Conversations with clients

[Jim]

I'm currently coaching an elderly lady on her revolver. Like an idiot, yesterday, I let her express her opinions on a subject that has nothing to do with what I'm helping her with.
Somehow, the conversation(mostly hers!) drifted to hunting. She is adamantly opposed to it. I respect the fact that every one is entitled to their own, so I did not challenge or contest hers.
She said something that REALLY bothers me. I can't quote her verbatim, but she basically said, every time a hunter is accidentally killed or injured, she applauds it. I told her that I would never applaud hearing that ANYONE is injured or killed, regardless of the situation. She looked me dead in the eye and said "I do". This really bothers me. Obviously, the lady is extremely close minded.
This is what I get for letting her get as far as I did. We learn from our mistakes, do we not? I'll have to remember this and not let myself get involved in conversations of opinion.

[WRW]

I don't think she has sufficient moral character for learning "lethal force".

[ProShooter]

I would be passing her off to another instructor right....about.....now.

[SgtBill]

Well it is her opinion and she has to live with it. There is no sense in attempting to change her mind if in fact it seems set. I might tell her that I had a woman that I instructed with a revolver that wanted it for self protection and peace of mind and another woman that had in fact sufferd a rape was instructed by me. Each and every person has their own opnion on the Hunter for meat thing. But it still come's back to the FACT that all people on the face of this earth are here because their prior realitves had to hunt to survive and to continue the family line as their were no Wall Mart's or Food Lion's or anywhere else to shop for food.

Just what I would say, altho you may be better off by just letting her have her rant and get the job done and send her on her way.
Bill

[allingeneral]

There's nothing wrong with conversations of opinion, as long as you don't let someone else's opinion rile you up too much. In this case, it seems that you're treading a fine line with this lady...she's open to learning to use a revolver, but not open to hurting cutewittleanimals. There are several arguments that can be used to counter the "don't hurt the cutewittleanimals" opinion. Here are a couple.

1) Population control - If hunters didn't control population of multiple species of game animals, you would see more dead deer and other cutewittleanimals on the side of the road. Hitting that animal may have severely injured or killed an innocent occupant of the vehicle, in addition to the damage caused to the vehicle which has to be covered by insurance. As the human population continues to grow, we continue to encroach upon the habitat of these animals more and more - increasing the likelihood of such an encounter. So, would it be better to allow a hunter to take that animal for food, or let it roam around the interstate, destined to be a deer in the headlights?

2) Survival - A great many people rely on "Nature's Bounty" to survive and put food on the table. Hunting isn't about killing an animal for the fun of it (for most people). As a matter of fact, most hunters I know go to great lengths to ensure that they make use of every usable bit of what they bring home.

Or, you can just write her off as a closed-minded old bitty and redirect the conversation back to "How to drop the hammer".

[OakRidgeStars]

Or, you can just write her off as a closed-minded old bitty and redirect the conversation back to "How to drop the hammer".

We have a winner

[Taggure]

My Mother - n - Law really hates that I hunt deer and that we eat it and that venison is the main staple for meat in our freezer along with fish. She always gives my wife a hard time that I dare to Hunt for the food on my table, and says that I should go to the store and get the meat.

My wife then very nicely I must say ask's her what the difference is between shooting a slug in a Cows or Pigs head or ringing a chickens neck or putting a bullet through the heart of a deer? They all end up on the table the same. My Mother-n-Law just say that the Cow, Pig, and Chicken are domesticated and that we should not kill wild animals.

Go figure where is the common sense, but then again she really hates that I am a gun owner and says that there is no need in owning a gun. I just continue the argument by saying that I use my guns to go hunting and that really gets her in a tizzy.

[Jim]

Or, you can just write her off as a closed-minded old bitty and redirect the conversation back to "How to drop the hammer".

We have a winner

Rick gets a gold star and a cold beer of his choice.

[novaglock]

she basically said, every time a hunter is accidentally killed or injured, she applauds it.

You might ask her how she would feel if she accidentally killed someone and had to live with it the rest of her life. People have opinions about things without thinking them through. If you have to ask a tough question of yourself it can sometime change your perspective.

[WRW]

There's nothing wrong with conversations of opinion, as long as you don't let someone else's opinion rile you up too much. In this case, it seems that you're treading a fine line with this lady...she's open to learning to use a revolver, but not open to hurting cutewittleanimals. There are several arguments that can be used to counter the "don't hurt the cutewittleanimals" opinion. Here are a couple.

1) Population control - If hunters didn't control population of multiple species of game animals, you would see more dead deer and other cutewittleanimals on the side of the road. Hitting that animal may have severely injured or killed an innocent occupant of the vehicle, in addition to the damage caused to the vehicle which has to be covered by insurance. As the human population continues to grow, we continue to encroach upon the habitat of these animals more and more - increasing the likelihood of such an encounter. So, would it be better to allow a hunter to take that animal for food, or let it roam around the interstate, destined to be a deer in the headlights?

