Working with the public

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9.3X62AL

Guest
My career field causes me some grief on shooting sites. I would just as soon not go there.
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Al, that is not gonna be an issue here.
I actually found your comments on safety of powder vs gas cans in house fires interesting.
We had a major house fire in town a few days ago. The news reported that the fire dept was fighting it "defensively" because of ammunition stored in the home. Mention was also made of a few propane tanks in the garage.
Later the fire dept mentioned that the ammo was stored loose and not in a firearm so it was deemed safer.
Several of my coworkers commented on my home in a fire and I mentioned I am far more concerned with gasoline storage than I am powder or ammo.
 
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9.3X62AL

Guest
That will be a VERY good thing, Brad. A site with similar subject matter that many of us are familiar with has thoroughly alienated me via their care, feeding, and nurturing of hate speech to run up post count/hit rate. Nobody needs that dreck.

Your fire folks sound like a professional organization with real-world training and a depth of experience to reinforce and enhance that training. Good on 'em!

Working with the public always presents challenges, but has some huge rewards as well. One thing I saw from a few of our deputies in their dealings with the citizens was a tendency to say things like "There is nothing we can do here". Few things a deputy could say to a crime victim made me madder as a detective. There is ALWAYS something that can be done or said to offer some support or encouragement to a crime victim. And sometimes those things done can result in a conviction.......like the suspect thumbprints found on the rear-view mirrors of several recovered stolen cars and trucks at the tow yard. If you don't look, you won't find--if you don't ask, you won't learn--if you don't dig, you will never unearth.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Charles Graff

Moderator Emeritus
Al...We have learned from the past and mistakes won't be repeated here. This is a place for like minded people to share their knowledge and love of bullets casting, handloading and firearms. This is a clean start for all concerned.
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Al...We have learned from the past and mistakes won't be repeated here. This is a place for like minded people to share their knowledge and love of bullets casting, handloading and firearms. This is a clean start for all concerned.

Exactly! This place was created to rise above that sort of thing.
 
9

9.3X62AL

Guest
Such a goal is worthy of pursuit. Thanks to all who have given this site its form and content.
 

Ian

Notorious member
Charles, I'm glad to see you accepted the moderator's position and hope your arm isn't too sore from the twisting!
 

JonB

Halcyon member
9 years ago, I was considering a career change. Well, after a couple unsuccessful interviews for a Wine rep. position, I took the advice of one interviewer, and took a part time job at a liquor store that mostly specializes in wine, to get a little "street cred". I worked that job for 9 months and seeing the underbelly of that industry, it was enough to cure me from making that hobby into a career.

Anyway, Onto the story.
One Friday evening, about 10PM, I was working the cash register at this liquor store (named 'Liquor Hutch'). A couple walk up to the checkout, they didn't look like they belonged in this smallish city of Hutchinson, MN. They looked like they just walked out of a Club in the rough part of Minneapolis (yeah, my guess was Pimp and Ho).

The guy sets 3 bottles on the counter...the cheapest Rum and Vodka we sell. I rang it up, I recall the total was around $25. The Guy starts digging through all his pockets (Pants, shirt, jacket...ect) and drops crumpled up paper money, of various small denominations on the counter, then some change. He was $2 short.

So, he asks the Woman with him for some money. She kind of goes off on him, I don't recall exactly what she said, but it was the type of language I'd be better off not posting here. She wasn't happy, to say the least. A line of customers is forming behind them.

She finally decides to pitch in. She removes her Shoe, removes a handful of coins, picks out 8 quarters and drops them on the counter, then puts the rest of the change back in her shoe and her shoe back on her foot. :eek:

Yep, it takes all kinds.
 

smokeywolf

Well-Known Member
Headed up security for a hospital, bodyguard, police officer, motion picture engineer/purchasing manager/machinist. In the hospital I saw some of the best people. As a bodyguard, Pat Boone was quite unpleasant to be around. Kenny Rogers' wife Marianne, was a pleasure to work for.

Surprisingly, most successful actors are very pleasant. William Devane, Linda Grey, Larry Wilcox, Gene Kelly, George Kennedy, Robin Williams, Spielberg was very personable, even Larry Hagman was mostly pleasant as long as you didn't smoke in his presence (his mother died of lung cancer). Natalie Wood was nothing short of an angel. Eric Estrada, Sylvester Stallone and Julia Roberts were not so pleasant to be around. During the shooting of "Hook", I overheard Spielberg say he would not be working with her (Julia Roberts) again.

Trained horses for the National Park Service for a short time and had the pleasure of riding with Noah Beery Jr. a couple of times. He was 74 years old and still a top horseman.

