An observation - re: Grim Reaper Sign

[Me]

An observation.....a conversation that transpired at work yesterday.

We have this guy a work...a real jerk. Moron to be blunt. He's a top seller tho, but nobody can stand him. He's a loose cannon, lies like a rug, basically obnoxious, makes lots of money....you get the drift.

Well, he stops by my cube yesterday to get something and notices my grim reaper sign tacked up at the entrance to my cube....it is "my cave" after all!

Anyway, he reads the sign and looks at me and tells me how stupid the sign is and where did I get it. I go on to explain that I am a cave diver and this sign or one like it sits at the underwater entrance to cave systems. All my co-workers know I am a cave diver....it's obvious, I keep going on vacations to FL and MX, plus I've got the several u/w cave shots I've taken posted in my cube...duh.

Long story shortened...this b00b says that the grim reaper sign would "encourage" him to go in a cave....

1. The reaper is beckoning him in by his hand gestures....
2. The verbiage warns him not to enter so there must be something really cool on the other side we are hiding....
3. Needing training is just a way we are keeping him out and making money....

Okay....my observation. Is there a certain personality type that seems to be a common thread with the OW divers who have been victims?

Your thoughts? Lori

Edit! too funny! I typed a slang term for breast that means someone less than bright, and the forum software changed it to breast!!

[Serota]

I enjoyed reading your post, because I have been thinking about the same thing - what is it that is causing OW divers to go kill themselves in caves and wrecks? I've concluded that there is no one common thread, but a few; eg, the "macho thing" like the guy you describe; the "I'm immortal" factor; and the "I'm really not very bright factor".

I used to teach OW and observed all 3 of these traits far too often, which was actually one reason I decided to quit teaching. I also believe that the hazards of diving are "soft-peddled" to an extreme extent by the primary certifying agencies to the extent that instructors are pretty much told to make diving sound a lot safer than it is. I think that OW instructors should emphasis the hazards of going into environments beyond their training and if the students decide to not "put another dollar in", so be it.

[skip]

guilty as charged. except I thought the grim reaper was flipping the bird.


not sure if I'd call it a personality type, but there is a personality characteristic or dimension on "contrariness." Someone says don't and they do. just saying don't is sufficient reason to do.

I have no idea if this is a commonality among ow divers who have died in caves; I rather doubt it. More likely, ow divers who die in caves are the same personality as cave divers; the poor ow diver just didn't make it to the training. This personality tends to be self-confident (almost to a fault), establishes own personal rules with less concern for rules of others, your basic thrill-seeker or "sensation-seeking" type, often engaging in other risky activities (sky diving, pilot, motorcycles, x-treme sports, etc.), and low trait anxiety, slow to anger, and a bit asocial.

I've been conducting personality assessements of scuba divers for the past five years or so - over 400 divers and nondivers in the database so far. I've thought of beginning to look at technical divers as a separate group, but so far have insufficient data for that....but if you see a short bald bespectacled old man wandering around ginnie, peacock, telford, little river, with an armful of papers, muttering to himself as he approaches you rather too directly.....run!

-skip
(professor of psychology - small southern college)

[Wizard]

Why do I cave dive? It's all the cool gear you can buy and use.
Impress your friends and look manly, kind of like smoking when your 13.

Just kidding!

Me, maybe el-jerko needs to go in a cave and turn off the lights to see how dark it gets.

Skip, at which college do you work?

[Tegg]

Ask the guy to listen to the call of the grim reaper.

Problem solved.

Lori, with all the new slang I hear at school every day, I actually thought you were calling him a breast. Maybe you should have typed, "b00b."

Ask him if he is so stupid that, even when he is being challenged by Death himself, does he feel the need to accept the challenge?

Actually, I would tell him to go ahead - we have more than enough of his kind already.

[ARY]

...
Long story shortened...this breast says that the grim reaper sign would "encourage" him to go in a cave....

1. The reaper is beckoning him in by his hand gestures....
2. The verbiage warns him not to enter so there must be something really cool on the other side we are hiding....
3. Needing training is just a way we are keeping him out and making money....
...

Sometimes i have hard time to find a difference between cynicism and truth but i think that your bad guy is right. He even analyzed it for you, no wonder he manages to be a successful sales.

For this type of personality GR sign as it is now is an encouragement. For this kinda people who like to challenge the Reaper i would suggest replace the poster with an image of eyes of his survived wife, or child , or mom, or maybe even his little pet ferret. That will make even #3 look somewhat reasonable. The Training market will win in one way or another

[DogDiver]

Just a reflection, I think there are those that have a self-destructive behavior and/or personality. I am an ER Nurse, and over the past 20+ years seem to see the same trend in trauma injurys. My famous quote is this: Whats the last thing a red-neck says before he goes to the emergency room?....."Hey, watch this!!!!" or, "What's this button do?" Ken.

[brianstclair]

Ask the guy to listen to the call of the grim reaper.

Problem solved.

That's funny - that was my first thought, too. "You should check it out! You can find this sign at this cave, and at this cave, and at..."

Brian

[Line Squirrel]

Some people will tell you the sky is green just to be argumentative.

I had a conversation with a coworker just the other day when he heard I was into cave diving. Mind you, this guys dosen't even snorkle. He said "yea, we had a guy that was going to teach us how to do that one weekend last summer". I didn't know where to even begin, so I just smiled and nodded...