Knives, Sheeple and Trouble

Dagon said:
The discussion degenerated after this, but in essence I agree with the statement.
Indeed, I work in a suit & tie environment. Our tools are PC keyboards.
I do carry an Alox SAK Soldier to very occasionally open up a box or envelope but to be honest, it's barely needed: I can just as well tear the box open. It's just that I love to EDC a knife, and it is wiser in this kind of environment to carry a socially accepted design instead of -say- my ZT200. Not that my highly regarded colleagues are sheeple, no they simply understand that a knife has limited utility in our environment. And always remember this when working on your career: "Perception is reality".
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exactly. you're not going to save the world with a knife in an office. lmao.
 
StotheE said:
we are talking about in a professional[not rednick/hick] office/administrative environment. i like knives and carry one whenever possible too but my love for knives doesnt make me ignorant.
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Well. I have done some work with government, land affairs department, council, tribunal court. Non of the security officers have had a problem with my pocket knives.

I was once asked to leave my pocket knife at a security officer, at a cookie store! :confused: go figure, but I explained our law and they let me go in with my pocket knife.
 
Dagon said:
And always remember this when working on your career: "Perception is reality".
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No... perception is perception and reality is reality. That is why we have different words to describe them.

In my mind, part of the measure of a "professional" is his ability to carry his personal character into the workplace and use it effectively. If you have to put on an act to be accepted at the office, perhaps you're in the wrong vocation.

If there is any truth in this silly "sheeple" idea, I think it is that bullisht artists do not make good associates.
 
StotheE said:
exactly. you're not going to save the world with a knife in an office. lmao.
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tsiloics said:
If there is any truth in this silly "sheeple" idea, I think it is that bullisht artists do not make good associates.
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I'm not worried about saving the world in my office. I'm somewhat more concerned with being equipped in the street, on public transportation, and going home in the dark.

If the office is unaware of this, I need to go work somewhere else, with more realistic people.
 
A knife (of some size) is always appropriate... everywhere (or should be). There is no need to ever be without one.
 
It isn't the knife nut that's the problem.

We will be minding our own business, opening a letter/candybar/plastic package with a 1 1/4" SAK blade, and busybody/do-gooder SHEEPLE will triumphantly swoop down on us, accusingly announcing "Who ya gonna kill with that?!" while they leer with a smart @ss expression.

The same expression a six year old tattler wears. That is why I answer them back with ridicule. They hate it, it disarms them, and they have no answer.
 
scotchleaf said:
I am the boss, so I lay my HI Kukri right on my desk!
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NOW yer talkin'!

Here's the deal; it does not have anything to do with knives. It is about conflicting views of the world and our place in it. We are all subject to forces outside our control (like how tall I am) and other things that we can control (like whether, when something breaks at work, I call it in, or fix it myself). We all recognize both aspects of our lives, but most people tend more to one side than the other. Whether you think it is a good thing, or a bad thing to carry a knife is, in large part, a function of where you sit on the "Stuff I Can Handle Myself Continuum." If you tend toward autonomy, toward thinking of your life as something over which you have the most influence, you will be more inclined to carry tools and other resources with which to exercise control. If you sit more towards the, “better call the authorities and hope they get here on time" side of the continuum, carrying the tools by which one might take care of themselves seems silly, even dangerous, maybe even crazy. Thus the annoying question, "why are you carrying THAT THING!?!" There is no way to explain it to the questioner. No explanation will help because it isn’t about the tool, it is about how they see themselves in the world (doer, or done to).

Me and mine, we sit on the carry a knife etc. side of the continuum. If the folks on the "someone, please help me!" side are happy, fine. Let them be happy. Just don't require me to join them, because I don't have it in me to lay my humanity down in the dirt that way.

Be well, my friends.
 
tsiloics said:
No... perception is perception and reality is reality. That is why we have different words to describe them.

In my mind, part of the measure of a "professional" is his ability to carry his personal character into the workplace and use it effectively. If you have to put on an act to be accepted at the office, perhaps you're in the wrong vocation.

If there is any truth in this silly "sheeple" idea, I think it is that bullisht artists do not make good associates.
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I disagree. People's perception about you IS their reality. Nobody, and I mean nobody, understand you other than yourself, the rest of them simply perceive you, unless they're mind readers. Only you know whether you're a benign knife nut or a slash-happy psycho.

I'm not suggesting that you are nothing but what people think you are, but your place in society is determined by what people think you are. You can be a genius, but if people think you're a moron you'll be treated as a moron. You can be a harmless knife collector, but if people think you're a loony you'll be treated as a loony.

