It's the one thing about knives that's scary.

[Chico Buller]

My wife didn't feel like cooking and all of the restaurants on East Washington looked crowded. My SIL was with us, we needed a place to go, so we hit Perkins.

Except for a few "death dogs" at the Harley shop this morning, I had not eaten, and I was glad to get breakfast. Our waitress was unusually peppy (and normally I hate the happy folk) and we spoke briefly. She asked what I did for a living, and I responded "tinker." Most folks don't know what that is, but this young girl exploded.

The young lass was a blade-head.

Now, most guys like knives, and they can usually hold their water when discussing the topic. Lots of women just change the subject--but not female blade-heads.

They gush, they tell you about their collection, they ask if you have a pocket knife, they want to see it, they tell you about their brother's knife...

This girl (by her own admission) described herself as "a screamer." She didn't just love knives, she wanted to be around them. She worked at a cutlery shop, she liked seeing the knives in the restaurant's kitchen, and she proudly showed me a scar she had, twelve stitches, from a sharp katana.

I handed her my Emerson, and she checked the edge. At this point I wasn't too surprised when she said, "Waterstones?"

Oh, and it didn't stop there. Her aunt had traveled to Japan and brought her back "a real katana." For you normal guys, that would be a 10,000 to 30,000 dollar investment for a 'good one.' The better ones, of course, cost more.

She wanted a business card, and she asked me to "sell her something." Now, normally a wife doesn't want much to do with a twenty year old screamer who wants the husband's phone number. However, my wife has met this breed of cat before, and it was my wife who handed her my card. As long as a shiny sharp knife was in the room, no mortal man would be of any interest for this type.

Frankly, these girl's are a tad intimidating. It's not just their extensive knowledge of cutlery, that I enjoy. But they're loud, they gesticulate, they ramble and they are quite insane--and trust me, I know insane.

This girl if true to the type, had two knives with her, and perhaps four in her car. I knew one lady who carried an even dozen blades simply to leave the house.

 

[Dave Hutchins]

invest in Kevlar

 

[Michael in FtW]

LOL - yeah - chicks with blades can be freaky!

Golden, CO - Sep, 1995 - I met "Ms. Spyderco" (Glesser).

I was living in a house that had been built in about 1890 and converted into a duplex. And, I was in the process of packing up to move to come back home to TX to take care of my Dad who had terminal cancer. I got a phone call from a woman who wanted to know if she could come by and look at my place - I said sure, and there was instantly a knock on my front door ... she was on her cell phone. No big deal.

She was an attractive lady, I would guess about 5'4"- 5'6" and 40-ish .... and while I apologized for the mess I invited her in to look around. She explained that she was trying to find a place for one of her new employees - I showed her what I had done to fix the place up - and what still needed to be done (the landlord had promised to reimburse for materials but reniged on the deal once he realized I intended to do it right).

Anyway - while I was showing her the kitchen she asked me if I liked knives. I said yes and as I turned around she flicked a blade in my face! She then told me that she was the owner of Spyderco ... I didn't care - I was just a little freaked out about having a 5" blade knife flicked in my face - pointed right at my throat.

After the way she scared the crap out of me she should have given me a free knife - she just gave me a business card.

If she pulled the same stunt on my landlord - I bet she got the guy a better deal than I got!

 

[Chico Buller]

Michael, in your post you mentioned elements of business. For example, she mentioned her job, you showed her a work in progress, there was talk of the landlord/owner, even mention of her employees.

Typically, the world of business is a "man's world," a condition of wealth and power refined by competition. After thirty years I found that many women view the situation as "competing to win," where I simply viewed a job as a completing an assignment.

Not to get too Freudian on the issue, I'm beginning to wonder if we are all looking at a knife as a simple cutting tool or as the trappings of power. The woman in your story must have known that brandishing a blade must have caught you off-guard, perhaps defining for her some form of victory by your obvious expression.

Securing the concept of strength or power in a physical confrontation often pays in the interpersonal construct of the demographic dynamic at hand.

For example, in the other side of my life, a drunken townie might attempt to swagger and threaten a lone biker in a tavern, thereby diminishing the supposed power of the club in total. In a very real sense, smacking this type of individual with a barstool is actually a rebuttal and re-entrenching of power.

If you laugh at this, consider how the USA and Soviet Union kept "peace" during the cold war years with their MAD concept. (Mutually Assured Destruction.)

For some reason--I'm guessing taking the upper hand in some perceived business deal--your woman friend decided to map out the playing field. To succeed here, she demonstrated a thinly veiled threat of assault.

One of the most important movies on business ever produced was called "Babarians at the Gate." It starred James Garner. The premise of the movie proffers that all negotiations derive from the same rules of a childhood fist fight and/or barbarians on a raid.

I believe in this idea. I used it to secure many business reorganizations.

Strange as it may sound, had I met with the woman instead of you, I would have sweetly responded, "Why don't I put your nice knife someplace where it won't be damaged by sunlight."

Whether you understand, appreciate, respect or belittle the ideals of this type of politics, you must understand that the game is on, it's being played if you like it or not, and the clock is running.