Mr. Know It All

[glen ring]

I'm middle aged and almost white headed. I have been around and have been accused of being too blunt and of being too quick to tell someone to go take a hike. As I've became older ( and now have a grandson) I want to be more tolerant of my fellow man and to show my grandson I have patience and compassion. Now here's my problem, MR. Know It All. I have shot matches with Mr. Know It All and he always seems to walk into conversations I'm having with anyone at the range. Mr. Know it all has EVERY load ever concocted by mankind memorized. Mr. Know it all will walk into the middle of any conversation I'm having and correct my line of thinking and tell me the proper way to do ANYTHING. This isn't a description of a TYPE of person, this is one person that I've shot around for a few years. Recently he has been correcting me in a most condescending manner. My wife of decades is becoming agitated at Mr. Know It All . I may be old and very experienced, but I'm relatively new at being nice to guys like this. I want to deal with this guy in a civilized and intelligent manner before my darling bride sets off on him and after having "been there and done that" I don't wish that upon anyone.

I'm not too old to learn and would appreciate any experience you guys may have had and what you have done about a similar person.

[shakes]

I'm not very patient either so my first response would be to tell him to f off but that not very cicilized so my response would be to ask him to show his phd in whatever he is talking about and if he can't politely ask him to please keep his mouth shut until he does produce one in whatever subject you are discussing. If he doesn't get the hit tell him to shut the f up.

[glen ring]

Shakes

That was probably my initial thought and a few years ago I probably would have said just that. I want my grandson to be more patient than I was as a young man and setting a good example for him to follow is my first priority. I will need a response to shut this guy down/shut this guy up, but I want to do it with class and to not turn off any new shooters at the range. This is a guy that even the most gracious and soft spoken gentleman on the range grumbles about when we , not Mr. Know it All, set the targets back up.

My wife has asked me about a possible response to his inserting himself into our conversations by telling him "Why Thank you for that totally Unsolicited and Erroneous bit of Information ". And her response about not helping with the targets
" Do you want us to set up your targets also or just ours ? ". Like i said, I don't want an enemy out of the deal, I don't want to turn off new shooters, I just want this guy to have a few manners.

[AZRifle]

Being a little blunt myself, I can't offer any advice on what to say. That being said, the last thing I would ever do is set up his targets. I would not say anything but leave them laying on the ground. We have a late 80 year old stove-up old cowboy shooting with us. He sets up his own targets.

He might just be used to everyone elses hospitality and, takes advantage of it.

It might not take too many times holding up the match and, having everyone watching him set his targets by himself, before he is setting his own targets without delay.

Jerry

[Jerry G]

Silhouette shooters are way too nice of a bunch to put up with people like that. We don't need them. They should be invited to behave or leave.

[Boyd L.]

Sounds familiar. One tactic that works for me (or at least it keeps me from telling the offender to "take a sh!+ in his hat", is to treat them like any other disturbance. Kind of like a backfiring or otherwise loud, distracting vehicle that is drowning me out. I ignore them til they stop, then finish my thought. I won't look at them, agree or argue, or in anyway acknowledge their interruption or rudeness. To do so would give them the validation they seek. Everyone should be valued and treated well, but acknowledging rudeness has it's limits.

[glen ring]

Boyd

I tried that very tactic with this guy and that seemed to spur him on. I tried being very, very nice and saying things like, "OK, I must be mistaken" but that doesn't seem to help either.

I've got to say that I'm just thankful that so many girls and women are getting involved in the shooting sports. Some of us guys are "hard wired" to play the topper game ( myself included) but I have never shot with a lady that thought she knew it all.

I think that I'll follow my wife's recommendation to talk to the guy in private and tell him he's really hurting my feelings by always correcting me in a condescending way and that I think it will hurt our friendship if he doesn't start being nice to me.

If that doesn't work I'll advise him that we should become better strangers.

[Boyd L.]

Sounds like a Grade 1 jerk. Clueless as well as a know-it-all. The direct approach is quickest.

[atomicbrh]

The "Mr. Know it alls" is why the subject of Invitational Matchs is coming up quite frequently in conversations recently. Lots of Match Directors thinking about calling their events Invitationals. I think that can be specified in the Information page that Match Directors compose to go to the NRA Silhouette Division with the green form.

Bobby R. Huddleston

[duckgumbo]

We will take any and all comers! We can put up with all types of BS!

[BCloninger]

That's an interesting thought - Mr Know It All does Winnsboro. Special. If you like a good mauling...

[jneihouse]

Glen,

Please PM me through this board. I would like to talk with you concerning this matter.

Thanks,

John Neihouse
Smallbore Silhouette Director
Old Fort Gun Club,
Fort Smith, Arkansas

[duckgumbo]

BB/BC that would be interesting. We are always interested in improving our match. Whomever this is, we would definitely welcome his input. We have had a LOT of advice in the past that was total BS and we chose to listen to the majority of the competitors. If it was not for our great sponsors and great following of competitors, we would have folded long ago. Thanks to all the great competitors that attend each year and help us promote our match and sport.

[BCloninger]

Ducky, you have a finely honed BS detector, genuinely want all of your guests to enjoy themselves, and effectively, discreetly communicate what manners are expected. Amazingly, it works, and your tribal gathering just gets better.

[Scooter the Shooter]

Something that works for me is to look the person right in the eye and say "I like pudding". It make no sense at all and usually will shut a person right up.