Dealing with an Annoying Hiking Partner

[cellis]

Turn the other cheek and/or punch him in the nose.

Seriously though I just don't deal with guys like that, I think I would probably just block out anything he said and if I needed anything done for real do it myself. He could do it in tandem and we'd have some kind of challenge or something if he insisted. Then he would be humiliated and might actually learn something. Dunno I'm just real quiet with people like that and let them walk all over me on purpose because they show themselves and others who they truly are that way and I win every single time. I suppose to make any of that make sense, I would let him do as he does because the truth will come out and some day he is gonna get cold or lost or tired.

He would be allowed to touch any of my tools but not my TRACKER. He WOULD pay for anything he broke and if he didn't everybody that knew him would hear the story told in a polite but subtly humiliating way. I sound like the worst manipulator in the world but I don't mean it that way.

It's like mental kung-fu or something. I am not making any sense at all to anybody and will shut up now.

“Water is fluid, soft, and yielding. But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield. As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. This is another paradox: what is soft is strong.” ― Lao Tzu

[Ron]

Don't whine & complain; stand up for yourself!
Tell him how you feel in a reasonable matter and if he really is a friend, he'll take it. If not.... you're better of.
people like him will becoma a bigger nuisance every single time untill you can't stand it any longer and flip a lid. Time's to precious to waste it on people like him.

[Lamewolf]

I told a work associate once about a good place that was easy to get to that he could take his kids fishing. He went there and burned a bunch of tires on the bank for light for night fishing and now the place looks like a dump. I had it out with him over it, reported the illegal burning, he was made to clean up the mess he made, and now I don't associate with the idiot anymore ! Some folks are just worthless and inconsiderate A$$holes !

[ron d]

My buddy and I have been going to Rendezvous for more years than I care to mention. We brought a new guy in and it did not go well.

I was making beef stew in a dutch oven. Meanwhile this new guy is getting "stupid drunk" After the beef is browned I usually pour an ounce of Bourbon to deglaze the pot to remove the bits and pieces of meat to add to the stew. I added the potatoes and vegetables and shortly thereafter when I am not looking he pours about 8 ounces or so of whiskey into the dutch oven saying " If a little whiskey is good a lot should be better"

The stew was inedible and there was no supper that night. There was no point talking to him that night as he was hammered. The next morning we told him flat-out that he was no longer welcome to
camp with us and was not welcome at our camp..period. Life is to short to spend time with a fool.

On a positive note having good friends with you is a joy When we first get to camp we do not speak
until the camp, there is no need to. If he is digging the fire pit them I am gathering wood and so on.
We laugh so much sometimes that it hurts. That's the way it should be.

[Lamewolf]

On a positive note having good friends with you is a joy When we first get to camp we do not speak
until the camp, there is no need to. If he is digging the fire pit them I am gathering wood and so on.
We laugh so much sometimes that it hurts. That's the way it should be.

Sounds like a good team to me and reminds me of my camping/fishing/hunting buddy. When we do something together, its almost like we are reading each others minds. We just seem to work great together and like you, if he is doing one chore, I'm automatically doing something that helps complete that chore like your buddy digging the fire pit and you gathering wood - I guess great minds think alike !

[Corso]

lend him a broken compass and tell him to scout on ahead you'll catch up.....

[iscariot]

i once loaned out a brand new fallkniven s1,it was returned blunt as a fish.
its the last time i loaned out gear to anyone ever.

buy your own shit dont use mine.

if he annoys you dont waste your time people usually dont change unless they are forced by deep trauma of some kind.
so unless your gonna cause this blockhead massive trauma dont bother,life is to short.

[Long John Tinfoil]

Horses for courses. I have poker buddies that I would rather die than take a two-hour car-ride with, tripping partners that I would never go to the pub with, co-workers that I can't find a single non-work topic of conversation with... None of that diminishes their value as individuals or in those different facets of my life.

If the four of you have been friends for a long time, the dynamic of the group and the individual roles you all play ought to be pretty well established. Has something changed? In his life? In yours? In the whole foursome? Sometimes it's just a function of how we all age and of changing tastes. I don't have any idea how old you are, but it's a sad fact that the "friends of our youth", while we value them always, may not be those we want to spend time with in middle age, even if we have kept in close contact.

Regardless of where the tension is coming from, there are only three choices - put up with it, get out of the whole situation, or get it out in the open and deal with it.

My two cents... worth every nickel you paid.

LJT

[wetshirt]

Coyotes and crows have to eat too!!! Ok back to reality, people like that are like useless gear you don't bring it with you.

[Xtrekker]

I have dropped a few "friends" over the years for behavior such as this. If they will not treat you and your possessions with respect, then frankly, they are not your friends, they are just using you.

Hit the nail right on the head. I have dropped a few friends because of stuff like this. The last friend I dropped would mistreat my home and possessions on a regular basis. He thought "I" was being a prick when I chewed em out for it. I told him that if he couldn't understand why I was mad at him for messing up my stuff then I wanted nothing to do with him. He said "fine" and that was that last conversation I had with him. How people treat your possessions shows how much respect they have for you. If they accidentally break something because it was just a straight-up accident and offer to replace it or pay for it, then that is one thing; but breaking your stuff because of plain abuse, is another thing all-together. If they dont respect your stuff they dont respect you.

Also, I have already made it known to all of my friends, even my closest friends, that I do not loan tools, Period. They know not to even ask anymore. lol. I have been a contractor the better part of my life and my tools are my lively-hood. They understand me not wanting to loan them out.