People are weird about knives - or maybe just weird

M

mfunnell

Joined
Dec 6, 2016
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72
The other night I was out at a recently-opened restaurant, with some people I'd not met before. One had brought a nice old bottle of wine along. (Very tasty, it was.)

Cue shock(!) when it was discovered the bottle was old enough to have a cork rather than a Stelvin(tm) closure (ie. screw-top). The restaurant was apparently too modern to have a corkscrew: or at least one that was easily to hand (they were sure they had one, somewhere, though it was never actually produced).

I had a SAK ("climber") in my back pocket, so pulled the cork. One problem solved.

Now I had two new problems. (Though not so many that nobody drank the wine.)

One was horror (still not resolved) that I was "carrying a kinfe". I do. I'm told that is shocking.

The other is that someone (a different someone), picked up my knife to "test it was sharp" because they'd read about that in a newspaper article. (My fault: the knife should have been straight back in my pocket, rather than left on the table while I poured.) They opened the larger blade and "tested" it with their thumb. Then they had to ask the waitress (who still couldn't find the corkscrew) whether she could find a band-aid.

I'm told I carry a "dangerous weapon". Dangerous because if it was less sharp somehow it wouldn't be so, well, dangerous. (Even though the newspaper article which prompted the "test" said, correctly, that sharp knives are safer. I looked it up. The paper should have noted: "except for idiots".)

I should have just stared at the bottle, like everyone else, and been sad that it was impossible to open.

...Mike
 
I've never been to a dining establishment that would allow customers to carry in and consume outside beverages. I don't know where you're located but only cheap wines here come with screw on tops.

Yes, it's odd people would be afraid of a folder when at a restaurant surrounded by larger fixed blade knives. But, they often are it's not rational at all.
 
jill jackson said:
I've never been to a dining establishment that would allow customers to carry in and consume outside beverages.
Click to expand...

Here in Oztralia (where I live) we have BYO (Bring Your Own) licensing conditions. Some restaurants have BYO licenses (cheaper), some are licensed to sell alcohol and some have both kinds of license (the specific restaurant above had both).

jill jackson said:
I don't know where you're located but only cheap wines here come with screw on tops.
Click to expand...
These days some (most?) of the very finest wines come with "Stelvin Closures" (fancy name for: screw tops; though higher tech) simply because they preserve the wine better. I am not kidding.

jill jackson said:
Yes, it's odd people would be afraid of a folder when at a restaurant surrounded by larger fixed blade knives. But, they often are it's not rational at all.
Click to expand...
My point, in a nutshell. And not only are they surrounded by kitchen knives, but they're quite happy for you to pull the cork, open the bottle, remove the Boy Scout from their horses hoof etc. Happy to accept the utility, but then get what? Scared? Because your bottle opener has a blade attached? As you say, not rational.

...Mike

P.S. Forum software is weird, too. I can say "horses hoof" without problem, but if I put he apostrophe in the appropriate place then it seems the software is aware of rhyming slang.
 
Don't know where the OP is located either, but it's quite common up here in canada to allow customer's to bring their own wine (at a small fee however). It's also quite common to hear gasps of horror when a knife is produced, even though fright at a SAK is quite laughable.
 
Yea, people are weird.

I had an package shipped to a store the other day and when I picked it up they asked if I would like to verify the contents since it came in a plain, brown box. She was having trouble finding her box knife, so I pulled out my Delica wharncliffe and the shock and unease on her face was palpable... Or maybe my fly was down.


jill jackson said:
I've never been to a dining establishment that would allow customers to carry in and consume outside beverages. I don't know where you're located but only cheap wines here come with screw on tops.

Yes, it's odd people would be afraid of a folder when at a restaurant surrounded by larger fixed blade knives. But, they often are it's not rational at all.
Click to expand...

I spent six years bartending and serving at an establishment in the States well known for serving wine... We allowed people to bring in their own UNOPENED wine into the restaurant and then charged them a $30 “corking fee” to open it for them.

