[AT] A commentary on how to win friends and influence people at tractor shows

[Mike]

A couple years ago, their was a security threat and a local bank that I 
banked at. They hired a security guard to keep watch over the place to 
make sure nothing bad happened. It was a bank with a very small parking 
lot that ran parallel to a 4 lane road, it only had around 8 parking 
spots. As I pulled my truck into the driveway of the bank, I noticed 
that all the parking spots were filled. So I put it in park and was 
going to wait until a customer left so I could park in their spot. I had 
been sitting there a couple of minutes when the security guard pulls up 
behind me, I didn't think much of it until he gets out of his car and 
storms up to mine. I turned down the radio, and rolled my window down, 
and he tells me, "Sir, you are going to have to move your truck you are 
impeding traffic." I told him I was a bank customer and had business I 
needed to attend to in the branch, and that I was waiting for a spot to 
open up. He starts getting very angry and loses what little politeness 
he originally had and starts yelling at me that I need to move my 
vehicle immediately, or he was going to call the police. So I said to 
him, "well if I move my vehicle and you pull into the spot I am 
occupying won't YOU be impeding traffic?" With that he went nuts, about 
turned purple, and told me he was calling the police. While he's back in 
his car calling the cops, sure enough a customer pulls out and I move 
forward to take that spot, and walk into the bank.

When I was done at the teller window, I asked to speak with the branch 
manager. I asked her if she was aware that the guard was harassing and 
trying to intimidate customers of the bank. I then went on to explain 
what had just occurred.  I went on to tell her that I was glad it was me 
and not my wife or mother, that this jerk went off on. She excused 
herself for a moment and made a phone call, and when she returned she 
informed me he was being replaced with another guard.

Like Bo said, give a guy a LITTLE authority..

Mike M

On 10/8/2014 4:57 PM, Bo Hinch wrote:
> That is the way a lot of guys respond when given a LITTLE authority .
>
> On Wed, Oct 8, 2014 at 3:11 PM, charlie hill <charliehill at embarqmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> I offer this as constructive criticism to folks that volunteer with tractor
>> and engine shows.
>>
>>
>> Weekend before last we were in Hagerstown, MD visiting Lynn's parents.   We
>> usually go
>> about this time of the year and come back with a few bushels of apples from
>> our favorite
>> apple farm.  The farm happens to be out very near to Smithsburg, MD where
>> they hold an
>> annual "Steam Show" on that very weekend.  I've been before and enjoyed it
>> very much so we
>> decided to ride by there after we left the orchard.  We didn't have time to
>> take the show in
>> and do it justice so we were just going to stop long enough for me to take
>> a
>> quick look around.
>> I just wanted to see if they had a good crowd and if they had the same sort
>> of displays they had in years gone by.  Plus I had
>> my Jack Russell Terrier with me and there is NO WAY to take a Jack Russell
>> to an engine show.
>> I don't think that Mike Rohr (sorry I that is probably misspelled) who is
>> part of that show still reads this list
>> so I don't know who I'm addressing this too if anyone so I guess it is
>> addressed to whom ever might
>> benefit from it.
>>
>> Now let me stop right here and explain that I know full well that the folks
>> at the show had no
>> way to know what I just told this group and I fully understand that.
>>
>> As we started to drive into the show grounds parking lot there were signs
>> EVERYWHERE, probably
>> dozens of signs, saying No Dogs allowed but before I saw any of those signs
>> I was in the driveway
>> headed to the parking lot and as  I said I had no intent to take the dog in
>> anyway and no intent to
>> even go in unless I had seen something particularly interesting worthy of a
>> quick hop out and look.
>> There was no way to turn around and go back out.  We were committed with a
>> line of cars behind us.
>> I told Lynn well we'll just drive on through the lot and see if we can see
>> anything from the parking lot
>> and go on.  Then I see a group of ladies who are taking donations for
>> parking.  As we approached them
>> Lynn and I discussed it and decided we'd go ahead and give them a donation.
>> As I handed the lady
>> a five dollar bill the Jack Russell was standing in my lap.  She took the
>> money and didn't say a word.
>> We pulled forward.  There was an open road to the exit straight ahead of me
>> that would have taken me
>> right down the side of the show where I could have looked briefly at the
>> displays but there was a fellow
>> standing there motioning me to go left.  I did so without any discussion or
>> argument.
>>
>> That's when it happened.  This fellow who waved us left, probably mid 40's,
>> about 6'2 maybe and stocky built but not overweight,
>> with short cropped hair and looking every bit like a cop in street clothes
>> let me turn left with the dog, now on the other side, hanging out the
>> window  of the truck in plain sight and then he YELLS OUT, again like a cop
>> at a DUI check point,
>> STOP RIGHT THERE SIR!!  I NEED TO TALK TO YOU.   Then he proceeded to walk
>> over and start to lecture me with....
>> Sir "I" can't allow YOU to take THAT DOG into the show.  As he was about to
>> continue I said in a polite but direct voice,  Sir the dog is
>> not going to get out of the truck.  At that he backed off and left me
>> alone.
>> We proceeded out the back of the parking lot
>> and left as we had intended to do all along.
>>
>> I hope the Smithsburg Boosters club puts the 5 bucks to good use because
>> it's the last time they'll get a dime from me and the
>> last time I ever intent to attend their show.  It's not the shows fault, I
>> have no argument with them.  It's not the booster clubs
>> fault, I have no argument with them.  I fully understand why they don't
>> want
>> dogs running around in their show and I agree.
>> What burned me was this guys power trip attitude which I'm sure no one can
>> properly read into my writing but I understood
>> loud and clear.   I didn't mind one bit being asked about the dog but he
>> could have done it in a friendly manner.
>> I don't go to tractor and steam shows to be talked to like a street punk
>> and
>> if I subject myself to it again it will be my fault.
>>
>> Everyone at that show appeared to be friendly and welcoming this time as
>> they always have been in the past EXCEPT this one
>> bully.  Obviously they have had a previous problem with dogs or they would
>> not have spent a small fortune on White signs with
>> bold RED print saying NO DOGS but they need to understand that someone from
>> 400 miles away can't do anything about having
>> their pet with them when they turn into a parking lot where there is no way
>> to turn around and at least be polite about it.   He seemed
>> to have the attitude that "THIS IS MY SHOW AND BY GOD IF THESE JERKS WANT
>> TO
>> COME TO IT THEY BETTER TOE THE LINE AND
>> DO LIKE I SAY!"  The only thing that kept him from looking like Barney Fife
>> is the fact that he was big enough so as to avoid being
>> construed to be a comical fool.  A fool yes, just not comical.
>>
>> All the man had to say, if anything, was a polite "sir, I assume you are
>> going to leave the pup in the truck" or something to that effect
>> but no he had to throw his weight and assumed authority around.  If anyone
>> from the Smithsburg Steam Show or anyone who runs
>> a show reads this, please take it as I intended, as constructive criticism
>> and realize that folks who go to your shows, sometimes from
>> great distances, don't go there to be harassed and treated like criminals.
>>
>> Charlie
>>
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