I'm labeled at work as a rocket nerd..:-(

I often go on TRF, Estesrockets.com and other related sites while at work. A co-worker happened to pass by and saw me buying rockets from Estes during the sale and sorta giggled. Now I'm labeled at work..:-(
They say it's nerdy, childish, gay, etc. They tease me now with: "Who flies rockets these days anyway?" "Doesn't he have anything better to do?" "He's got too much time on his hands." "He never grew up." "Rockets are nerdy."

I blew my cover at work and got caught. Now they see the real nerd that I really am.

You work with a lot of small minded people is all I can say. Sounds like you work with a bunch of grade school kids. Different things interest different people; why do some people feel the need to criticize others for their hobbies? There is a lot of stuff I don't do, but I don't make fun of others for doing it. Ignore them.

Maybe, to get back your man-cred, you should set up a situation at work where a coworker will catch a glimpse of you viewing porn.

And at my day job hey look at me a bit different. Do a ejection charge test at break time. Paint a LOC Magnum during lunch time. Show pictures of your even bigger projects Don't care what they say behind my back. I know all the Polock jokes already.
Mr. Bob (Jablonski)
Countyline Hobbies
Grovertown, IN.
574-540-1123
[email protected]
www.countylinehobbies.com
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I work with a bunch of guys who can't even fix a toilet. Most of the time my lunch break is spent talking about TV, movies, or video games. When I tell them about my hobbies they get blank expressions on their faces. Most people these days don't know HOW to do anything. Take pride in your hobbies. They set you apart from the other 99%.

If they tease you, make fun of the fact that they CAN'T build rockets. Show them some pictures of your bigger projects or tell them how high you've flown.

I'm a recent BAR and have openly shared my new enthusiasm at work. Largely people are genuinely interested, though I've got a built in advantage being in IT - we're all nerds already anyway

Seriously though, who gives a rats (you know) what they think!

It all depends on the workplace. I was eating lunch the other day and telling some of the other lab rats about my Mach 1 flight, and our CFO overheard me. He was facinated by this, and wanted to see video...when I showed him the video he just kept shaking his head and saying "that is so cool" over and over. I am know as a total nerd (across many fields) at work, and where I work that is a high compliment.

In any event, be proud of your nerdiness, many of those who criticize are likely among the people who spend their free time on their **s watching tv or playing video games. You actually build something that can fly and go outside into the actual world and fly it...again, Be Proud!

I'm Chris, I'm 36, I'm a nerd, I fly rockets, and I don't care what anyone thinks of it.

I'm an English teacher and chess coach/chess author. No one called me nerd until they knew I'm into rockets. Now they want me to start a rocket club... And call me nerd. I'm okay with that. Everyone's got to have a thing. My thing is rocketry. Better that than gambling, drinking, strippers, etc. Sports do nothing for me. Why not? Build something that can fly thousands of feet in the air at hundreds of miles an hour? Yes sir. And at a fraction of the cost of building super fast cars...

Nerdy- Your mind is more intelligent than their's and you should take that as a compliment.

Childish- Whats more childish is them calling you a child and bullying you.

Gay- Now you know they like to see rockets that way. In the form of a pleasing toy. Whose gay now?

These are nothing, but weak insults man. Dont let it get to you. I've showed off my rockets at work and despite the joking around, they know this hobby is amazing.

There is nothing that crawls up my patootie worse than somebody criticizing my person or my personal life when it has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with them whatsoever!

And people now know that unsolicited comments or advice will be met with a sharp and/or sarcastic response:

Them: You need a haircut.
Me: If the way I wear my hair so horribly affects your life, then you deserve more pity than I thought.

Them: Ballroom dancing! Are you serious??!??
Me: Yes. And in one single evening, I will meet 30 women, all anxious for me to put my arms around them. When was the last time something like that happened to you?

Them: What kind of adult drinks milk?
Me: That is the crux of it, isn't it? In that I AM adult, I am free to drink what I damn well please.

(All 3 of these were actual exchanges)

Now, I am not advocating that this works for everybody. But it has sure worked for me. Be it good or bad, I have reputation of having a sharp tongue. Therefore, I don't get bullied.

When someone at work gives me a hard time about rocketry, I just show them the video of Steve Eves Saturn V.
They usually walk away with a new respect for "kids toys".

Several co-workers have even shown up at a club launch, just to check it out.

