[at-l] Endorsements?

[Phil.Heffington@oc.edu (Phil Heffington)]

I agree with Susan about listing hiker related businesses without the impli=
cation of endorsement.  As many times as not I would take the side of the b=
usiness instead of the hiker if I were running the evaluation side of it.  =
There's not much a business can do with hiker vandals who carve up, trash, =
and just generally demolish their establishments.  I'd certainly hate to tr=
y to make a living by providing services to people who are trying their bes=
t to spend as little money as possible, and have as much fun as possible in=
 the process.  Unfortunately, some peoples' idea of fun is to be as childis=
h and irresponsible as they can get by with.

I'll grant that some people providing services on the trail have what we mi=
ght call "colorful personalities", but certainly not more so than the avera=
ge hiker I see on a day to day basis. In other words, cut the folks at Rain=
bow Springs some slack.  I had a good stay there and felt I got more than a=
dequate services for the price I paid.  How is it that one hiker feels appr=
eciative of a service and another feels the need to complain about the same=
 service?

It reminds me of a freshman student who was in my office the other day who =
said,  "I just don't think the professors here know how to grade my papers!=
" I just wonder who they expect will have to make an adjustment over the ne=
xt four (or more) years?