At least you didn’t break his arm - that would have been jerky:
The problem as i see it is
Rather than keep his professional yap shut, he acted like an immature twerp and ran off saying Guess what idiot i saved from wrecking a tool today, please bask in my awesomeness.
And his bubble got burst and he got butt hurt.
He needs to grow up and these things wont happen
that and you were completely dealing with petty stuff he probably didn’t want to do so he was ok with it
That, too, of course. I’m surprised he didn’t say anything earlier, since the primary is always with the bride for prep. But since I called and already established rapport with the bride, it probably didn’t make any sense to confuse her by sending the primary photographer (whom she didn’t speak to yet.)
Agreed.
And I came here expecting a dried meat recipe.
My father was always handing out gratuitous advice (it may be part of being a father) and I hated it. As a result, unless a mistake is potentially really expensive or injurious I try really hard not to offer anything more than, “Might not want to do that.”
This is not always successful; I have from time to time caught myself mansplaining something and kicked myself afterward. Usually though, I’ll make some sort of intro like, “You seem to be having trouble with that,” and waiting for an invitation before launching into instructing someone.
Really the issue seems to have been the have been the guy feeling a need to show off and be a big shot. You just gave him some rope as he ran with it and luckily for him he did not completely hang himself but demonstrated that at least he knew how to use the equipment correctly and even to transmit training about it correctly. He dodged a bullet there even if he does not realize it.
You deflated his pompous posturing some which will likely actually serve him well in the long term even if in the short term he resents it. (And as monstro noted, only became an issue as a result of him deciding to talk smack about someone he did not know as he tried to self-aggrandize.)
Your apologizing to him was not necessary but was a very generous and kind act that allows him to save some face. If he is as described though I’d be surprised if he realizes that.
I don’t see why. If someone I don’t know comes up to my machine and is poking around, I am justifiably concerned about it.
And that’s reasonable. A security mindset is always valuable. But that concern isn’t allayed by going up and mansplaining (love that word), it’s settled by going up and asking “Hi, who are you, and what are you doing with my machine?”
Because subject stranger may be legitimately authorized to be doing something to “your machine”. And knowing the facts would allow you to make a wise decision whether an impromptu lecture is called for.
Yup, as described at least this was not a “Excuse me, can I help you with that?” or even any expression of concern and inquiry. Anything like that would have been met with a quick response from Grrr! explaining that he actually is not using the tool but is instead getting some readings and that while the concern and offer to help is appreciated, he in fact knows exactly what he is doing. No, no questions were asked, the op was just abruptly stopped and “taught” by someone who then went on to try to further elevate his sense of self-worth by bragging about how he stopped some fool from damaging a tool.
You probably shouldn’t. It’s offensive.
No, that misrepresents why he did what he did. He jumped in because he thought someone was breaking the complicated, probably expensive, tool. He didn’t do it for himself, he did it because the equipment is important.
Exactly this. The proper thing to do is identify yourself, your skills, and explain what’s going on. When you know someone has a misconception about something, the proper thing to do is to correct it in the least embarrassing way, not let them continue down that path. That’s setting them up and demonstrating that you’re not on their side. If you work together, you should be on their side.
You’re supposed to pick up a falling partner. You let a colleague down.
No! I love it. “Jerky”, in my opinion, would have been you doing a half-closed eyelids sneer type of expression on your face and chastising the know-it-all by telling him that you yourself probably trained his supervisor. Jerky in other words would have been having him lose face. I think you did something cool and not jerky. You actually did the POLITE thing. An impolite thing would have made him uncomfortable.
In the end, HE was the jerk, but not by YOUR hand, by his own hand. If he were cool, he would have laughed it off, or said Wow, that guy was so cool, he never let on he was an expert more than I, and there I was, “teaching” that guy…
I’m sorry but…you know this…how? :dubious:
To whom?