As far as the screw tops go... There has been a big shift in the market. The Stelvin caps do a better job of preventing air from entering the bottle (and oxidizing the wine) than both natural cork and rubber stoppers. These days screw tops are found mainly on low end and high end wines. A lot of the low and mid tier wines still use natural and rubber corks to give the appearance of quality.
 
mfunnell said:
The other night I was out at a recently-opened restaurant, with some people I'd not met before. One had brought a nice old bottle of wine along. (Very tasty, it was.)

Cue shock(!) when it was discovered the bottle was old enough to have a cork rather than a Stelvin(tm) closure (ie. screw-top). The restaurant was apparently too modern to have a corkscrew: or at least one that was easily to hand (they were sure they had one, somewhere, though it was never actually produced).

I had an SAK ("climber") in my back pocket, so pulled the cork. One problem solved.

Now I had two new problems. (Though not so many that nobody drank the wine.)

One was horror (still not resolved) that I was "carrying a kinfe". I do. I'm told that is shocking.

The other is that someone (a different someone), picked up my knife to "test it was sharp" because they'd read about that in a newspaper article. (My fault: the knife should have been straight back in my pocket, rather than left on the table while I poured.) They opened the larger blade and "tested" it with their thumb. Then they had to ask the waitress (who still couldn't find the corkscrew) whether she could find a band-aid.

I'm told I carry a "dangerous weapon". Dangerous because if it was less sharp somehow it wouldn't be so, well, dangerous. (Even though the newspaper article which prompted the "test" said, correctly, that sharp knives are safer. I looked it up. The paper should have noted: "except for idiots".)

I should have just stared at the bottle, like everyone else, and been sad that it was impossible to open.

...Mike
Click to expand...

I have had similar experiences whenever I use my auto knife..

Also people reacting to SAK, when already surrounded by fixed knives &/or sharp kitchen knives, maybe double standard or hypocrisy? Just a thot;)
 
The most shocking part of the story is that a restaurant didn't have a corkscrew at hand.

"BYO" is available at several very nice restaurants here in Argentina, and I've seen it in several other countries as well.

I spend time with very varied groups of people so I've gotten used to over the top reactions, although I find SAKs usually safe to use in public.
 
Fixall said:
As far as the screw tops go... There has been a big shift in the market. The Stelvin caps do a better job of preventing air from entering the bottle (and oxidizing the wine) than both natural cork and rubber stoppers. These days screw tops are found mainly on low end and high end wines. A lot of the low and mid tier wines still use natural and rubber corks to give the appearance of quality.
Click to expand...
Here in Oz (these days; it was different 15-20 years ago) pretty much all wines, at all price-points from the cheapest quaffing wine to Grange Hermitage and all in between, come with screw-caps. Probably because the higher-tech Stelvin Closure version was invented here (albeit by "proper Frenchmen") but also because they're actually better for the wine. No doubt much to the disgust of Portuguese cork producers.

...Mike
 
Fixall said:
Yea, people are weird.

I had an package shipped to a store the other day and when I picked it up they asked if I would like to verify the contents since it came in a plain, brown box. She was having trouble finding her box knife, so I pulled out my Delica wharncliffe and the shock and unease on her face was palpable... Or maybe my fly was down.
Click to expand...

Well you said "pull out my Delica" you didn't specify where you pulled it out from, so, maybe they were right to be shocked? :p
In all seriousness though, it's the a sign of the times, especially in countries like Germany, the UK, Canada and apparently Down Under. Where knife are only ever in the news (and then it's sensationalized to more or less extent) when somebody committed a crime with it. Hence people have negative association with them whenever they don't expect them.
It's one of the reasons that so far I haven't bothered with carrying a knife outside work, because it invites headache. So, are people weird? I think people turned weird in certain areas, and it's more about location than generalization.
 
