[pct-l] Responsible Hiker or Knucklehead

[enyapjr at comcast.net]

BillB said:

>One of the best companies I ever worked for had written into their policy
>"we commend in public and criticize in private".

In the business/corporation world that is normally standard policy - but the PCT is far from that world...
A fellow thru is a peer, not a subordinate nor a superior...
I'm also fairly certain that in the business world, if someone offended a 'customer',
something would be said immediately to that customer - if one waits, you'll probaby lose that customer...
If the offensive person takes that as an attack on him, perhaps he will soon be looking for another job...

The biggest reason to say something at that moment, immediately, is to let the non-PCT 
person/people involved know that you and other thrus do not condone those offensive actions -
i.e., trying to correct the wrong before it festers and gets blown out of proportion...
If the offensive thru takes exception with that - so be it...  I probably wouldn't be hiking with that 
person after the 'incident' unless he immediately sincerely apologized to all involved, and I might still
separate myself from him further along the trail because I will feel somewhat betrayed by his
inappropriate actions...

As an 'outsider', I've seen good and bad (but, fortunately, to date, not horrible) behavior...
I even offered some friendly advice last year on what NOT to do to get a hitch (stand in the road in
front of the car and not let them pass - btw, my turn signal had been on to pull off the road, yet I
couldn't because I was being blocked) and the thru thought I was out of line because they had
1600 PCT miles and many hitches under their 'experienced' belts...  I informed them it was just a
friendly warning - you never know, especially when you are in the State of Jefferson!  If it weren't for
the other 2 thrus and what they said, they would have been waiting for another ride - about 2 miles
down the mountain!

>"The basic idea here is first to determine your goal."

I guess my 'goal', in being a thru-hiker and a representative of the entire thru community, would be to
let the 'outsiders' know that most thrus would not condone such actions - yet if it is done without the
offending one present well after the 'incident', it may sound hollow or empty - nothing of 'substance'
- as if you are protecting and supporting the offensive bad behavior...

As for thru-hiking, compared to the corporate world, I would definitely have to disagree with the
statement "...would be better off to allow the (bad) behavior to continue for a few minutes..."
It may be extremely helpful to be able to 'read' people very accurately, especially those 'outsiders' - 
in some scenarios, you may only have a few seconds to defuse a very bad situation...

Whatever - the usual HYOH stuff................

Happy trails!!!
Jim