Some ways to handle dealing with the Crabby Old Fart at FK

[Tattoo Bradley]

I'll second the "Damn the toes" comment.

[pdcorlis]

Steve... BTW...

I understand that it's tough to be 3 things at once... a member of XMARKS, an advertiser on XMARKS AND a Kilt Company with it's own products.

I was just thinking about this - its a shame if and when any of our talented kilt, sporran, or sgian dubh makers self censor - in the end we all lose out on your knowledge and experience.

I hope you all "damn the toes" and keep posting!

[David Thornton]

Rocky, I'll respond here in hopes that I am able to address your concern & a larger issue.

I am sure you do not remember specifically emailing me with an answer, but you recognized that I was not getting a straight answer to a question posed in 2005 and you sent a private message. I am sure that was to avoid stomping on toes or calling anyone a hypocrite on line. I saved that message just to remind myself that there were people that thought about there responses and didn't just run up post counts.

That response did not sell a kilt for you, but it helped me. Your recent offensive posts, and I am pretty sure I know which ones they were, were viewed by me as information not confrontation. So keep posting, knowledge is too hard to come by today.

And now to the larger issue, Political Correctness is way to pervasive in society today, and getting that way here. I would much prefer honest heartfelt, well presented facts than sugar coated silliness & me toos.
Here and in my life in general, so keep it coming.

David

[The Wizard of BC]

Thank you Rocky for your comments. Coming from you they mean more to me than anything else.

I fondly remember the days when this forum had only 100 members and The Kilt Store, USA Kilts, and Freedom Kilts were the only paying members. We had many talks about how we wanted this to be something special and that it was not simply a place to "Hawk our wares" but something greater than the sum of the dollars we were spending to support it.

I know others also have painful memories of Bear, and how during the beginning of his problems, he became silent. You and I mentioned "Watching a Train Wreck About To Happen" and how helpless we felt watching another kiltmaker go down the drain.

As this forum has grown and your business, and mine, have grown we have made mistakes. But I remember you and I sitting in your old shop on Egypt Rd. talking them through and becoming friends.

To you and I X Marks became more than profit margin. The Kilt became more than something to sell to make a buck. And the other members here became our friends and not just potential sales numbers.

You and I have seen this forum and this world of Kilts grow and mature. We have seen others come to join us and we have seen some go away.
I would like to think that you and I have had a small part in the success of both X Marks as a place to talk about all kilts, and the overall acceptance of Kilts as respected menswear.

And by the way, please send me some more of your business cards. I'm almost out of them in my shop and you can be assured I know where to send my friends when they want a quality Tartan Kilt.

I remain, Crabby and Garumfy as I am, your friend.

[way2fractious]

Now, Steve... you know sticking your nose - and/or fingers - under one of those sewing machines could make for some really interesting and painful conjoining of those extremities. The mental picture is something like E.T.'s fingers sewn to Cyrano de Bergerac's nose.

I count myself honored to have met you and Bobbie recently and to hang around your shop, your home, your other "new" place, your city and "your" museum. And, BTW, you did a superb job of expressing just how you feel - unusual for the "engineer personality." But then, anyone of any personality has the same fears as you, namely rejection or loss of approval. Protecting our "core self" on the chance those fears come to life is survival in our social world.

"Damn the toes" may sound harsh, but it is tempered in your case by your being a genuinely nice, kind, and decent man - and I'm sure Bobbie contributes to that tempering, as well. As pdcorlis noted, it's the very, very dry humor that catches a lot of flak from many people.

I'm glad you self-applied the title, Crabby/Garumphy Old Fart, and left alone MY adjectives/noun - Irascible and Fractious Curmudgeon (my "coping skills" - good, huh?)

[Canuck]

Look! He's a Grumpy old fart!...plain and simple! (I'm supposed to put a smiley or something like that here... but I've joined the ranks of old so I won't bother!)

[The Wizard of BC]

That's "Garumfy Old Fart, Sir." to you Robert.

As a hot, dry, Sahara wind blows across the monitor.

I once tried to smile as you always do, but it hurt my face.

The wind increases to a Gale.

[Canuck]

That's "Garumfy Old Fart, Sir." to you Robert.

As a hot, dry, Sahara wind blows across the monitor.

I once tried to smile as you always do, but it hurt my face.

The wind increases to a Gale.

Well um...ah... SIR....don't you have something to do like make kilts maybe?! which means I must get on the case too! Three kilt makers online at the moment makes for some interesting complaints from our customers... like we don't have a life....
Cheers
SIR

[The Wizard of BC]

Let's see, my excuses for the day are:

1) It's my day off.
2) We three kiltmakers are having a strategic planning session.
3) My wife is out of town and I don't have any clean kilt hose.
4) I'm waiting for someone else to tell me to "If I continue acting nice they will send me a free $25.00 kilt".
5) So much Scotch, so little time.
6) The new shop is too far away.
7) I'm waiting for fabric to arrive in the mail.
8) My dog would be lonely if I left.
9) I'm having a bad hair day.
10) It's a plot to make Kilts scarce so the price will go up.

[Panache]

WOULD YOU THREE GET BACK TO WORK!




Jamie