JohnH wrote:
I was at the Porsche museum in Stuttgart two weeks ago and some guy was opening the doors of the display race cars...to take video. Not something I would do. I thought it was pretty bold to be touching the displays at all.
I’ve seen all manners of insane things. Someone once removed one of the waist guns (mount and all) on Sentimental Journey in Atlanta “to get it outside to take photos of it” outside. He almost dropped it getting it out the back door. We got the cops over to explain what he was doing was NOT okay at all. I don’t think he ever understood why we raised such a fuss.
I do WW2 living history events and see all kind of things like this as well. As a Jeep owner (1944 Willys MB), you can imagine the things people have done with my Jeep at shows. People will pile into it (even throwing out the original ammo crates I had in the back) for their own personal seating area at shows, kids are often found sitting behind the wheel, all the while, after having removed all my “do not touch” signs. The worst seem to be the ROTC cadets, kids who play the WW2 video games, and people who pulled the minimum of service time in the military. They all think I’m going to be impressed when they try to start working my weapons (some even go as far as trying to disassemble them, and NEVER with asking permission). To me, that’s like seeing someone fondling my wife. It’s all I can do not to snap them in half when they actually give me attitude when I remind them the “don’t touch” signs apply to them as well. Some have yelled in my face, saying their tax dollars paid for the Jeep so by God, they’ll do whatever they darned well feel with it. I actually had to have MPs remove a couple from my Jeep once for this reason. At first, the MPs thought I was joking, asking, “You mean they didn’t believe you own your own Jeep? What are they, stupid or something?” The MPs weren’t very nice to them in the process either, and they questioned the mental capabilities of the couple of question to even get themselves off the post after the show, which they further suggested be done as soon as possible.
When this stuff first would happen, I used to try to be nice. Now, I just give them my best R Lee Ermey impression and ask what kind of barn they were raised in. I’m going to look like the jerk to them no matter what I say. I reckon that I might as well get some personal satisfaction if that’s the case anyway. Last summer, I had a display of WW2 weapons at an air show:
A Teenaged kid walked up, picked up my bazooka, and started walking off with it. He maybe got ten feet before I was in his path, asking him what kind of suicidal tendencies he must have for doing such a thing. He looked very confused, saying he was just taking it over to his father to show it to him. I asked where his Dad was, and the kid pointed to an area over 200 yards away! Oddly, his mother materialized at that moment and started yelling at me for “stifling” her son’s initiative (seriously, you just can’t make this stuff up). Trying not to laugh, I asked how him walking off with an original, working WW2 rocket launcher worth thousands of dollars (which is was a non-firing repro probably worth about 500, but she didn’t know that) showed any initiative other than wanting a federal firearms theft conviction. That took her aback for a second. I told her if she was lucky, I wouldn’t call over the police officers nearby and press charges that would lead to a felony conviction. To this day, that remains the ONLY time anyone every apologized to me for anything like this, and only because I was one step away from making good on the threat. 99.99999% of people at these shows are kind, respectful people and I enjoy showing things for them. The rest almost make it not worth the while because they’re so infuriating because they
never get that they’re in the wrong.