Met My First Absolute JERK Piper

[simnettpratt]

I have one final thing to say. Friendly and rude are different. I was friendly, he was rude. Friendly almost always works here in Texas; that's why I was so surprised. They even have highway signs: Drive Friendly (not quite English, but close).
If you think I was rude to be friendly, what was he doing chatting up everyone around him? If you think I was rude, we disagree. If you think he wasn't rude, we disagree. I wouldn't have minded gruff, but to return friendly with rude was a surprise.

 

[crusher47]

Guy was a dick, plain and simple. If you ever make your way out to Ft. Worth, let me know, I would share a smoke with you

 

[tbradsim1]

It ain't Rocket Science,the man was a prick, pure and simple.

 

[simnettpratt]

Thank you sparks and Bradley; I appreciate that
@crusher: Thank you for the invite, sounds like fun. Let me get to know you a bit more before I meet a random stranger off the internet - you only have 41 posts and joined last month, you know. I've been on here long enough folks can vouch for me, and I've met lonestar Ryan Alden and Mike msandoval858 (great guys, we're trying to get a Cowboys party organized at my house before the season's over), but let me take a rain check for now. If I can be sure you're not a serial killer or something, meeting for a smoke would be great

 

[crusher47]

No problem at all

 

[dochudson]

whatever.. he said more then Hello by offering tobacco. again if he's chatting up the folks I'm going to assume he knew them. he didn't know you from nothing. bet, after you walked away, him and his friends wonder what was up with that guy.

 

[simnettpratt]

@Doc: He started angrily yelling at me before I offered him tobacco, when all I did say was Hello. I appreciate your angle on this though, I learned what may have been going on with the guy.

 

[voorhees]

If I can be sure you're not a serial killer or something,

:rofl:
Sound advice anywhere.

 

[simnettpratt]

Hey, I'd love to share a smoke with a cool guy, just not get chopped up and eaten afterwards.

 

[andystewart]

Oh my God but I wished I'd come to this thread earlier!
@mso - Thank you! Your post on the British (and the supporting reference to the Slaughtered Lamb) made me laugh out loud on a crowded - and silent - London commuter train. Cue looks all around; anyone who makes noise like that on an English train is judged to be a) drunk, b) insane or c) foreign. Or a mix of any 2/3 of those. Very, very funny. And recognisable, in parts.
Dave (Simnett-Pratt) - you're a lovely bloke and it's a shame the fella didn't feel like finding that out, but that's folk.
I agree with others here that this is a really interesting thread and it's been seminal for me - do I think my pipes and tobaccos are a hobby? The answer after 30 years has to be "No". Pipe smoking is an incredibly enjoyable and varied part of my life, but it's too much of a basic, daily fact to be a diversion. It's just part of me.
Andy

 

[lucky695]

if the horse ain't dead yet, I'm sure he wishes he was.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I think it's natural for some of us to want to size up the situation and find a reason for his behavior. I laughed at Woodsroad's first post on here, because that has happened to me. Talking to some cutie and someone wants to come up and start a conversation out of the blue. Or, I say that I grew my own tobacco, and he offers me some of his store bought tobacco as if mine was swag or something. All in all, I stand with my fellow brother of the forum. The guy was a jerk. I would have just accepted the tobacco and then put it in the ashtray when you weren't looking, ha ha :wink:
But, all in all, this thread has been entertaining. I love this forum.

 

[phil67]

@ simnettpratt, I hope you didn’t misconstrue my previous posts as defending this guy’s behavior. I was simply trying to evaluate his mindset at the time, i.e. simply smoking a pipe and giving it no thought whatsoever as to attract attention from someone else in finding a fellow (hobbyist :roll: ) pipe smoker. Yes, he could have certainly handled the situation better and not acted like an ass-wipe. However, from my experience in all of my many years going to bars/pub’s there is most obviously imbibing going on... duh! Also, it has been my experience that there are more horse’s asses than there are horse’s in any give bar, and that’s before they even drink. Just move on, consider it an unfortunate experience and don’t blindly approach strangers in a bar. Just because someone is smoking a pipe does not mean they are like Fred Fred MacMurray in ‘My Three Sons’. :wink:

 

[peckinpahhombre]

Let's all just agree that this thread proves that there is more than one.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

+1

 

[ravkesef]

Good grief--are we still flogging this nag? I'm with Lucky here. But I stil think Simnet was being a nice, friendly guy, and the other chap was truly a jerk. Oh heck, I'm in a real expansive mood tonight. The Royals just scored another run, bringing the score to 9-0. Simnett was a prince and the other guy was a first class schmuck.

 

[simnettpratt]

This will be my last flog; I had no idea this thread would go on this long, and was ready for it to end before page two! Thank you for all the responses, those that agree with me and those that don't.
Cultures are different. Born and raised in England, I wouldn't approach a stranger in a bar over there without checking if it was OK. Normally, here in the southern United States' Texas, saying Hi to strangers IS normal. I've been approached several times at the range by strangers interested in my pipe (and what I'm smoking!), and it's been delightful every time.
I hope Texas never becomes a place where it's considered rude and invasive or gay to say Hi to strangers.
Dave.