Those that criticize us for being in this hobby, only wish they had one. What do most other people do anyway? They walk around with their little techno crack devices and tap away at messages, or playing Candy Crush! YAY! Lotta hobby that is. My older brothers learned real quick why I still indulge in this hobby. They too, thought it was a kid's activity, until I told them about other people my age flying rockets 10,000' with all this electronic gear and such. And that, it's a craft. Not everybody gets it sure, but you do, and that's all that matters. I've even gotten snarky remarks from other rocketeers regarding my passion for LPR & MPR with no HPR ambition. Even THEY don't get it. Johnny said it best.

"You guys aren't rocketeers, you're modelers that like to fly rockets."

ThirstyBarbarian said:

Maybe, to get back your man-cred, you should set up a situation at work where a coworker will catch a glimpse of you viewing porn.

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:rofl::lol::lol::lol::lol::rofl:

By the time they're old enough to work full-time, I would've hoped that bullies would've grown up and realized that they were making fun of others to make themselves feel better due to their own lack of self-worth. In the end, I feel that others that try to label or make fun of you for something is just proving that they're a lesser person than you...so in doing so, they're proving you're the better/more mature person. So just be yourself and be happy and don't let whatever idiots have to say bother you since they're just proving themselves idiots.

Also it's kind of telling that one of the most popular sitcoms now is Big Bang Theory..."Nerdy" stuff is now cool. Jocks and bullies hate that.

OTOH - I earlier posted in my FB a pic of me with a HP rocket asking "What sport is both nerdy and cool? HP rocketry!!!". :wink:

I freely discuss my rockets at work. Never had an issue with comments. But I do tell about the "big boy" rockets and the altitudes they can achieve. Most are impressed

Then again, I are an engineer - can't spell, gramma poor, but we are all a bit nerdy
and yes - I purposely did misspelling and grammatical error to reemphasize that we are better at numbers than words

Well, the only employee that is remotely interested in any modeling type of hobbies, is into R/C planes. He was talking to me about how he built and flew a few model rockets in the early 80's, but eventually out grew them. He sad that he graduated to building scale model airplanes. He told me "You know, it takes a lot of skill to not only build one of these planes, but also to be able to take off, fly and land them." He said that it got redundant building the same ole rockets and pressing the same button over and over and wanted to be able to pilot a manoeuver the craft.
He asked me to come to the flying field on Saturday and watch him fly and that I would be amazed at what his planes could do. He told me that I shouldn't waste my time and money on these lil toy rockets.

JERRYR708 said:

Well, the only employee that is remotely interested in any modeling type of hobbies, is into R/C planes. He was talking to me about how he built and flew a few model rockets in the early 80's, but eventually out grew them. He sad that he graduated to building scale model airplanes. He told me "You know, it takes a lot of skill to not only build one of these planes, but also to be able to take off, fly and land them." He said that it got redundant building the same ole rockets and pressing the same button over and over and wanted to be able to pilot a manoeuver the craft.
He asked me to come to the flying field on Saturday and watch him fly and that I would be amazed at what his planes could do. He told me that I shouldn't waste my time and money on these lil toy rockets.

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I believe this is where you take MALBAR 70's advice and show him Steve Eves rocket and ask him if any of his planes can travel hundreds of miles per hour to several thousand feet. Just because his heart is set elsewhere that doesn't mean yours has to be also.

JERRYR708 said:

Well, the only employee that is remotely interested in any modeling type of hobbies, is into R/C planes. . . .He told me that I shouldn't waste my time and money on these lil toy rockets.

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This roughly translates into "my (insert anatomical reference here) is bigger than yours." Different kind of jerk...

I'm a statistician. In that field, if you don't have nerdy hobbies, people wonder if you're some kind of imposter.

Got a cubicle? Allowed to bring in personal stuff? You need to decorate with the largest rocket you can comfortably fit in there, and put a sign on it "Race you from zero to mach 1?" or "a quarter mile is just the 'minimum safe distance'"

-Hans

JERRYR708 said:

Well, the only employee that is remotely interested in any modeling type of hobbies, is into R/C planes. He was talking to me about how he built and flew a few model rockets in the early 80's, but eventually out grew them. He sad that he graduated to building scale model airplanes. He told me "You know, it takes a lot of skill to not only build one of these planes, but also to be able to take off, fly and land them." He said that it got redundant building the same ole rockets and pressing the same button over and over and wanted to be able to pilot a manoeuver the craft.
He asked me to come to the flying field on Saturday and watch him fly and that I would be amazed at what his planes could do. He told me that I shouldn't waste my time and money on these lil toy rockets.

