There’s a peculiar bias that some people have against those who try to get something for next to nothing. I got to thinking about this while watching Joan Rivers go on a rant about poker players (I guess her Vegas gigs carry some baggage). But similar sentiments are expressed about horse racing, sports betting, and our hobby.
Sometimes it’s communicated with words; more often, it’s a withering glare that lets us know we’re not going to make their Sexist Men Alive list. Occasionally we get challenged (“You’re tearing up the ground! I'm calling the police!”), but I’ve always suspected that any outrage over soil disruption was a pretext for their resentment at our possibly finding something for free that the other person wouldn't.
This irks me, particularly as I schedule my haunts so as to minimize interfering with school activities, sporting events, and other gatherings.
In all fairness, a vast majority of people are nice, or at least tolerant of my endeavors. But the exceptions really drag me down and leave me feeling like: Gimme a break, already.
What do you think? Are our critics *really* that concerned about the landscape? Or is there something else at work?
Sometimes it’s communicated with words; more often, it’s a withering glare that lets us know we’re not going to make their Sexist Men Alive list. Occasionally we get challenged (“You’re tearing up the ground! I'm calling the police!”), but I’ve always suspected that any outrage over soil disruption was a pretext for their resentment at our possibly finding something for free that the other person wouldn't.
This irks me, particularly as I schedule my haunts so as to minimize interfering with school activities, sporting events, and other gatherings.
In all fairness, a vast majority of people are nice, or at least tolerant of my endeavors. But the exceptions really drag me down and leave me feeling like: Gimme a break, already.
What do you think? Are our critics *really* that concerned about the landscape? Or is there something else at work?