2) Survival - A great many people rely on "Nature's Bounty" to survive and put food on the table. Hunting isn't about killing an animal for the fun of it (for most people). As a matter of fact, most hunters I know go to great lengths to ensure that they make use of every usable bit of what they bring home.

Or, you can just write her off as a closed-minded old bitty and redirect the conversation back to "How to drop the hammer".

It is not this woman's anti hunting stance that is so objectionable. To applaud the loss of an innocent life, whether afield alone or in a tower amongst others, is amoral. Damned if I think she should be learning to use a gun.

[KaosDad]

Her thinking is right along with WBC. Having said that - after many, many years in desk-side customer service I learned to NEVER start a conversation that was not directly related to the problem at hand (namely; the computer). The minefield that is a person's desk is to be avoided at all costs. Some of the conversations that tought me this:

Me: "What a pretty young lady." Pointing to a picture on the desk.
Him: "Thanks. That bitch of a wife has convinced her I will rape her first chance I get."
oO

Me: "How long have you been in the service?" Looking at dozens of pictures of the client with Officers of every rank.
Her: "Fifteen God-forsaken years. Next time thay want to pin an award on my ...." I'll just stop there.

Nope - keeping it concentrated on the eliectrisicals is just fine by me!

[Culichor]

I'm your customers best "FAN" I love her.

[newdovo]

[LFS]

Tell her you'll give a damn when she can personally account for the 10 million meals hunters have donated.

http://nrablog.com/post/2010/10/29/Amer ... -meat.aspx

And I agree with the others that say she lacks the proper character for being taught to use lethal force.

[Mindflayer]

It's your job. Bite your tongue, nod, and go back to the job at hand for which she's paid you - training her. If she wants to argue, just say, "I disagree, but let's get back to the training."

Do I hunt? No. Do I love me some venison and wild boar? Mmmmhmmm, yes. Not much of a fan of bear, though.

Do we need to hunt? Yes, yes, yes. I've read statistics that say since our sprawling suburbs with just enough woods and just enough yard/manicured areas are perfect for deer and there are more deer than when white man build Jamestown. We nearly wiped out the wolf and other predators, so we need to step in.

Personally, I'd love to see less people and/or better planned cities with less sprawl and more wildlands, but that's just me - and sorry for the hijack.

[Reverenddel]

Pardon the paraphrase, but in survival situations, I follow this adage:

"Feed the Family, Starve a Hippie."

Take from it what you will.

[user]

I read a book by John & Sally Seymour a while back, "Farming for Self-Sufficiency", in which Dr. Seymour says that when your squeamish city friends come out for dinner, and start asking how you can bear to kill and gut that poor defenseless little animal, "Well, " he said, "the only answer for him is to take his plate away."

But a person who expresses a desire that humans should die while hunting is a person who should not be trusted with a gun. I'd be tempted to tell her she flunked the course and isn't going to get a certificate. I don't want people like that carrying concealed.

[Mindflayer]

Reminds me (sorry, another hijack, but I am in a two hour meeting) of my college roommate. We went to visit a friend's farm where he got to see a real live cow for the first time. One of the cattle hung out by the fence as we did some work and he spent a lot of time petting it. The next morning, we had ham for breakfast, and my roommate said it was the best he ever had. My friend's father said, "I hope so, it came from that cow you liked so much." We had to remind him over and over that ham comes from pigs, not cows, but he could not finish that ham.

[KaosDad]

[Kreutz]

I'm currently coaching an elderly lady on her revolver. Like an idiot, yesterday, I let her express her opinions on a subject that has nothing to do with what I'm helping her with.
Somehow, the conversation(mostly hers!) drifted to hunting. She is adamantly opposed to it. I respect the fact that every one is entitled to their own, so I did not challenge or contest hers.
She said something that REALLY bothers me. I can't quote her verbatim, but she basically said, every time a hunter is accidentally killed or injured, she applauds it. I told her that I would never applaud hearing that ANYONE is injured or killed, regardless of the situation. She looked me dead in the eye and said "I do". This really bothers me. Obviously, the lady is extremely close minded.
This is what I get for letting her get as far as I did. We learn from our mistakes, do we not? I'll have to remember this and not let myself get involved in conversations of opinion.

Unfortunately a client is your paycheck, so its not wise to piss them off or engage them in unrelated banter.

I do not, nor have ever hunted. This is because I've never had the chance, and iuf the chance ever came up I'd probably pass because I think you have to get up at 4am, which is something I will not do voluntarily.

Now, as someone who has never hunted I have the exact same experience as that woman, yet a totally different viewpoint. Deer are prey animals, that is all. When I have read of a hunter getting gored by a deer or wild pig, I don't think, "Oh goodie", I think, "Well, they arent so defenseless after all, hope that guy makes a full recovery and learned something".

Hunting in my book is a valid sport, rich with its own traditions and self-imposed rules of fair play. However, I will admit an intense moral disgust with the "canned hunts", from what I have read actual hunters (not just wacky limp wristed environmentalists like me) loathe them just as much. I dont know, if one of those jackasses got gored(not really possible in that situation, but whatever) I don't think I'd feel much sorry for them.