This summer in Maine, a bunch of us got a beer with Thomas Lie-Nielsen after examining a tool collection at a museum. When the check came for the drinks, Thomas picked it up and said, “My treat.”
I gave him a $20 bill, and he took it. Some of the other people around the table looked confused. Should they also pay? Was Chris just being a weiner?
“Chris and I have an odd relationship,” Thomas said, putting the $20 in his wallet.
That is a bit of an understatement.
This blog entry is written for all of the toolmakers out there who I adore and respect but are bemused by my sometimes-standoffish behavior. For a wide variety of reasons, I have always kept a certain amount of distance between myself and the people who make my tools. I don’t take free or discounted tools. If you try to buy me a beer, I will buy you a six pack. Send me an unsolicited tool and I’ll send you a check.
I do this for a simple reason: If you ask me to write something nice about your tools to help your sales, I can look you in the eye and say “no.” If I tell my students or readers that I like your tools, then they can be assured that I am not the tool of the toolmaker.
Plus, in order for me to sleep at night, I need to own every tool in my chest. No gifts. No discounts or favors. I pay the iron price for my iron.
Where does this crazy attitude come from? Journalism school.
During college, my wife and I were indoctrinated into the school of thought that you take nothing – nothing – from the people you write about. This cold approach makes you seem less friendly, but it will save your reputation in the end.
(My wife, Lucy, a reporter at a local television station, won’t even take a drink of water from the public fountains at city hall or the school district. She’s even more hardcore than I am – one of the things I love about her, by the way.)
So toolmakers: Don’t take it personal. I support your work. I love the risks you take. And I have a weird and somewhat embarrassing relationship with the things you make for me. But if I seem off-putting, remember this: It’s me. Not you.
— Christopher Schwarz
Integrity needs no explanation, but your post is well said.
Dead Right!
Next time I want several beers I would like to buy U One.
My wife says I buy tools and make sawdust, does that count ?
Thanks Chris! As noted above, no explanation is needed. It’s a Conflict of Interest to accept gifts from someone or some business you critically review. It is widely understood, perhaps not as widely followed. Good for you!
I think more people appreciate this facet of you more than you might think, Chris. It is a policy seemingly almost lost in much of journalism today.
I have a very hard time taking a tool review seriously knowing the person got it for free or at a discounted rate.
People don’t send me unsolicited tools, but I’ve had a few books sent to me to review. If the book is good, I’ll buy my own copy of it, but I always donate the book I receive to the St. Louis Woodworkers Guild when I’m done reading/reviewing it.
sooo, no complimentary copy with full page product placement on the facing page? must drive certain editors (ok, business managers) nuts. Also explains the desperate leap of faith you took in leaving the comfy salary behind, and why so many of us support you by buying (nearly) everything L.A.P. prints.
Confused no longer. Thanks for clarifying, Chris. I thought you were just being a weiner.
I am a weiner. But that’s beside the point.
🙂
Totally unsurprised
I’ll vouch for this. Even when just ‘hanging out’ with Schwarz, trying to pay for food, beer, or even chewing stinking gum is worse than trying to get the check from my dad at dinner.
But it’s most definitely one of the things most worthy of respect. I’ve worked on the ‘PR’ side of the street, and I can attest that this is a shockingly rare attitude among reviewers – but the very best ones I’ve known tend to share it.
I appreciate your integrity. I wish (foolishly) that politicians had the same.
“I pay the iron price for my iron.”
Nice! Lie-Nielsen sends his regards.
Kind of makes the renaming of the event in May to “The Red Handworks” seem a bit ominous, doesn’t it?
Props to you…. I spent years working as a Journalist and can totally respect those that also follow “the code”. That one of the things that sometimes gets lost in this transition to the digital age where you have a platform but didn’t necessarily go through the training or mentoring on how to use that platform ethically.
I can vouch for everything he said. Last time we met, I bought Chris a beer and then he put The History of Wood on his web page. Just proves how serious he is!
I hope you don’t take this as a criticism; it’s meant more as an observation of human nature.
Your rule of not accepting gifts, free tools, etc. is admirable, and it makes perfect sense. And I really appreciate it because I do feel that your commentary is objective and therefore valuable to me.
But is not friendship a form of currency? I know of film critics who make a point of never interacting with actors and such because such interaction could taint their objectivity.
Surely your long standing friendship (if there’s no friendship my writing is mute) could make it difficult (even just a wee bit) to pass objective judgement on a Lie-Nielsen tool. You’re a friendly guy, so the same could probably be said regarding many of the tool makers out there.
Surely I don’t propose that you stop shaking hands with said people. But I wonder if you sometimes feel that in hindsight, if you had known what your future influence in the woodworking community was to be, you would had avoided personal contact with the tool makers in addition to not accepting freebies.
Marty,
I don’t disagree. Human contact is currency.
But I wouldn’t have done anything differently. To be a journalist is to trade in human contact. My contact with sources – toolmakers, users etc. – is what gives the writing a bit of life.
Eschewing contact is more akin to academic/scientific observation, which is another valid form of writing. But it is one I don’t practice. I have never claimed to be “objective,” which is something I don’t believe exists in journalism. I have opinions and personal preferences, and those seep into all aspects of my writing. They are, in fact, what people pay me for.
All I am saying here is I don’t take gifts. And I keep a bit of personal distance from toolmakers. And why.
Thanks for your thoughtful comments.
Chris
I had an old manager that took this same philosophy. He wanted to be unbiased when picking the best vendor or contract and made his employees follow his lead. Everyone hated it, but they always signed the right contracts because of it. I try to maintain that level of professionalism myself, in the corporate world, it is pretty unheard of though.
You make a great point here. It becomes quite easy to spin an objective critique into a marketing pitch. Of interest it was well known that another writer, Julia Child never accepted any deals for endorsements of any kind.
Good for you! I have always appreciated your reviews!
Integrity without compromise is a difficult thing to find in today’s world. It can cost you. Thank you Chris for carrying the standard high.