Journalists face all sorts of dangers, from the angry rants of parents whose kid's football game got only minimal coverage ("You always favor the Clovis schools!") to threatening phone calls from public officials to deadly violence in combat zones. But here's a new one: savage, crazed geese.
Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch employees recently got a memo warning them how to behave if confronted by one of the geese that apparently take up residence on the grounds of the newspaper during nesting season each year.
Among the tidbits:
Maintain direct eye contact with the animal and face toward it.
If the goose acts aggressively, calmly and slowly back away.
Never turn you back to an aggressive goose.
Sound advice, whether you're dealing with psychotic water fowl or angry readers.
I assume the advice for the goose is also good for the gander?