BTW, I have never heard of anyone elderly person dropping any 2,000 item.
Marty:
Sorry, I can't let this one lie.
I indeed saw this firsthand, although it wasn't a single $2,000 item that was dropped, it was a shelf full of items adding up to $2,000 or more.
I was sitting in my booth at York in the Orange Hall watching a guy in a scooter alternately pulling nose-in to a booth/table, looking things over, then backing up without looking, etc. He wasn't watching anything other than what he was interested in.
At one point, he backed up and the top of his scooter chair (where there was something like a bicycle basket) hooked underneath a shelf full of trains in the next guy's booth from mine.
Many of us, including me, started shouting "STOP! STOP! STOP! PLEASE! SIR! YOU'RE HOOKED! YOU'RE GOING TO PULL IT OVER!". The guy looked around, trying to figure out why he had stopped, and why people were yelling at him and, then, in a clear "eff it" move, he zoomed forward taking the vendor's entire shelf full of trains with him.
Many of us moaned and groaned out loud and began helping the poor seller set up his shelf, picking up and placing the trains where he had had them.
It's worth noting that the boor who did all the damage 1) did not apologize, and 2) did not even wait around for the cleanup to be complete.
So, yes, it does happen. Adults do drop or push over trains.
**** pause ****
However, did this happen because he was elderly or because he was on a scooter? I think it didn't. I think it happened because he was completely oblivious to anyone other than himself and, having observed his behavior after he knocked everything over, I think it's likely his was a life-long condition of inconsideration of others and obliviousness in general.
There are old boors on scooters and young boors pushing strollers. The combination of being on the lookout for trains and piloting a less-than-navigable mechanical device in a cramped space adds up to a minor (and sometimes major) annoyance for the rest of us.
I personally tolerate both because, in the first case, I say to myself, it's good that the old guy still gets out there ... and I'm about the last guy who would take that away from anybody. On the flip side, I am ecstatic to tolerate strollers, because it means that a young father is following in my footsteps and hopefully introducing the hobby to the boys and girls riding in the stroller.
This post is going on too long, but I'll finish by saying I'm interested in hearing others' ideas/suggestions concerning how we might, as a group, politely request people pushing or riding on these conveyances be a little more alert to their surroundings and fellow collectors.
Hoping this is all food for thought,
Steven J. Serenska