When people confront you for having a knife, acting like a jerk toward them is not gonna help you. It certainly is not gonna help us. If you choose to be kind instead and explain your position, you might end up with a convert.
 
Sep, I was about to reply to tsiloic's reaction to my post but you stated my opinion about "perception is reality" much more eloquently than I could.
Indeed the way people perceive you is their reality. You may care about that or not but this is definitely important to keep in mind when you're aiming for a career. This doesn't mean that you have to put up an act as tsiloic argues, but some basic psychology never hurts.
In my case I was lucky enough that at the beginning of my career a friendly manager pointed out just a few particular perceptions that some people had about me (nothing knife related), and back then, ambitious youngster that I was, I was for example surprised to be perceived as "sometimes too pushy" while I thought of myself as "persuasive". Anyway I took this into account to be just a bit more careful, and I am sure that I would have missed promotions if I didn't do that. Now, being somewhat wiser, I see young colleagues sometimes causing similar perceptions and I do discretely and tactfully give them feedback.
Coming back to the issue at hand, if you're in an office environment where you insist on opening letters with a Spyderco Military, how do you think you'll be perceived by people without our particular knife-interest? At best as someone who needs to compensate for a small dick. Again, you may or may not care about that perception. I do. And I enjoy using my Military after hours.
 
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Read CountyRat's post #228.

Some people are driven by reality, and some by perception. Speak to each in his own language. With the reality-oriented, get the job done. With the perception-challenged, tell them what they want to hear, and get on with your own work.

No, don't scare the weakminded and easily worried child-like victims of the current catch-phrase. Let them have their fantasies, don't stir them up. Use your knives without letting them know about it. If you get a chance to teach them, don't show off the virtues of the biggest tactical slasher you've got, hand out Victorinox Classics.

But don't let the bastards grind you down.
 
Well for you people like me that like to EDC a big knife have you ever thought about how you present the knife and the way you hold it? Now for me when I'm around "sheeple" and I need to do something like say open a box or open a letter I will slowly draw the knife in my pocket and even if it's an assisted open, open the knife with a slow precise movement while the pivot is near the center of my palm and hold the blade so just about an inch or so is visible and do whatever I need to do. Just because you carry a "tactical" knife doesn't mean you need to use a "tactical" and sometimes threatening looking grip just to open a box. And really confidence is key. As long as you know what your doing and you don't keep looking over your shoulder like a crack addict MOST people won't assume your up to no good and start looking to see what's out of place.
 
CountyRat said:
NOW yer talkin'!

Here's the deal; it does not have anything to do with knives. It is about conflicting views of the world and our place in it. We are all subject to forces outside our control (like how tall I am) and other things that we can control (like whether, when something breaks at work, I call it in, or fix it myself). We all recognize both aspects of our lives, but most people tend more to one side than the other. Whether you think it is a good thing, or a bad thing to carry a knife is, in large part, a function of where you sit on the "Stuff I Can Handle Myself Continuum." If you tend toward autonomy, toward thinking of your life as something over which you have the most influence, you will be more inclined to carry tools and other resources with which to exercise control. If you sit more towards the, “better call the authorities and hope they get here on time" side of the continuum, carrying the tools by which one might take care of themselves seems silly, even dangerous, maybe even crazy. Thus the annoying question, "why are you carrying THAT THING!?!" There is no way to explain it to the questioner. No explanation will help because it isn’t about the tool, it is about how they see themselves in the world (doer, or done to).

Me and mine, we sit on the carry a knife etc. side of the continuum. If the folks on the "someone, please help me!" side are happy, fine. Let them be happy. Just don't require me to join them, because I don't have it in me to lay my humanity down in the dirt that way.

Be well, my friends.
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very well said:thumbup:
 
You can't really judge a book by its cover, I was talking to a friend of mine when a family member of his pull out a pink mini-griptilian. I was pretty surprised, the lady who pulled it out was 40 plus and was a hair stylist at her own shop. :D She was nice and let me open it a couple of times then I gave it back and talked to her a little bit about knives.

