Years ago a crew from Orange Empire R/R Museum were pulling up a siding donated to us by Metrolink. Since we were working within 20 feet of the two main lines between L.A. and San Diego we had a trainmaster meeting with us at the safety briefing each morning. He made it VERY CLEAR that the dirtiest word in railroaders mouths is 'railfans', as so many of them forget their common sense when a special train rolls by.
We had to assure him that we are from a MUSEUM and those people embarrass us too with their stupid behavior. The first day of a several weekend work session had him watching our every move, from then on we would only see him for the morning safety meeting, and not again until 4:30 when he verified we were done and had everything in order. I think the part that scared him the most was that we got permission to run our museum U25B locomotive, and 5 flat cars to bring all of the track and ties home, but our BURRO CRANE really got his attention as potentially causing the most damage. At the end of pulling up the track he complemented us on our professional behavior. (I think he was surprised at how well we worked)
It is sad that the behavior of some knuckleheads makes the rest of us embarrassed that we are in the same hobby.