Becoming A Biker

When I started my blog, one of the things I hoped to do was shed a little light on what bikers are really like. I thought this would come through in a series of several posts in a somewhat subtle way.  What was I thinking?  I'm a biker right? I just say and do whatever the hell I want and don't give a damn about anyone else.  That may be the opinion of someone else, because that's not quite right. I was surfing the internet, as I've done hundreds of thousands of times before and I keep finding little quips that people say about what bikers are like. This one I read really made me think I'VE HAD IT! So prepare for a little rant as I step up on my soap box.

*quoting from my note cards* If you are a regular person and walk into a bar and there's a bunch of one-percenters there, they don't make nice so you might want to turn around and leave before they beat you up.  I've hung around what some would call the biggest, baddest, trashiest bikers they've ever seen and I have YET to see one, ironed, starched, tightey whitey, wedgie wearing, preppy, goody two-shoes EVER get beat up. *putting down my note cards* See, bikers can make assumptions about other people too, if they want to. If you think I was talking about you, it doesn't feel good does it? I'm not saying that it's never happened, but there is always two sides to a story.  From what I've learned if you show them respect, there's no way you would be in any danger. In case you can't tell, this REALLY annoys me.

My first introduction to the biker world was when I was managing a convenience store.  This old biker would come in every day and get a Diet Pepsi and sometimes a honey bun and just sit and chat. One day he told me about how his friend used to work for the same company years ago.  Well, long story short, when his friend got fired they gave his friend a hard time so he went up there. His side of the story was that he was just going to ask them what the problem was.  Since I worked for the same company, it just so happened that I got to ask several of the people that were there that day what happened.

Their story is that he came in there to beat the manager up.  When I asked them if they were sure, what did he say, what did he do, their replies were basically all the same. He just walked in the store.  There was one employee who told a different story.  He told me that everybody thought he was going to beat me up so when he walked in they called the police and they threw him out.  I asked him if he thought he was going to get beat up and he said, "you know how these people are, they overreact at anything."  He can say that again.  The day after someone told them I was going to quit, they were waiting for me that morning in the store so they could fire me.  There were three of them there making sure I wasn't going to rob them blind.  You see, by this time I had become "one of them". I had become a biker.

Now about those helmet laws... *stepping down from my soap box*  Well, that's a rant for another day.