Knives, Sheeple and Trouble

I have all of my knives shipped to the shop I work at. Whenever I get a package, some of the guys gather round to see the new shiny stuff. They will always ask me for a knife when they need one, and they all know how much I spend on them so they are very careful (these are mature adults, I don't let just anybody borrow a Benchmade or Spyderco). Sometimes our secretary will get the mail and give me the boxes with my name on it. She will then stick around every time to watch me open up my new toy (really takes the fun out of it). EVERY TIME she says: "Michael you are starting to scare me with all of those knives"... I tell her they are tools, just like her scissors or the giant laser we have out in the shop. Women tend to be very irrational and get upset when you point out the facts. Men seem to understand that you are not going to stab them, women seem to think that every guy is just waiting for the perfect opportunity to commit violent crimes.
 
Last week I cut an apple into bite-size pieces with a mini Rittergrip in my classroom at recess . Thought I was alone. Student (grade 6) walks in with another staff member in mid-slice, eyes my Grip, becomes very excited:

"Cool knife! Why can't I have one at school!?! I'd be suspended, wouldn't I?!? How come teachers can have weapons but kids can't!?!BLAHBLAHBLAHBLAH!!!"

I explain the weapon/tool distinction and then send him on his way. Colleague rolls her eyes at the kid as he leaves, but then in private delivers to me a short, terse warning about being a proper role model, having weapons at school, etc. I say thank-you very much for the advice and have nice day. End of story... sort of. Then I went home, made a voodoo doll of her, and cut its head off with my mini Rittergrip. THE END.
 
Nobody ever complained to me when I break out my SAK or Leatherman. Then again, it helps to have a reputation as a tinkerer who fixes anything from cars to computers. People actually expect me to carry some sort of tool at all times. I'm sure behind my back they say "he's the weird guy with the pocket knife, but he's just a helpful and harmless geek".;)

Now that I've downsized my multitool to a LM Squirt and carry a Kershaw Skyline, I have become more conscious about that knife. I'm careful not to show it to people, unless the situation absolutely merits the use. The Squirt takes care most of the chores around the office, so I have only needed to break out the Skyline a couple of times.

One reason I like the Skyline is because it doesn't look "tactical"; it can almost be confused with a slightly wide-bladed kitchen paring knife. My BM Ally with its black half serrated blade and aggressive jimping is a different story. This Ally leaves my pocket only when nobody's around or there's an emergency, because it's almost guaranteed to spook some feeble-minded guy.
 
Psychopomp said:
Maybe I'm lucky, I live in a more liberal area with more open minded people who aren't as likely to freak out over a knife. I guess it could be different somewhere else, but I'm just speaking from my experiences and there haven't been any bad ones.
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the liberals in your area must be different from the ones around here.:D i never take my knives out in front of people anymore, as it almost always ends up with someone either looking like i just violated them, or thinking that i need to explain to them why i need a knife in a modern society.
 
Psychopomp said:
What warning and what policy? If the building you work in or the employeer you work for has some restrictions then you're screwed. But if there's no restrictions on you then let 'em complain.

Maybe I'm lucky, I live in a more liberal area with more open minded people who aren't as likely to freak out over a knife. I guess it could be different somewhere else, but I'm just speaking from my experiences and there haven't been any bad ones.
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True. Assumptions are often wrong.


The impression Confederate gave me was that his knife, and the request that he should leave it at home, became a serious issue with his boss. What it reads like to me is that if he was not terminated as a result, a warning occurred.
Confederate said:
Has anyone ever called the police, reported you to a supervisor, brought you in for a closed door chat? ...............

In other words, she became angry....... to keep my legal knife at home.
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We'll have to wait for the rest of the story.

North Carolina? Don't they jail you if you are not carrying a knife in that state?
 
The human brain does not always respond to logic. Think of it like this--I think that Erin the E-surance girl is hot even though I know she is a cartoon. In fact, even worse, it appears that she is a liberal from some of her statements. Nonetheless, there is a certain undeniable appeal that Erin has somewhere in my brain.
 
A couple days ago my parents took my little brother to eat (They went to the brew house, oddly enough) and my brother pulled out a Leek to cut his steak and the employees freaked out I guess. My dad tried explaining it is a tool, but they didn't seem to take that very well. I only wish I was there to see it. That would have been funny.
 
What I have found is that it often depends on the knife.
I cannot show a barlow carbon single blade with a dark patinaed blade.
It looks too rough and pointy. LOL

But 3 1/4" stockman with bone handle and nice shiny blades, I get no negative responses.

I would not show or carry something like a Native.
 
I'm curious where they're getting all this knife phobia from these days. I watch TV, read the newspaper, etc. I don't see where the programming is coming from that makes women hysterical about the sight of a knife. Is it something in those women's magazines no one else would ever read ?
 
shunsui said:
I'm curious where they're getting all this knife phobia from these days. I watch TV, read the newspaper, etc. I don't see where the programming is coming from that makes women hysterical about the sight of a knife. Is it something in those women's magazines no one else would ever read ?
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I wonder if a bit of it's not the rapid change over to tactical knives that has done it a bit.

