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

[Mike]

Yes, I saw it Charlie it was on the evening news. More people with 
quality camera phones is a good thing, it keeps people in check. Who 
knows maybe one day soon we'll get a clear photo of a Bigfoot!

Mike M

On 10/8/2014 7:35 PM, charlie hill wrote:
> Mike,  If it wasn't getting so out of hand in so many places I probably
> wouldn't have bothered to write the list and tell about it.  The folks at
> that
> show are very nice and it's a good show but there are too many places these
> days
> where folks (we're assuming a cop maybe not) go out of control over nothing
> and create problems that don’t exist.  It's in the news every day.   Did you
> see the
> story yesterday where a cop was demanding ID from a passenger in a car he
> stopped
> for a seat belt violation.  The passenger didn't have an ID because he had
> lost his
> driving privilege.  He didn't roll down his window because the driver didn't
> want him
> too.  She was scared of the cops and was on the phone with 911 trying to
> make sure
> they were legit.  He reached to pull out a traffic ticket to show the cop
> and when he
> did the cop broke the passenger side window out of a nice car, tazed the guy
> and dragged him
> out in the street.  Luckily a kid in the back seat was recording it on a
> cell phone.
> I fully intend to put a dash cam in my car soon.
>
> Charlie
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mike
> Sent: Wednesday, October 08, 2014 6:01 PM
> To: Antique tractor email discussion group
> Subject: Re: [AT] A commentary on how to win friends and influence people at
> tractor shows
>
> 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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