Interactions with ''Non-Knife'' People

[PoisonedPizza]

Anyone have a funny/cringy story about ''Non-Knife'' people? Here's 2 of mine-

Whenever I show any knife over $20-''WHO WOULD SPEND $__ ON A KNIFE?!''

When I was EDCing the Emphasis and waiting for my PM2 to arrive in the mail, I showed a pic of the PM2 to my        neighbor-''They look the same to me.''

[Ankerson]

Best to just ignore them....

There is a lot more to do, see, and experience in life than people like that.

[ladybug93]

my favorite is when they ask if someone has a knife because they need something cut. then, when you help them out, they look at you like you’re crazy or ask why you need to carry a knife.

[TomAiello]

Just tell them it's your hobby. People will accept a lot if you just tell them you're really interested in a hobby.

I know guys who spend thousands on custom high end rifles and think that spending hundreds on a folding knife is crazy. And people who will easily spend an extra $10,000 to get the options they want on their vehicle, but think it's nuts to spend $100 on a knife.

If you can equate it to one of their own hobbies, people tend to be a lot more accepting. I don't personally spend money putting new exhausts and intakes on my vehicles, but I know people who do, and that's not any more or less crazy than my obsession with buying new knives when I already have 20 great knives in my desk drawer.

[TkoK83Spy]

If you can equate it to one of their own hobbies, people tend to be a lot more accepting. I don't personally spend money putting new exhausts and intakes on my vehicles, but I know people who do, and that's not any more or less crazy than my obsession with buying new knives when I already have 20 great knives in my desk drawer.

Ut oh, what if all of these things are your hobbies!? I'm guilty! :eek: :p

[TomAiello]

If you can equate it to one of their own hobbies, people tend to be a lot more accepting. I don't personally spend money putting new exhausts and intakes on my vehicles, but I know people who do, and that's not any more or less crazy than my obsession with buying new knives when I already have 20 great knives in my desk drawer.

Ut oh, what if all of these things are your hobbies!? I'm guilty! :eek: :p

I admit that I'm guilty of having guns that cost way more than can be even remotely justified. Same as my knives, really.

I don't do cars though. I'm actually rather looking forward to reaching the point in my life where I don't have to own a car at all.

[James Y]

One time, while I was using the tiny scissors on my Victorinox Classic SAK to cut some paper, a woman in the class said, “I hope you realize that’s a deadly weapon.” She wasn’t kidding, either.

I won’t be overly dismissive of someone just for not being a knife person, though. I’m not a watch person. The watches I wear are Timex, not Rolex. I spend no more than about $30 to $40 on them, and one lasts many years before I need to buy another. Watch aficionados would probably be dismissive of that. All of us have things we are into, and other things we aren’t into that others are.

Jim

[soc_monki]

One time, while I was using the tiny scissors on my Victorinox Classic SAK to cut some paper, a woman in the class said, “I hope you realize that’s a deadly weapon.” She wasn’t kidding, either.

I won’t be overly dismissive of someone just for not being a knife person, though. I’m not a watch person. The watches I wear are Timex, not Rolex. I spend no more than about $30 to $40 on them, and one lasts many years before I need to buy another. Watch aficionados would probably be dismissive of that. All of us have things we are into, and other things we aren’t into that others are.

Jim

I would have told the lady "I guess you don't use knives in your kitchen, since those are deadly weapons..."

Some people are just so ignorant. Makes no sense!

[Larry_Mott]

Not to break the "shiny footsteps rule" but more than once i have heard ZT and Benchmade fans claim that "all Spydercos look the same"
And my reaction is always Oh, and ZT and BM don't, is that it? :)

[James Y]

One time, while I was using the tiny scissors on my Victorinox Classic SAK to cut some paper, a woman in the class said, “I hope you realize that’s a deadly weapon.” She wasn’t kidding, either.

I won’t be overly dismissive of someone just for not being a knife person, though. I’m not a watch person. The watches I wear are Timex, not Rolex. I spend no more than about $30 to $40 on them, and one lasts many years before I need to buy another. Watch aficionados would probably be dismissive of that. All of us have things we are into, and other things we aren’t into that others are.

Jim

I would have told the lady "I guess you don't use knives in your kitchen, since those are deadly weapons..."

Some people are just so ignorant. Makes no sense!

The person in question was not a smart person, about a lot of things. I simply ignored her.

TBH, I haven’t had TOO many memorable interactions with non-knife people about my knives, considering I’ve been carrying knives of one type or another for going on 44 years. I’ve had someone ask, “Is that legal?” when he saw me using my Delica to open a package. Most people don’t even notice.

Jim

[Pokey]

This story is kind of weird and with a twist. It happened years ago and I only remembered it after reading these posts.

I used to work at a federally owned facility in Southern California. I won't mention the name, but the initials are JPL. :D We had a company store where we could purchase tools and electronic parts for R&D stuff we worked on. One of the tools I bought for my tool bag was a TL-29 knife. When I moved on from the group, to another group, I left the tools with them.

Years later I got a phone call from a former co-worker. He said that one of the PhD's we worked with, who had moved up the food chain to supervisor, wanted to see me. I asked him what it was about, and he said, "You'll see; it's stupid." I walked over to the building, found the supervisor, and we went in the lab. He opened a drawer and pointed to a TL-29 with my name on it and said, "Is that yours." I told him, yes, I bought it years ago at the Electronics store and left it behind with a bunch of other tools when I left the group.

