Archers don’t always get the respect they deserve — just ask Marvel’s Hawkeye. That goes double for female archers, though, as shown by one TikTok user’s frustrating experience being belittled by an irritatingly entitled man at an archery range.
TikToker @ninadoesthemost was simply trying to film herself showing off her skills with a bow and arrow at the archery range when a man berates her for a perceived breach of safety rules. Although a measured and mannered conversation would’ve been a much better way of getting his point across, the man immediately jumps from a 1 to an 11 on the obnoxious scale and treats Nina like an angry parent would a child.
Not enjoying being accosted like this, Nina — while still trying to keep things vaguely civil by pasting a smile on her face — decides that she’s just going to leave early as she’s only got one round left, but the guy still won’t let it go. “Read the rules,” he orders. “I’ve been coming here for two years and…” Nina tries to explain, before the man cuts her off. “I don’t really care!” he barks.
Finally pushed too far, Nina drops the attempts at politeness and speaks at her mind, blasting the man for invading her personal space repeatedly when she was obviously not comfortable with it. She explains that, regardless of the point he was making, he was “escalating [things] for no reason” and “I’m not OK with that.”
“I don’t care!” the man yells back, leading Nina to deliver her final blow — or arrow: “It’s clear you do not care, it’s clear, I f***ing know…. What the f***? You do not own this range!” Clearly, knowing he’s losing the moral high ground here, the guy then falls back on his commitment to safety regulations, although this time it falls flat. “Don’t point arrows at people!” he yells. Bear in mind that Nina had already put down her bow, so she wasn’t exactly presenting a danger. What, does she have whistle-arrow powers like Yondu now?
“This is exactly why I like to come to the archery range when there’s no one around,” Nina explained in her caption. “I was peacefully shooting my very last round when this guy just came up to me and started trying to give me instructions. He was giving this other guy instructions (and it seemed like no one really wanted his unsolicited advice.) Keep in mind this is a public park. Who’s disgruntled uncle is this?” she joked. “Please tell him to leave me ALONE!”
Those in the comments agreed that this guy is displaying some serious red flags. “It’s the entitlement he feels to ‘instruct’ her on what she needs to do. It’s infuriating!” one wrote. “He was mad he couldn’t FORCE you to do what he said WHEN HE SAID IT! That was a power trip,” pointed out another. Others think his body language speaks louder than words: “He felt too comfortable getting in your space.” The greatest irony, though? “Wasn’t he breaking rules coming into your zone while loading??”
Somebody should probably tell this guy that archery-related accidents are actually much rarer than you might think. According to an October 2023, the risk of an injury occurring during training periods is only 4.4%, and that’s largely regarding self-made injuries, such as overexertion of the arm muscles. All in all, this whole archer-drama could’ve been wrapped up in seconds if the man had tried a different tack. Like one commenter said: “A simple, at a distance, statement of: ‘hey scoot up to the line for safety.’ Sufficient.”
I’m just saying, if Nina is giving Katniss Everdeen then this entitled archer uncle thinks he’s President Snow.