Flashlights and handedness

[Jean-Luc Descarte]

We all know we have a dominant hand, even the ambidextrous ones. It's natural to presume that dominant hand is what we prefer to hold our torches with. Sure was the case with me back at the start of my addiction journey: I carried and held the light almost always with the right hand because it's my go-to, it was only natural. Then I noticed it was awkward to do things in the dark while my better hand was occupied, so I swapped the torch to the left hand, which is a lot more comfortable, and stuck to that for years.

Now, though, I'm migrating back to the right. Reason being, I found out I'm cross dominant. So I'm consciously keeping my right hand busy and favouring the left to train my ambidexterity, in case I ever get the chance to do some firearms training. Even if I never get the opportunity, it's still a good brain exercise, keeps boring activities fresh.

What about my fellow flashaholics? I figure at least the few that are in the self-defense and firearms training fields have their two cents to add to this.

(Edited to improve thread title.)

 

[DRW]

Left.

 

[RWT1405]

I almost always use my non-dominate hand, my left, to hold a flashlight

 

[bykfixer]

Good idea for a thread @Jean-Luc Descarte.

I start out with my dominant hand and if it doesn't get used to say, open a door it stays there. But then again if it's practical I'll open the door with my non dominant hand. If I'm fixing a flat or that sort of thing there are times the old tooth hold comes into play.

 

[Jean-Luc Descarte]

I'm with you there, byk. I only don't tooth hold much anymore because I carry 21700 lights constantly, and it's not exactly easy for the jaws to hold those Instead, I either stuff the torch under my arm or on the crook of my neck, like we did with phones in olden days.

 

[sween1911]

I usually use my left-hand for working flashlights. I'm right-handed for writing, using a baseball bat, etc but oddly enough I have a few things I do better with my left. Scissors for example. Always felt more natural using my left. I remember my dad, a veteran of the ruler-wielding-nuns in the 1950's and 1960's, would always stop me "Use your RIGHT HAND!" for some things, which I always thought was weird... why wouldn't you cultivate dexterity using your other hand? Why does it matter? Wouldn't it benefit you to level up skills with both hands?
You'll notice instructions for certain things from that bygone era calling our "with your RIGHT hand..."

 

[ghostguy6]

Now that I think about it I would have to say I have become ambidextrous when it comes to flashlights. It really boils down to what I am doing and what the situation is. Much of my former training taught the use of a flashlight or similar device as either an impact weapon ( baton) or a striking weapon (kubaton). When our government used to allow us to have some fun with firearms I was always trained to carry the light in the less dominant hand. Of course if I am doing something like traffic control I switch hands frequently based on the direction I want to point and how tired my arms are becoming.

 

[Jean-Luc Descarte]

I usually use my left-hand for working flashlights. I'm right-handed for writing, using a baseball bat, etc but oddly enough I have a few things I do better with my left. Scissors for example. Always felt more natural using my left. I remember my dad, a veteran of the ruler-wielding-nuns in the 1950's and 1960's, would always stop me "Use your RIGHT HAND!" for some things, which I always thought was weird... why wouldn't you cultivate dexterity using your other hand? Why does it matter? Wouldn't it benefit you to level up skills with both hands?
You'll notice instructions for certain things from that bygone era calling our "with your RIGHT hand..."

I have situational preferences too. For example, I can't write or use a fork with my left to save my life, but on a keyboard it humiliates the right in speed and grace. Same goes for my phone or anything with a touchscreen. I broke my left shoulder at 15 and spent weeks with the left arm on ice, and while I was overwhelmingly righty, I missed it a whole lot, so when the immobilisation came off I made sure to train it a ton.

Far as I can understand the nuns hated left-handed activity because it's a minority thing (we do have 9 righties for every lefty), and on the more practical side, handwriting with the left hand before ballpoint pens carried a higher risk of smudging the paper unless you were very careful. But all in all I think it's more an example of the "five monkeys in a cage" tale. Glad those times are over.

 

[hsa]

If I am using a light with a tailswitch, always the right or (dominant) hand. If using a correctly placed sideswithch (Maglite) then either hand.

 

[TPA]

Right-hand dominant / ambidextrous here.
Flashlight used in left hand so the right's free to do things.

I'm also a rebel - When eating I use my knife in my left hand, fork in right. This prevents the need to swap hands. That's if I use a knife and fork at all. Chopsticks are my preferred implements, even on Western foods. Salads, French (FREEDOM!) fries, Italian, etc. It's so much easier and less messy to eat a salad with chopsticks than knife and fork. The fork lacks the precision.

 

[sween1911]

Right-hand dominant / ambidextrous here.
Flashlight used in left hand so the right's free to do things.

I'm also a rebel - When eating I use my knife in my left hand, fork in right. This prevents the need to swap hands. That's if I use a knife and fork at all. Chopsticks are my preferred implements, even on Western foods. Salads, French (FREEDOM!) fries, Italian, etc. It's so much easier and less messy to eat a salad with chopsticks than knife and fork. The fork lacks the precision.

Dude. I've always hated the knife/fork swapping. REALLY? We're not allowed to use a knife in your left hand? Ridiculous. Good call!

 

[Monocrom]

I'm also cross dominant.
Right hand is my dominant one.
Though I've always favored my left.
So to hold a weapon in my right.

