The rudest state thread reminded me of a story about my brother that always makes me laugh and serves as a reminder that a nuclear response is not always appropriate and you can subtly tweak their tails and get even more satisfaction.
My brother loved to rock climb. One of his all time favorite activities. One day, him and a buddy go to a local climbing area to do a little bouldering after work. When they get there, the local Mazama club is out there practicing rope work. 20 or 30 people all over the rock. No problem, they'll just wait. So, they're sitting in my brother's old 66 Chevy truck and one of the club members comes out to the parking lot and puts his gear in his trunk. Then he looks at my brother and his buddy. Then he looks over to a car across the way that someone has hung a climbing rope on the mirror. He looks back at my brother. Back at the rope. Back at my brother. Back at the rope. It's beginning to look like he has some sort of neck issue. He walks over to the car and gets the rope, takes it back to his car and gets inside. He sits there for a little while, then gets out, puts a note on the car's windshield, then gets back in his car and drives off. My brother and his buddy talk about it for a couple minutes. "That was strange." Finally my brother goes and reads the note. "Hey ____, there were 2 sketchy dudes hanging around the parking lot, so I took your rope home with me. I'll give it back to you at the next meeting on Monday." Now my brother was an honest man. They could have hung the rope on his mirror and he wouldn't have taken it. So he got a little tweaked that someone would think that of him. But, rather than confront someone about it, and not the guy who did it anyway, he went a different way. He took the note, got some paper and wrote another note, put it on the car and then they drove to another climbing spot to do their thing. His note said, "We have your rope. You're never getting it back. Signed the Sketchy Dudes." My brother got alot of satisfaction imagining how the meeting went.
My brother loved to rock climb. One of his all time favorite activities. One day, him and a buddy go to a local climbing area to do a little bouldering after work. When they get there, the local Mazama club is out there practicing rope work. 20 or 30 people all over the rock. No problem, they'll just wait. So, they're sitting in my brother's old 66 Chevy truck and one of the club members comes out to the parking lot and puts his gear in his trunk. Then he looks at my brother and his buddy. Then he looks over to a car across the way that someone has hung a climbing rope on the mirror. He looks back at my brother. Back at the rope. Back at my brother. Back at the rope. It's beginning to look like he has some sort of neck issue. He walks over to the car and gets the rope, takes it back to his car and gets inside. He sits there for a little while, then gets out, puts a note on the car's windshield, then gets back in his car and drives off. My brother and his buddy talk about it for a couple minutes. "That was strange." Finally my brother goes and reads the note. "Hey ____, there were 2 sketchy dudes hanging around the parking lot, so I took your rope home with me. I'll give it back to you at the next meeting on Monday." Now my brother was an honest man. They could have hung the rope on his mirror and he wouldn't have taken it. So he got a little tweaked that someone would think that of him. But, rather than confront someone about it, and not the guy who did it anyway, he went a different way. He took the note, got some paper and wrote another note, put it on the car and then they drove to another climbing spot to do their thing. His note said, "We have your rope. You're never getting it back. Signed the Sketchy Dudes." My brother got alot of satisfaction imagining how the meeting went.