Rick may be able to vouch for some of my opinions.

smokeywolf
 

Rick

Moderator
Staff member
That second category would make a very long list. There is a reason you haven't seen Erik Estrada in anything since CHIPS, nobody would hire him because nobody could stand having him around. There are others even worse, Jack Lord would make Estrada a joy to be around. Bruce Willis started his career as a great guy and steadily got worse and worse each year. I think Demi Moore aspired to Jack Lord. Many of them fit into this category.

There is another side, you don't know what true warm hearted sweetness is until you've spent time around Reba & she is pretty good with a shotgun on the sporting clays course too. Jaclyn Smith is every bit as warm & sweet and in person one of the most beautiful women I have ever met. Jacqueline Bisset is quite nice and if you have an interest in photography she'll spend all day giving you tips and pointers. Chevy Chase is a great guy and will stand around with the crew cracking jokes with the best of them, well as long as he's not working with Demi Moore. Never saw two people that fought & hated each other like those two but I do see Chevy's point.

This could be quite a lengthy post, could go on & on. I spent 34 years in that business, many of them are very forgettable, some are just the opposite.
 

Dennis Eugene

New Member
Nobody likes truck drivers? ;-) Here's Dennis Eugene's Dad standing by the cab and here's Dennis Eugene.
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358156hp

Guest
You're not from Eastern Europe, Dennis. Some of those guys have to be experienced to believed.
 

Rick

Moderator
Staff member
Hey wait a minute, who doesn't like truck drivers? I was 34 years a Teamster and still have the class A lic.
 

Rick

Moderator
Staff member
I did. ;) But I'm still sitting here wondering why I kept the class A cause I ain't gonna use it no more.
 

Ian

Notorious member
You're not from Eastern Europe, Dennis. Some of those guys have to be experienced to believed.

...or middle east via southern CA. Same difference. But by and large, most "Bikers" and "Truckers" that I've met are really decent folks.

The first six years of my driving experience was had in a 1946 Chevrolet half-ton pickup, which I still own though it is in disrepair. I put a 350 engine in it, but had points-type distributor. On a trip back to college one time it started giving me the signs that it was time to adjust the points and maybe give them a dress-up with a file, so I pulled over on a lonely stretch of road and got out my tools. Directly, a pack of genu-ine Hell's Angels ride up and stop all around me. ROUGH looking folks, bleached, worn leather, dingy chrome, rider and motorcycle equally covered with road grime, stink, the works. The only thing on my mind is there are only six rounds of buckshot in my 12-gauge, and it's in the cab while I'm perched on the fender, so "there I am". One eases up beside me, kills the old shovel-head, and says "Hey, brother, nice truck, you need any help?" I manage to stutter that I was just filing the points and got a spare new set if that doesn't get it, but they insist on waiting until I get it fixed before they leave. We ended up having a really pleasant visit while they all took a break and bs'd with me about my truck, traveling, and life on the road. I remember a cold can of beans being opened and passed around, canteens of water, and a joint. When all was finished, we got back on the road and they tailed me to the next town where our paths diverged. The fraternity of people that live on the road tend to take care of each other, for they know it can be a dangerous place.

Love the sig line, Dennis! Same can be said for the 45/70.
 

smokeywolf

Well-Known Member
Was once confronted by 2 local boys with nasty reps in a town with a known juvenile problem. These two hadn't been juveniles for a couple of years. It was about 3:00 AM and they were likely high and were almost certainly dead set on giving me a beat down and probably taking my duty gun (I was in uniform) and anything else that struck their fancy. Because there were two and they were too close, I didn't dare rely on non-lethal measures so I unsnapped the strap over the slide on my 1911, rested my thumb on the safety, rotated my body clockwise so I could block with my left and draw and fire with the right and decided that, if need be I was about to kill one and maybe both of them. Just then a very unsavory looking (tats, torn jean jacket, leather vest, braids and beard), local biker, known as "Martini" rode up and parked just a dozen feet away. Although I welcomed the distraction and extra time to think, I figured I may now have to kill more than two. When he approached, his attention was fixed on my two antagonists, not me. He asked the two dirtbags if they had a problem. They replied that they just had a problem with me. He very calmly said, "Now you have twice the problem".

The two dirtbags walked off toward a nearby park. I commented to Martini that he may have just saved two lives. He grinned and said, "Gotta do a good deed at least once a week." Then he waked on into the convenience store about 50 feet away.

Although I am wary of biker types, since that day, I'm very reluctant to pre-judge those who fit that description.

smokeywolf
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
Interesting to hear the inside story on "stars". A guy I know flies big bizjets for
a living and sometimes has "big names" not necessarily movie folks, but folks rich
enough to have $50 million jets, for passengers. He says some are nice
people, but most treat the pilots "like furniture". Ouch.

As to the bikers, good folks and bad folks come in all shapes and sizes.

Stereotypes are definitely useful, but only for a 1st cut rough sorting, since most are not
better than 60-80% accurate at best. I have friends of many decades that used to look like
fairly rough customers. . . . . starting to just look like old guys now. :-(