Unfortunately Tuesday night is a perfect example of why. Came to work at my 3rd shift job. Far from a good mood. But I'd be off for the next two nights. Just looking to get through one last shift. Head home, sleep, relax, and NOT have to deal with other people's BS. I walk in. Greet the usual co-worker whose there at the time. He looks a bit off. He informs me that I'm going to have to train a new guy to work 3rd shift. I asked who arranged for this. He gives me the name of a woman I've never heard of in my Life.

Yeah, Hell no! No one contacted me at all. And, I mean every single method you can think of that is available to use in 2024. Now when you work in Security, you don't get any respect. No matter how good of a job you do. No matter how much you have to do. (Not all of us just stand around near the door in uniform to be scarecrows with eye-balls to scare away petty thieves.) But this was too much. An absolutely unacceptable level of disrespect that no man would ever tolerate. I told my co-worker that I wasn't going to waste my entire shift training anyone!

At this point, new guy walks over. I treat him with respect, he treats me like garbage. Later on, I realize he's a New Age religious nut-job fanatic. And, that in his mind, his treatment of me was not disrespectful. But a perfectly acceptable way for one individual to calmly communicate with another one. Oh! It was not! Que a huge verbal argument that quickly gets out of hand! I realize that this guy should be locked up in a mental asylum, getting the psychiatric help he desperately needs. A 40 year-old Black man believing in the type of thing that normally a 20 year-old White girl does. (And usually grows out of by the time she turns 30.)

He storms outside challenging me to a physical fight. Typical low-life behavior. He initiated the argument and now wants to make it physical. I told him he wasn't worth it. But now that he was outside, with the help of my co-worker I had an opportunity to call my manager. Someone who does respect and appreciate everything I do on the job. He clarified that the woman is a newly hired supervisor. But admitted that she had made a mistake by not contacting me, not introducing herself, and sending the guy over on my shift when our on-site supervisor is the only one who trains individuals. Surprisingly he mentioned that he knew the guy, and would take care of things. About 20 minutes later, I call him back. (Co-worker has left by now.) And, everything has been taken care of. Manager sent him home. He'll be back hours later (not on my shift) for training. A temp. replacement for two days while the guy who works 3rd shift during my days off takes a couple of personal days. All that, for THAT.

When it came time for my outdoor foot-patrol, I didn't entirely trust that the nut-job actually left. Even though this was over an hour later. Plus, that happened to be the night that half the lights in the main parking lot for some odd reason were out.

Acebeam Limited Edition P16 Defender model in my left hand. 9 ounce large pepperspray canister in my right, with the safety off. Scanned the lot before venturing too far out into it.

 

[thermal guy]

We are a bored bunch lately arn't we?😂😂

 

[Monocrom]

We are a bored bunch lately arn't we?😂😂

I remember many years back, someone on NewGrounds made a serious topic on racism. It barely got any comments. Same day, someone made a topic called, "Are chess pieces racist?" Got a massive number of comments. One of the moderators saw what was happening with the two topics. Expressed outage about it, and promptly Locked the topic on chess pieces.

 

[KITROBASKIN]

Similar to Monocrom perhaps, the flashlight is held by the hand not typically used for defense. Nightly dog walks, I always make a point to keep a mountain lion knife on crossdraw. Under the ridiculously rare chance one of us is attacked, it is hoped the right hand can get to the blade promptly.

Thinking this thread subject might clarify preferences for members and guests, though ambidexterity is obviously best.

 

[knucklegary]

I carry a fixed blade knife at appendix so it can be drawn with either hand. That said, I prefer left hand flashlight carry.

 

[Jean-Luc Descarte]

Come to think of it, I should've made this a poll. Missed opportunity.

 

[Monocrom]

Come to think of it, I should've made this a poll. Missed opportunity.

We can still do that on CPF?

 

[TPA]

Dude. I've always hated the knife/fork swapping. REALLY? We're not allowed to use a knife in your left hand? Ridiculous. Good call!

I was sent to finishing school back in the day, so I know it's incorrect usage, but I prefer it. Depending on the company I am dining with, I'll use my rebel method, or Continental or British styles. NEVER the American constantly-swapping style.

Then again, these days I'm using chopsticks 90-95% of the time and always travel with a few different sets for different occasions.

Now when you work in Security, you don't get any respect. No matter how good of a job you do. No matter how much you have to do. (Not all of us just stand around near the door in uniform to be scarecrows with eye-balls to scare away petty thieves.)

Acebeam Limited Edition P16 Defender model in my left hand. 9 ounce large pepperspray canister in my right, with the safety off. Scanned the lot before venturing too far out into it.

You're working at the wrong place. 1) Lack of respect, 2) no pew-pew.

The times I've had protection officer, I've always treated them with full respect, like a relative or family member. In some situations, that was their role. Then again when you're spending 12 hours a day with each person, you get to know them pretty well. Ours have always been armed, which was helpful. We had an incident where a target thought I'd be alone and unarmed. He was wrong on both accounts and the officer de-escalated the situation very quickly and calmly.

At other places where we've had "regular" security guards, they were usually respected and treated well. One of them, "Birdie", was a nice older lady, kind of like having Grandma at work every day... BUT... we all knew she'd be able to throw someone to the ground if need be.

 

[Monocrom]

You are absolutely right that I am working at the wrong place. I definitely think it's time for a change. Good to hear that there are some who respect those who keep them safe. Thank you for reminding me.