Whenever someone shows at my having produced a terrifying pocket knife for some task I'm always tempted to reassure them that my pocket knife is quite harmless, especially in comparison to the concealed firearm I'm carrying that they didn't notice.

Of course I never actually do this, but it's amusing to think about.
 
What the OP refers to is known as a "corkage fee". Some people might have a specific wine that they like, or maybe they happen to have a rare/expensive wine they want to try with good food, rather than their own inadequate cooking or going through McDonald's drive thru. Because you're not buying their wine, they add a fee.

As far as weird people, I'd argue that someone foolish enough to test a knife's sharpness by doing what they did makes them the dangerous one.
 
mfunnell said:
The other night I was out at a recently-opened restaurant, with some people I'd not met before. One had brought a nice old bottle of wine along. (Very tasty, it was.)

Cue shock(!) when it was discovered the bottle was old enough to have a cork rather than a Stelvin(tm) closure (ie. screw-top). The restaurant was apparently too modern to have a corkscrew: or at least one that was easily to hand (they were sure they had one, somewhere, though it was never actually produced).

I had a SAK ("climber") in my back pocket, so pulled the cork. One problem solved.

Now I had two new problems. (Though not so many that nobody drank the wine.)

One was horror (still not resolved) that I was "carrying a kinfe". I do. I'm told that is shocking.

The other is that someone (a different someone), picked up my knife to "test it was sharp" because they'd read about that in a newspaper article. (My fault: the knife should have been straight back in my pocket, rather than left on the table while I poured.) They opened the larger blade and "tested" it with their thumb. Then they had to ask the waitress (who still couldn't find the corkscrew) whether she could find a band-aid.

I'm told I carry a "dangerous weapon". Dangerous because if it was less sharp somehow it wouldn't be so, well, dangerous. (Even though the newspaper article which prompted the "test" said, correctly, that sharp knives are safer. I looked it up. The paper should have noted: "except for idiots".)

I should have just stared at the bottle, like everyone else, and been sad that it was impossible to open.

...Mike
Click to expand...
Well, I hope they didn't charge the corking fee since they didn't cork it!;)
And you should have explained to them that you don't carry a knife, you carry a corkscrew! :thumbsup:
 
danbot said:
Well, I hope they didn't charge the corking fee since they didn't cork it!;)
Click to expand...
As I recall it, the restaurant charged a pretty nominal $2/bottle corkage. I didn't quibble.
danbot said:
And you should have explained to them that you don't carry a knife, you carry a corkscrew! :thumbsup:
Click to expand...
I tried that one, but it wasn't accepted by some :( I also tried "it's not a knife, it's a toolkit" with similar results.

...Mike
 
A ton of restaurants in NJ allow you to bring your own wine, beer, or liquor and do not charge a fee. Apparently liquor licenses are very difficult to obtain and they don't want to lose business to the restaurants that can serve alcohol. I love it because you can bring a nice bottle of wine and avoid paying 3 times the retail price at the restaurant! But they are particularly sketchy about knives. Don't even get me started on the gun laws here!
 
danbot said:
Well, I guess thats when you have no other choice but to cut someone's pinky off and ask the rest "Who else has a problem?"!:mad::cool::D
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Exactly! The guy with the SAK should be the person ASKING the questions, not answering them. :thumbsup:

Don't get me started on a restaurant (and servers!?) with no corkscrew. I waited tables for 8 years and it was part of the uniform we were expected to have on us at all times. Granted, that's been a while ago now...

ETA: And to your OP, yeah, people are weird. Very Weird. Eight years of bringing people food will teach you a lot about the human condition.
 
You carry the knife, because who knows when you might have to open a bottle of wine. Disaster averted.
I haven't purchased wine in some time, so things certainly could have changed, but fine wine never came with a screw top.
I'll add-very appropriate knife for the setting. While I wouldn't scorn the person who did it-pulling out an Hinderer XM-24 might not be. I try to consider those around me in my knife usage, but there are limits to my efforts.
 
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