Comment by delichon
3 months ago
When I was six or seven my older brother untied my shoelaces when I wasn't looking, and I tripped on them and almost fell down. This was apparently a traumatic event for me since it has affected my behavior ever since. I've double-knotted my shoelaces every time since then, usually remembering why. For about the last 57 years. When I was about 12 the same brother tried it again and failed due to the double knot. It was a moment of triumph.
But the double knot still sometimes comes untied somehow so I've never been entirely happy with it. Maybe if I take the effort to overcome my muscle memory and learn Ian's knot, it will quell the PTSD from being victimized at a young age and I can find inner peace.
I'm excited for you - this knot works incredibly well at staying tied, but what's even better is that compared to the standard "double knot" this is much, much easier for you to purposely untie - simply pull the string like the "traditional" knot.
Now, maybe that would have been a flaw with that pesky prankster brother of yours around, but I bet it'll be a positive now. Try it!
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I worked with a guy once that liked to do stuff like untie peoples' shoes -- while they were standing on a ladder, working with their head inside of a ceiling.
One time, he even managed to re-tie the laces of my boot to a rung on that ladder. I almost fell down and ate shit due to this nonsense, and he found the whole thing to be particularly hilarious.
I don't think I was a victim here, nor do believe that I have PTSD, but I can definitely say that I learned that this dude was a fucking asshole.
Am I better for having learned that? Does my past tolerance for his dumb shit make me a better person today? Am I better off where I am today than I might be if I had responded by beating him with a Crescent wrench until he was unrecognizable?
Anyway, he didn't last at that job. The last I heard about him was several years later; he was in some kind of recovery house a couple of hours away after he pissed someone off to such an extent that they became motivated to try to saw his foot off with a broken coffee pot.
I thought that was pretty funny.
(To answer my own rhetorical questions: I'd probably be a better person today if I hadn't been forced to learn to be so detached in the first place.)
> I worked with a guy once that liked to do stuff like untie peoples' shoes -- while they were standing on a ladder, working with their head inside of a ceiling.
> One time, he even managed to re-tie the laces of my boot to a rung on that ladder. I almost fell down and ate shit due to this nonsense, and he found the whole thing to be particularly hilarious.
I manage electricians who work on ladders (and lifts). If one of my electricians had his head above a ceiling grid and somebody tied his shoelaces to a ladder rung, I would expect them to untie their lace and proceed to beat the person that tied their laces to the ladder with whatever tool was closest to them until their arm got tired, and I would expect anyone else that witnessed it to join in on the beating. Not saying I would encourage it, but you do not put people’s life in danger on a ladder, ever. He was basically pointing a loaded gun at you.
I would be on their side, too. I would fire the lace prankster and give his victim a paid day off. It sounds like that dude got what was coming to him, so that’s good at least.
This really bothers you, huh?