to come flying out. 3" is a small blade only by some standards - in many places, a thin 2" blade is the limit. I don't fault someone for shying away from something like that when unused to it - especially in a situation when you are really not expecting it.

Sign of the times maybe, but I don't fault the employee. If the only knife I've seen used to open a box is a box cutter the stock guy in back had, I'd probably be a bit wary if a customer suddenly pulled out even a small flipper. Like asking someone to take a quick picture, expecting an iPhone, and they suddenly produce a big ass dSLR where you didn't expect one to come out of. It takes you by surprise - then gets multiplied by the fact that it's a weapon. Call it a tool if you like, but it's also a weapon (just another type of tool).
 
AddictedToGear said:
Well sounds like that guy needs a knife for his job (and to man up). I get what you mean by meeting non knife people though, the 300 is bulky for the blade length but still is not an overall big knife. I would consider it a medium sized knife.
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Probably just needs a box cutter or stanley utility knife.
 
OK, I'll play. I can feel Clint Eastwood from GRAN TORINO coming on :

That guy's reaction is no accident, it's modern sociology.
Behold the first completely domesticated generation of fatherless boys raised by single pink-collar Moms. Their entire young lives spent indoors in urban three-room apartments. No one to expose them to tools or to tool skills, no knives or (shudder) firearms permitted in the home, and few or no tools in the kitchen drawers. Their entire school education has been female-dominated and female-dictated, with hypersensitive obsession with 'safety'. Most seem to have no exposure to the outdoors, no contact sports, no toughening influences. They know nada about knives (and still less about guns) or tools. They've been forbidden to go near sharp objects their entire lives, and punished if they did. Their upbringing is totally unlike that of the generations of men who came before.
Suddenly here you are, a stranger with a real live actual knife, and he freaks, because he's the product of that upbringing.

All this does not bode well for knife owner's rights in our fast changing society. That frightened female retail clerk and the frightened sales guy may be uninformed, but they have two votes to our one when 'knife control" legislation rolls around.

Of course, OTOH, the guy could just have been cautiously giving you ample room in case you were some random klutz with poor motor skills. But if not him, there are plenty of other folk whose irrational reactions to your 'lethal weapon" are totally real.
OK, how'd I do?
 
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If an item I am considering purchasing needs to be opened/inspected at a retail store the I usually ask the clerk if they have a blade.If they have one then I use theirs.If they say no then I ask them if it ok to use mine.No surprises for strangers.This happens to me every now and then at Lowe's and home Depot.
 
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