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Tell him that you've tried the RC planes available at Wal-mart/Toys R Us/etc. and you felt it was just a toy for kids and that you don't need to go watch him fly around some toys since you are working on the next level of certification...oh, btw, what certification can he work on flying model airplanes? lol

BTW - I've a lot of RC planes, cars, boats, tanks etc. (have been in the hobby for 30+ years). I feel it was fairly stupid of him to say this considering a lot of people view the RC hobby as playing with toys as well. Also tell him that a guy with more RC stuff than some hobby stores (trust me on this) says that he feels model rocketry is cooler than RC.. :clap:

R/C model aircraft are regulated to 400 feet AGL and 200MPH. Yes this is a sweeping generalization but I fly R/C and work in a mostly R/C hobby shop and had the FAA guy come in and leave a poster. Actually, only turbine powered models are the ones regulated to that speed. When my son and I were racing Giant Scale R/C models prop driven planes in the Unlimited class were approaching the 250mph mark. R/C models whether fixed wing or rotor wing, can do amazing things with a good pilot on the sticks.

Our rockets can fly as high as the waiver will allow and as fast as the strength of the materials and adhesives we use will bear. The only hobby I know where you can go faster than the speed of sound. It takes understanding of many aspects of science to build a rocket that will perform all the various phases of a flight successfully from going supersonic straight up to gently landing to prevent any damage. There are other requirements of R/C aircraft that are just as demanding. Both hobbies require a great deal of the hobbyist. You can get as deep in the designing, building, flying of both of these hobbies as you want.

I can count on one hand the number of aircraft that show up at our flying field on any given day that were actually built by the owner. Most are ARF (almost ready to fly) offerings that are assembled by the owner in just a few hours. This is just the opposite in the rocketry world. Why does one have to be better than the other? Can't they just be different? I will not choose.

By the way, getting back to the OP, working in the hobby shop gives me permission to be a geek or nerd. People travel from miles around just to talk to me about airplanes and rockets and I get paid for it. How cool is that?

I don't (fudge) around with idiots where I have to give away 100 IQ points for it to be an evenly matched conversation.

JERRYR708 said:

Well, the only employee that is remotely interested in any modeling type of hobbies, is into R/C planes. He was talking to me about how he built and flew a few model rockets in the early 80's, but eventually out grew them. He sad that he graduated to building scale model airplanes. He told me "You know, it takes a lot of skill to not only build one of these planes, but also to be able to take off, fly and land them." He said that it got redundant building the same ole rockets and pressing the same button over and over and wanted to be able to pilot a manoeuver the craft.
He asked me to come to the flying field on Saturday and watch him fly and that I would be amazed at what his planes could do. He told me that I shouldn't waste my time and money on these lil toy rockets.

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I've got to ask, how old are these people?

HHaase said:

Got a cubicle? Allowed to bring in personal stuff? You need to decorate with the largest rocket you can comfortably fit in there, and put a sign on it "Race you from zero to mach 1?" or "a quarter mile is just the 'minimum safe distance'"

-Hans

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]I actually did bring in a rocket to work on during my breaks and when it gets slow. It was my biggest rocket the Estes Magician. I like to do all that time consuming sanding on fins and body tubes while sitting at work. It beats sitting at home on my personal time sanding for hours..LOL
Nobody really knew what I was doing because it was always parts and pieces that I was bringing in to work on. Maybe I will bring the finished Magician in all it's glory with the bright blue LED lights on in the clear payload bay and bring some pictures of the launch.

SinfulDarkLord said:

I've got to ask, how old are these people?

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Most of the employees are in their 30's with interests in Facebook, Xstation, Playbox, and I phones with all the new apps. The employees in their 40's and 50's are into Harleys, and hot rods. They say "sell that Toyota Tundra (rice) and buy American."

Hey.... I get made fun of even more than you could ever dream of when it comes to rocketry.

blackbrandt said:

Hey.... I get made fun of even more than you could ever dream of when it comes to rocketry.

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Yeah the nature of being in school and into rocketry, it sucks but we get through it.

ThirstyBarbarian said:

Maybe, to get back your man-cred, you should set up a situation at work where a coworker will catch a glimpse of you viewing porn.

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Yeah, I think you should go with this one. I don't see how that could go wrong.



Braden

ThirstyBarbarian said:

Maybe, to get back your man-cred, you should set up a situation at work where a coworker will catch a glimpse of you viewing porn.

Click to expand...

Or..How about I rent a Harley for the day and wear a Harley T-shirt that says "If I have to explain, you wouldn't understand?"

No matter what your interests are, there are people who are going to oppose you. As long as you are being morale/ethical and true to yourself, forget those other people.