(Also StotheE, if you would like to have an educated discussion about "rednecks" or "hicks" just shoot me your email)
 
ricehaterboi said:
Well for you people like me that like to EDC a big knife have you ever thought about how you present the knife and the way you hold it? Now for me when I'm around "sheeple" and I need to do something like say open a box or open a letter I will slowly draw the knife in my pocket and even if it's an assisted open, open the knife with a slow precise movement while the pivot is near the center of my palm and hold the blade so just about an inch or so is visible and do whatever I need to do. Just because you carry a "tactical" knife doesn't mean you need to use a "tactical" and sometimes threatening looking grip just to open a box. And really confidence is key. As long as you know what your doing and you don't keep looking over your shoulder like a crack addict MOST people won't assume your up to no good and start looking to see what's out of place.
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If you have confidence using a knife whether it be large or small, tactical or traditional, AO or manual you shouldn't try to change how you normally deploy and use your knife, I personally think that draws more attention. If you need to use your knife then just use it. I think people will be less worried if you take out your EDC blade and use it as you normally would rather than taking it out, slowly opening it and trying to hide it while using it. I can speak from personal experience; I got more looks when taking out my Shallot and trying to slowly open it instead of just using the AO (prob didn't help it was the all black Shallot though). As for "tactical" grips, I think the only grip that'll turn heads when using a knife is probably reverse grip or maybe hammer grip.
 
Well I really dont think slow was the correct word I should have used but I couldnt think of anything better. And im not saying to hide your knife or hide what your doing just make it less threatening by the smaller amount of blade showing. By no means should you actually try and hide the knife! And I guess it works for me because about 70% of the time through actual usage this is how I deploy my knife. I dont see the need for any type of speedy pull and deploy since the only time I can see my self doing that is for self defense but if im doing ANYTHING for self defense I will be pulling my .45 not my 4 inch long blade lol
 
ricehaterboi said:
Well for you people like me that like to EDC a big knife have you ever thought about how you present the knife and the way you hold it?
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If I'm around people who may be "sensitive" about it, I always try to whip the knife out as fast as possible, deploy the blade as fast as I can with a big, circular prison-yard presentation, then flip it to a hammer grip and go at whatever they wanted opened like I'm the star of the remake of the remake of Psycho, with eyes wide, crossed, and a bit of drool coming out of the left side of my mouth. . .:p

Seriously, I just bring it out and use it like I always do. I figure that if i use it like it's just a normal, routine thing (and it IS, no matter how shocked someone may be), it will have the effect of some reverse brainwashing, that knives are OK, it's normal to have and use them, etc. It also makes them ashamed to bring it up if everyon eelse seems to think it's perfectly normal and they're peeing themselves.
 
ricehaterboi said:
Well I really dont think slow was the correct word I should have used but I couldnt think of anything better. And im not saying to hide your knife or hide what your doing just make it less threatening by the smaller amount of blade showing. By no means should you actually try and hide the knife! And I guess it works for me because about 70% of the time through actual usage this is how I deploy my knife. I dont see the need for any type of speedy pull and deploy since the only time I can see my self doing that is for self defense but if im doing ANYTHING for self defense I will be pulling my .45 not my 4 inch long blade lol
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Yeah I know what you mean. Sheeple are so afraid of our wonderful blades, yet they don't realize people do CC guns that are by far (imo) more lethal. Confidence really is key, if you're used to deploying your blade a certain way then just keep doing it the same way. I know certain situations arise that may require a different approach though.
 
Yea when my mom found out id been EDC'ing a gun for the last year (I was proud my IWB holster did its job well =) ) Her exact words were "Your such a hoosier! Nobody carries guns anymore, why on earth would you want to carry a gun?" I didnt correct her on the "nobody carries guns anymore" just so she wouldnt make a rush decision to vote for obama instead but seriously look at how many people on these forums EDC a gun not to mention all of the people NOT on these forums that carry every day, and then next time you walk through the grocery store or the mall just think of how many people around you are "packing heat" If the media ever got a hold of those statistics I really dont know what would happen? It could go the way of "MILLIONS of people carried a gun today but look just how few of those people have actually used it in a crime... maybe 2 out of who even knows how many?" Or the more likely response would be "OMG EVERYBODY HAS GUNS PUT THE COUNTRY ON LOCKDOWN DONT LEAVE YOUR HOMES!"
 
Here's the closest I've been to getting in trouble carrying a knife here in New York City.

I took my Bark River Little Creek to my law firm's holiday dinner at a restaurant. After we ate I left the knife out on the table (not smart, I know :o) and walked over to talk with someone. When I came back, the most senior partner was reaching down to pick it up. He held it in his hand and looked at a bit and then moved to feel the edge. My urge was to grab his hand but I didn't want to appear condescending or melodramatic, so I just held my breath and mentioned that it was really sharp. He touched the edge very lightly, phewww, and said 'Wow, that is sharp' and set it back down. He then said, "That's a really nice knife" and then we had a discussion about steel :D
 
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