WHOA!!!
Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2012 10:27 am
Didn't know where to throw this, so I figured "OFF TOPIC" is a good place to start.
All this week I have been attending the international convention of the Society for Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica (SPAH), which was located in Irving TX this year.
Over the years I have attended a lot of conventions and trade shows and there are always a few individuals wandering around who would set your alert levels jangling and SPAH is no exception, except that there are likely to be little clots and cliques gathered all over the hotel jamming.
So last evening was our banquet celebrating the end of the convention and all the usual performances, prizes and such.
We were sitting there waiting to be served, which went well actually, and having signed up late I was assigned one of the back tables and a little disturbance started up at the entrance to the banquet hall.
As a member of the host club, one of my minimal functions had been to provide "security" for the banquet hall before it opened and as people were entering to keep folks from coming in for the meal and performances unless they had paid for full privilege passes. Several people had paid only to attend the seminars, which is not unusual, and a couple had mentioned that they expected to be able to enter the banquet hall even though they were not going to eat. And there was one individual in particular who had given a presentation and felt as though, as a presenter, he should get the meal and show "comped" and he got a little noisy about objecting to being told he would have to pay just like everyone else.
No postings on the hotel that I ever saw, by the way, and with my cargo pants stuffed with harmonicas and other hardware, being "made" would have been a miracle, so I will leave it up to your judgement as to whether one of my cargo pockets contained hardware that played a different tune.
So there we sit at the back table and this little fuss starts up behind us, and I turn to see a man in a mask (a banquet napkin) pulling the banquet hall doors closed and attempting to keep someone outside from entering.
"HOLY LOCKED IN A TARGET RICH ENVIRONMENT, BATMAN!!!"
My snap judgement was part right and part wrong, the guy at the door was holding it closed against someone trying to come in, the Past President and New President of the organization. I guess he didn't want the fun to end. Whatever, as I started to turn and rise, and survey the area to see who else had noticed, if anyone might be drawing a gun, if there were accomplices, and generally try to prepare for whichever eventuality might occur, I saw that the "BG" (for such I was terming him in my head) had released the door, whipped off his mask, and was shaking the hands of the two gentlemen entering, so my threat level decreased by an increment, but I continued to stand and crossed the room to the door.
When I arrived the Presidents had moved on and the "BG" was moving to a seat, and I intercepted him before he got there. Besides the obvious smell of alcohol, he was not acting otherwise strange and he was not one of the folks we had had issues with all week. I pointed out to him that his otherwise harmless prank was somewhat ill considered in light of mass killing in history, and "Son, this is Texas, lots of people here carry guns and are ready to defend themselves."
I don't know if the lesson will stick, but he was pretty subdued when I left him at his table.
Otherwise it was a good convention.
All this week I have been attending the international convention of the Society for Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica (SPAH), which was located in Irving TX this year.
Over the years I have attended a lot of conventions and trade shows and there are always a few individuals wandering around who would set your alert levels jangling and SPAH is no exception, except that there are likely to be little clots and cliques gathered all over the hotel jamming.
So last evening was our banquet celebrating the end of the convention and all the usual performances, prizes and such.
We were sitting there waiting to be served, which went well actually, and having signed up late I was assigned one of the back tables and a little disturbance started up at the entrance to the banquet hall.
As a member of the host club, one of my minimal functions had been to provide "security" for the banquet hall before it opened and as people were entering to keep folks from coming in for the meal and performances unless they had paid for full privilege passes. Several people had paid only to attend the seminars, which is not unusual, and a couple had mentioned that they expected to be able to enter the banquet hall even though they were not going to eat. And there was one individual in particular who had given a presentation and felt as though, as a presenter, he should get the meal and show "comped" and he got a little noisy about objecting to being told he would have to pay just like everyone else.
No postings on the hotel that I ever saw, by the way, and with my cargo pants stuffed with harmonicas and other hardware, being "made" would have been a miracle, so I will leave it up to your judgement as to whether one of my cargo pockets contained hardware that played a different tune.
So there we sit at the back table and this little fuss starts up behind us, and I turn to see a man in a mask (a banquet napkin) pulling the banquet hall doors closed and attempting to keep someone outside from entering.
"HOLY LOCKED IN A TARGET RICH ENVIRONMENT, BATMAN!!!"
My snap judgement was part right and part wrong, the guy at the door was holding it closed against someone trying to come in, the Past President and New President of the organization. I guess he didn't want the fun to end. Whatever, as I started to turn and rise, and survey the area to see who else had noticed, if anyone might be drawing a gun, if there were accomplices, and generally try to prepare for whichever eventuality might occur, I saw that the "BG" (for such I was terming him in my head) had released the door, whipped off his mask, and was shaking the hands of the two gentlemen entering, so my threat level decreased by an increment, but I continued to stand and crossed the room to the door.
When I arrived the Presidents had moved on and the "BG" was moving to a seat, and I intercepted him before he got there. Besides the obvious smell of alcohol, he was not acting otherwise strange and he was not one of the folks we had had issues with all week. I pointed out to him that his otherwise harmless prank was somewhat ill considered in light of mass killing in history, and "Son, this is Texas, lots of people here carry guns and are ready to defend themselves."
I don't know if the lesson will stick, but he was pretty subdued when I left him at his table.
Otherwise it was a good convention.