People tend to be most comfortible with what they grew up with. What I mean is if they saw their father, grandfather, brothers, etc,,,,, using a Buck 110, Swiss, or simple folder they'll tend not to be bothered by it.

I know it has worked out that way many times in my interactions with people.

They're simply not use to this new breed of knife.
 
JediKnight86 said:
Was he on duty?
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Yup.

He was buying a sandwich from our deli pretty late one night. My cashier managed to get her register tape jammed and I had to swoop down to her rescue. The printer doesn't feed well unless it has a clean edge, so out came the knife.

The officer was duly impressed. Told me he had the old M2 version at home, I was jealous.
 
I used to work in the banquet department at a hotel and one evening we had an employee appreciation dinner and I was stuck working it. As I waited on tables I was grabbed by our safety guy and told that he could have me arrested for carrying my Benchmade Griptilian clipped to my pocket. I laughed and told him that as a criminal justice major at a local university I knew better and that if he was really worried about it I would unclip it and leave it in my pocket. Keep in mind I had seen this guy nearly every day that I worked, same knife in pocket, for the previous six months. Some people. He must have thought we were a post office...
 
I've written about this before, but one woman freaked when I was cutting paper with the tiny scissors on a Victorinox Classic, referring to it as a "deadly weapon".

One woman smirked when I saw she was having trouble opening a package and asked if she wanted to borrow my Case trapper. These two incidents happened years ago in an adult education class.

Then again, I've had women I knew who asked to use my SAK to slice some fruit. They had seen me use it to peel oranges and slice apples and liked it. I might add that the women who didn't mind my knife(s) happened to be of a very liberal bent, while the two negative experiences were with women who happened to be strict conservative types, so I don't know if that always makes much difference how people will view knives.

Needless to say, I never just offer to help anyone cut anything if they don't know me and I them. Plus, even my one-hander(s) are now usually carried in-pocket, not clipped, so just looking at me no one can tell I have knives on me. :)
Jim
 
Some people in my last office once saw me carefully cutting up a document and pasting it back together in a different format. I was using a 4" CS tanto folder. When the owner returned from vacation a week later he said people were scared to see me "hacking up a bunch of papers". I showed him the cut & paste job and he shook his head---but still asked me not to let people see me cutting anything in the future. [And he owns an original Steve Ryan folder, a 5" CS Voyager, etc.]

Those folks would have been really nervous if they knew I had a Glock Model 22 or a S&W 340PD on me at nearly all times. Out of sight, out of mind I guess!

DancesWithKnives
 
Munky said:
I used to work in the banquet department at a hotel and one evening we had an employee appreciation dinner and I was stuck working it. As I waited on tables I was grabbed by our safety guy and told that he could have me arrested for carrying my Benchmade Griptilian clipped to my pocket. I laughed and told him that as a criminal justice major at a local university I knew better and that if he was really worried about it I would unclip it and leave it in my pocket. Keep in mind I had seen this guy nearly every day that I worked, same knife in pocket, for the previous six months. Some people. He must have thought we were a post office...
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grabbing you = ASSAULT. I would have charged him with assault. Then i would have put a commercial lien on his belongings to recover compensation for damages.
 
At my former working place (printing & copying shop) a huge printer got stuck and paper had to be cut. My boss came over said "you need sciss.. ooh you have knive on you" and walked away like nothing out of ordinary happened (I was cutting the paper with CRKT Ichi). She is the generation that is used to the idea that knives are tools. :thumbup:
 
It's all about perception. Yesterday the mother of one of my son's friends came to pick him up. She saw me re-arranging some of my Mora's and asked to see my collection - no probs. She then told me she liked the smaller knives but was apprehensive of the large ones. I told her my collection is always kept locked, unlike my 12" chef and butcher knives and heavy cleaver on the kitchen wall behind her - and she hadn't even noticed them till I pointed them out. So a 12" butcher's knife is OK but a 5" F1 is intimidating?????
 
I guess I'm lucky in that respect, part of what my job entails is for me to get nearly any job done at any time like it was needed yesterday, which could be anything from food prep or carpet laying to cabinet making, plumbing and much more. I travel with a vast selection of tools and more than a few knives. I could walk through the boardroom with a chainsaw and no-one would bat an eyelid.
The closest Ive come to a sheeple moment was during one of my part time jobs where I usually only ever carried a Caly Jr on me. This day I was still aquainting myself with a new purchase. At the time I was working with a female colleague that I knew very well. She was no stranger to knives herself and well aware my "little addiction". Anyway this day a small piece of electrical tape needed to be cut off something equally inconsequential and I quietly pulled out my new Chinook... The sideways glance and shaking of her head in disbelief said it all..... Nothing like total overkill for a good reaction. The Caly jr went back in my pocket the next day.
 
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