stupid knife show questions

[cj65]

I want to make sure I qualify myself about trade shows. The products I was selling were container grown fruit trees, not knives. I worked for a great man (kind of a father figure) who taught me alot. He would make fun of some of the questions and listening to him say them in his german accent was priceless. He was very intense in his work habits. He told me to always be attentive, and always answer even the dumb questions. However he said, "You better tell me the dumbest ones if I was not in the booth so we can laugh about them later." I miss that man.

 

[Kevin Wilkins]

Usually I do "knife only" type shows and the public is usually pretty knife educated and 99% of the questions are OK.

The last 3 years I've done a Christmas show held here in the German History Museum's indoor courtyard that has a lot of very nice and expensive jewelry, artwork and otherr nice stuff ... but the crowd is, ah, not 100% all there sometimes.

First year I did the show I was talking to a lady customer and a guy walks up, doesn't say anything, picks up a large kitchen knife from my table, looks at it a second and then proceeds to stick the knife blade first into the FRONT POCKET of his jeans! Not the handle, just the blade. Now this knife has an 8 inch blade that's 2 inches wide.

The lady and I kinda stop talking mid-sentence and I say, "AH, what ARE you doing??" Guy says nothing, just stands there. I look to see if blood is already running out the bottom of his pants leg (it wasn't) and say "Take the knife SLOWLY out of your pocket and put it back on the table."

He does. And without saying anything walks away and leaves the show. Lady turns to me and says, "Most men are more careful about putting sharp things near that area of their bodies!" Yikes. No S*it!!

So the next year at the fancy opening night reception with politicians and invited guests and the whole tra-la-la – and the place is pretty crowded too – a middle aged guy in a suit with an equally nicely dressed female companion is looking at my table.

He picks up one of the big kitchen knives, makes like he's kinda testing the weight, and then he THROWS THE KNIFE SPINNING WAY UP IN THE AIR!! Now people are standing all around with their mouths open, watching the knife go up, and then come back down still spinning. The phucking guy CATCHES THE KNIFE in the air just before it hits the table. Luckily he caught the grip, otherwise he would have amputated several fingers. I told him to PUT THE KNIFE DOWN AND LEAVE.

He did and they walked off with his wife/whatever looking at him like "I married a MORON." Lady, you sure did!

I thought I was gonna have to change my underwear after that one. :thumbup:

So this year, I made plexiglass covers so NOBODY could pick up the knives without asking first. No incidents either. Here's a few pic of the show...

 

[thompsonblades]

This is a bit off topic, but my family use to travel around the area showing our herd of goats at goat shows. There is one particular bread of goat, called la mancha, that has tiny ears. Their ears are about the size of a thumnail. And every single time, I get asked the question, "Why do they cut the ears off." So I always reply, "Don't you know, they make good eatin." The looks on their faces are always priceless. See, its not just knife guys who get asked stupid questions.

 

[eisman]

Kevin -

Is that the museum in Berlin? I have to add that to my list of things to see.

I once caught a guy going out of the shop with 3 machete's stuffed down his pants; no sheaths, just the machete's. I still can't figure out how anyone can be that stupid, and not get badly hurt.

 

[Kevin Wilkins]

Yes, it's the Zeughaus Museum of German History. The building dates from the late 1600s and was beautifully renovated with an addition by I. M. Pei. Certainly worth a visit!

That guy at my table wasn't trying to steal the knife ... I don't know what he trying to do and I'm not sure he did either... wierd...