Yesterday we had a rare snow day for the local school district. With windchills in the -30’s and gusts up to 30mph I understand completely. What that meant for our office was a small herd of kids (there is a policy against this, but it’s ignored when the reasons are good). In my cube I have a small 3’ diorama set up of a water tank, caboose stores and an engine and a couple of cars and a caboose. I was asked by three different coworkers from different offices if thier kids could play with my diorama. I politely said no and two of the tree understood that while it was a toy, it wasn’t meant for rug play or abusive play.
The third is the real issue. He showed up soon after I sat down (but had been in the building with his kids since around 7:30) and his first words to me were, “Oh. Your here. My son would like to play with your train. I was going to let him.” I said no, and that the train was to brighten my cube and for display purposes only. He then proceeds to tell met that it’s only a toy train, it couldn’t have cost much (Right now its a Athearn BB F7AB with windshields, visors, wipers, diaphrams, grab ons and close couplers, a 34’ O/S hopper, a brand new Mich Alkali tanker car, a brand new slant sided iron ore car, and a old Roundhouse, but just completed, DM&IR caboose with window glazing and painted grabs.) and his son wasn’t likely to break it. I informed him that to replace all of that would cost about $200 IF I could still find the kits. He stormed out.
He comes back after lunch with the insert from the paper advertising a train set for less than $60 from Hobby Lobby, and accused me of inflating the price so his son wouldn’t have something to play with. I looked at the price and said that’s great there is a Hobby Lobby just down the street go get it for him and I will gladly let him set it up on the two dra
Guy sounds like a jerk and has no respect for other people’s belongings! You have every right to refuse anyone from “playing” with your diorama; however, you might want to think about having it locked up in your cube cabinet or desk drawer if you have one that it will fit in. He might not be so kind as to ask next time he feels endowed to “play” with your trains.
Tell him to count his lucky stars he works with you instead of me. The issue to me isn’t money. Suppose it was a $5 item with irreplaceable sentimental value your grandfather left you? If it’s mine, and I say no, that’s it. If he doesn’t like it, he can kiss my a$$. End of story. You cannot reason with idiots. Quit wasting your time.
[#ditto] That was pretty rude. What if it happened to be a very expensive “Toy” model of a 57’ Chevy with working parts, or a ship in a bottle. What difference did it make that it was a train, it’s still yours and you can do with it what you want. And tell them to leave their kids at home next time. BAH!!! [censored]
Hmm… On the one hand I empathize with you. This guy clearly has no respect for the property of others, and he’s not exactly setting the example for his boy.
On the other hand, you do assume a certain risk bringing your trains to work. It’s not right that you should, but you do nonetheless.
Non-model railroaders are unlikely ever to understand why one train costs more than another (any more than I can understand why some ladies’ purses cost $25, and some cost $2500[%-)]), and they’re certainly not likely in this day and age to understand the work you put into your diorama. My advice is to consider leaving it home. I know it sounds like giving in or losing, but in the end it will avoid this kind of acrimony. After all, you still have to work with this guy, right? Having the diorama there will just remind you both of this incident day-in and day-out.
I “mark my territory” with a Pennsylvania Railroad calendar hanging prominently over my desk. It’s no fuss, but conveys to the world that I like trains while not offering a tempting target for unwanted fingers.
P.S. Ask my wife about the $25 caboose! “How can that tiny thing cost $25 dollars?” she asked, while wearing her diamond engagement ring…
We do Defense work, so we don’t allow kids in our working areas. Back before they locked us all up, though, they actually had a policy which allowed kids in the office. However, if you had a kid in the office, you couldn’t be on the clock. So, it was assumed that when you bring your kids in, you’re spending full-time watching them, and zero time doing your job.
I guess your employer is pretty generous, allowing the staff to turn the office into Daddy Day-Care when it suits them. It sounds like it’s not a particularly productive policy, though.
Because of the way the building is designed we don’t do to bad and like I said it is pretty rare (in 10 years this is only the 3rd time it’s happened). The old building had more hidden offices and cubes so it really didn’t matter what people did. The other thing is that we are used to “distractions” as we get used a lot for tours and walk throughs. So the extra people or noise isn’t really the big concern. Thats just it, this is the first time in 10 years something like this has happened. It was just kinda out of the blue.
Thankfully we only work with USGS, EPA, and rarely the DEA so the likelyhood of anything important going out is practically nil. On the other hand since we do have full stocked bio and chem lab…
I don’t blame you! Sounds as if you had put in quite a few hours to create that diorama to display in your cube, and along with the price of the equipment on it, I would have refused to let that kid “play with it” either! Maybe the kids dad could use a few lessons to create something like that too and learn to more appreciate the work you put into yours.
You did fine. The father was a bigger baby than the child, it sounds like. This is regretably far from rare. The poor kid is going to have a lot bigger problems than not getting to run that train, if that’s the attitude he is brought up with. Your kid =/= always right, with you, or with other people.
Next time, just say it’s an older import, painted with lead paint. And weighted with a uranium slug, if you want to use the inverse-square law to keep them from coming close. [:)]
But to better your relations, I would suggest you write him a letter calmly explaining your position and next time bring in a $10 LL 0-4-0T switcher, some Power-Loc track, and a horn hook car + caboose as a peace offering.
I know you shouldn’t have to deal with this inconsiderate guy. BUT like I said, who knows what would happen to your train set when you aren’t around if somebody is miffed at you.
Odd thing is, when I bring my trian to work, I have no quams about people playing with my engines (even when I’m not around). It just lets me know there are other big kids out there like me. But at the same time, I know I’m working with responsible adults, and I don’t bring in my most expensive train stuff. So I more can empathsize with you about refusing.
As a parent, he should have known his kid would need entertainment. He should have bought a portable DVD player, or a gameboy or something.
Thank you all. Lunch was intresting. I was quite surprised at how my other coworkers took the situation. I don’t think I will have to worry about the train. I was quite surprised when several people that I didn’t think would know anything about MRing jumped down his throat. It turns out that one of my other coworkers has a garden layout. She shut him down. I did give him one of my old Walthers catalogues and told him to round the prices up about 30%. I also gave him directions to the Hobby Stop, so we’ll see.
I don’t expect any appologies, but I figure the problem will go away.