This was post 9/11 and he proceeded to give me a lecture on how knives with a blade over 2.5" were illegal on a federal facility. I thought, this is stupid. I mentioned that the knife was still standard issue and available in the Electronics store right now, and this one had probably been in the drawer for years. That didn't matter to him because we were now in a post 9/11 era. I said, well do with it what you like, and headed for the door. I never heard anything else about it.

I'm sure he probably never saw my Delica clipped to my pocket. :eek:

[MacLaren]

Best to just ignore them....

There is a lot more to do, see, and experience in life than people like that.

Amen.
And, most times than not, those same people have thier little pet hobbies too, that they spend on freely as well.

[VashHash]

I was using my native 5 to cut open a box once. I had my finger on top of the blade so I could feel how deep I was cutting. A coworker passed by and said "**** thats a sharp fingernail you have." I laughed and flipped my hand over so he could see the knife. He thought it was pretty funny after too.

[TomAiello]

You totally should have flexed your forearms and popped out giant adamantium claws.

[VashHash]

You totally should have flexed your forearms and popped out giant adamantium claws.

I didn't want to break cover :D

[Wartstein]

I threw a farewell party on the jobsite once when I left that job

People I worked closely together with knew of course that I always carry a knife (and had become accustomed to that fact), but at the party were a lot more who did not know me well...

We had to cut some giant sandwiches, and as usual the available kitchen knives where as dull as they were huge... :rolleyes:

So I drew out my pretty sharp Endura, which did the job perfectly well.

And of course I got some weird reactions about why "I´d carry a knife, and such a big one furthermore"... crazy, cause the situation literally prooved why it is usefull to carry a knife, and the Endura was really small compared to the dull kitchen knives on the table... :confused:

[wrdwrght]

Context is everything, but some people are dullards in any context.

[James Y]

I’d almost forgotten about one time, back when I studied court reporting, during a break in the class, one particularly obese woman was having a hard time opening a bag of snack food. I foolishly took out my bone-handled Case medium stockman that I carried at the time (late 1990s), opened the little sheepsfoot, and offered it to her so she could open the bag. She gave both me and my knife a look of disdain and said, “I don’t need THAT THING to open it,” as if it were somehow beneath her. Then, displaying all of her dignity, she began trying to tear the package open with her teeth, shaking her head back and forth, like a puppy trying to tear up a slipper. That was the last time I ever voluntarily offered a knife to anyone to help them out.

I only mention it because it retrospect, the image of her desperately tearing at the package makes me laugh.

Jim

[zuludelta]

my favorite is when they ask if someone has a knife because they need something cut. then, when you help them out, they look at you like you’re crazy or ask why you need to carry a knife.

This happens to me with such regularity at work that when someone asks "does anyone here have a knife?" I just assume that it's a rhetorical question. Now that I think about it, I think I get the weird "that's scary" look because they expect me to be carrying a boxcutter at work, and not a "real knife".

Funny story: I had a manager who used to call me "Rambo" and he called my combo edge Native my "Rambo knife". He was okay with me using my own work knife rather than the crappy boxcutter they issued to us, though, unlike some other management folks I've had to deal with.

That said, to each their own. Other folks have hobbies and interests that are of no particular interest to me (and baffle me outright), but so long as they're happy and not hurting anyone, it's all good.

I do recognize that there are people who've legitimately had traumatic experiences involving knives. So I try to be discreet when I use my knives at work or in public—it doesn't cost me anything to be discreet with my knife use, but it could spare someone a lot of genuine post-traumatic stress.

[TkoK83Spy]

my favorite is when they ask if someone has a knife because they need something cut. then, when you help them out, they look at you like you’re crazy or ask why you need to carry a knife.

This happens to me with such regularity at work that when someone asks "does anyone here have a knife?" I just assume that it's a rhetorical question. Now that I think about it, I think I get the weird "that's scary" look because they expect me to be carrying a boxcutter at work, and not a "real knife".

Funny story: I had a manager who used to call me "Rambo" and he called my combo edge Native my "Rambo knife". He was okay with me using my own work knife rather than the crappy boxcutter they issued to us, though, unlike some other management folks I've had to deal with.

That said, to each their own. Other folks have hobbies and interests that are of no particular interest to me (and baffle me outright), but so long as they're happy and not hurting anyone, it's all good.

I do recognize that there are people who've legitimately had traumatic experiences involving knives. So I try to be discreet when I use my knives at work or in public—it doesn't cost me anything to be discreet with my knife use, but it could spare someone a lot of genuine post-traumatic stress.

I hear ya. Working in a warehouse, honestly the last thing I want to be using on a daily basis is a flimsy box cutter. That's what is assigned to us, and pocket knives are actually prohibited (though just about every maintenance guy and forklift operator carries one)

I keep a box cutter in my safety vest pocket, along with my cut resistant gloves. But just about all of the time I use whatever knife I'm carrying that day. I've had too many razor blades break over the years and don't want to take my chances with them. I've been here almost 12 years now and my boss is awesome. She knows I'm a knife nut and trusts I won't hurt myself, or flash my knives around or use them around the wrong people. She just says...If I ever get caught and someone wants to make a fuss of it, that she doesn't know anything about it :p