knife faux pas..the Meakoscale.

[meako]

We have threads on the panic caused among the non knifey people
when they see a knife in the work place or produced to cut an orange etc.
I wondered whether I should post this or not (probably not but I deserve a bagging for it).
I wonder which end of the Meakoscale where
0 = producing a small pocket kinfe to take care of a cutting task quietly and efficiently
and
10 = possibly upsetting loads of people (i'm not including any crime or imaginary rampages here)

my recent faux pas would fall.

Ye be the judge.

Last Friday I went to meet my sons from school. A local primary with around 70 kids total.
I usually bushbash from my back gate to the school. Its heavily forested and a stout uphill climb to boot. Takes me about 20 min.
There is a large population of feral deer so I never know what I might find lying around.
Being Type 1 diabetic I always take my bumbag and an orange.I usually find a stick to fashion into a hiking staff (which has earned me the nickname Moses from one of the other dads).
I always take a knife for the purpose of cutting up my orange before I get to school.
On this particular occasion I decided to carry an old horn handled sheffield bowie 5in blade with belt sheath.The small folders have a hard time with the hardwood eucalyptus.
Everything went perfect. Stick,Orange,spooked up some deer,chatting to the guys up at school (where incidentally I reigned as P&C Pres for 7yrs a while back.Now taken a backseat as VP).
Sheathed knife in back pocket.
OR SO I THOUGHT.
After I met my boys and we were walking down the hill with all the other kids I noticed to my dread that my knife was missing. Lost in the bush was my initial fear... then AAAH F!. I immediately began back tracking to where I had been standing talking.I heard my name caled out and "Is this yours?" one of the other dads had picked it up from outside the school gate, knew it was me and done the right thing.
Heres where I went wrong .I slipped it into my back pocket but the sheath went throught waistbelt of the bumbag instead and the whole thing fell promptly on the grass at the gate of the school.Hey nobody else noticed either which hopefully goes in my favour.

Embarrassment potential 9/10.

what do you reckon?

 

[RDog]

Honestly I think it was pretty stupid. But we all do stupid things, I sure have.
Whats the chances of you doing that same mistake again? Embarrassment is a good teacher.

 

[Flying Guillotine]

I sense a belt-clip coming in your near future

 

[thatotherguy]

Embarrasment- 9.5/10
Actual disturbance- maybe a 2 at most. Not a big deal this time, but a lesson was learnt.
Around here if that happened the police would probably be called... sigh

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

I cringed when I read 'school', '70 kids' and 'Sheffield Bowie'. That combination would likely get a school lockdown and a SWAT response here in the states.

At any rate, you've already seen & recognized how this could've gone badly, so that means it likely won't happen again. Lesson learned.

I was nervous enough a while back, when I attended a local exhibit of some birds of prey (raptors) at the community library. Indoors, room packed full of people, mostly women & grade school-aged kids. They passed around a donation jar, and when I pulled my wallet from my back pocket, my Buck 307 came out with it, and landed atop a low bookcase immediately behind me. I never realized it, but a very kind and mild-mannered gentleman next to me simply pointed and said, "You dropped your knife." No odd looks or comments or panic from anyone else in the room. Even so, I still breathed a sigh of relief. And that was just a li'l ol' 4-inch stockman.