[pct-l] Responsible Hiker or Knucklehead

[Bill Batchelor]

You could be right.  My experience might be anomolous. 


-----Original Message-----
From: pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net [mailto:pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net]
On Behalf Of enyapjr at comcast.net
Sent: Sunday, April 08, 2007 1:00 PM
To: pct-l at mailman.backcountry.net
Subject: [pct-l] Responsible Hiker or Knucklehead

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
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