It doesn't bother me to get teased about detecting. I just smile and plan my next trip. Everybody has something they do that makes others take notice. It is natural for all of us to poke fun when this happen.
Again, take a look at we TH'ers, decked out in our hunt regalia - baffling electronic intruments, various pouches, vests, GPS locators, cell phones, camoflage outfits, pinpointers, digging tools, detector slings and harnesses, critter repellents, headphones, sifters, goofy hats and all the sundry other doodads we bedeck ourselves with - man, we're talking a hoot! If any of us were concerned with what others thought of us, we'd find something else to occupy our time.
Most people, these days, are overly sensitive to everything that others have to think, do or say. If they even give us a glance or any minor notice, we spin around, glaring, and shout something like, "What are they looking at?!" You see it played out at traffic intersections all day long.
Such social habits have led us to demand a snappy comeback at every comment from others, so as to gain the upper hand. I try to avoid all that, and the only persons I feel the need to respond to anymore are the wiseacre kids or nosy/cranky adults at the beach - everyone else, I just smile.
I don't show them my finds, bore them with long historical dissertations or attempt to convince them that I am saving their heritage. That's a lot of claptrap, mostly for our own "feelgood" - the rest of the world rarely listens for longer than 10 seconds.
I do admit to taunting the pain-in-neck the folks at the beach, though. I tell them I have been retained by the city to monitor sewer effluent outfall and detecting is something I do to pass the time while running my checks. After a pregnant silence, this sinks in as they stare at me blank eyed - and I set the hook.
"By the way," I'll tell them, "just between us, of course, the outfall is particularly thick right here were you happen to be."
AA
(well, I can be at times!)
