How not to deal with a wasp!!

[#1]

Lunched al-fresco today at an outdoor table in the pleasant surroundings of the Shuttleworth Collection restaurant at the Old Warden aerodrome.
A couple of tables from us, a family of four (teenage children) were being bothered by a wasp. The mother (I assume) became almost hysterical screaming and flapping her arm about. The inevitable result was that the by now angry wasp promptly stung a young child (5 or 6 years) at a next door table. The poor child was in tears and obvious pain but stoic in her suffering being comforted by her mother. Her father tore a strip off the female cause of the attack. Who by now had calmed down and could not see that it was all her fault.
Leave a foraging wasp alone and it will most likely be on its way elsewhere. Easy to say I know, but disturb it and it is unlikely it will be you who suffers. 

[#2]

When we went on family picnics or outings, I used to throw some of the childrens' Orange juice onto the ground 20 feet away.
The wasps loved it, and always left us alone.

[#3]

Wasps are mostly carnivorous - eating caterpillars etc, but when they feed their grubs in the nest they are rewarded with a sweet substance on the skin of their grubs. At the end of the summer the queen wasp produces less offspring and hence less sweeties for the worker wasps. They begin to satisfy their sweetness kick from rotting fruit outside of the nest.  Hence it is why they begin to bother people at picnics and those with sweet smelling drinks at pub tables.  That is how the placement of a sweet smelling drink, upwind of the picnic, will help to divert wasps away from the food.

[#4]

During the Summer they make a fair amount of noise but later in the year they seem to quiten down so not being aware of them it's more likely you will get stung.
I've no evidence to support this apart from my own observations.

[#5]

I try to lead by example, I dont mind wasps crawling on me or my glass so i tend to leave it alone and just give it a quick flick of the finger if I think its getting too bold or going inside my clothing 
My daughter-in-law is a flapper and screamer however on behalf of herself and her child but I am trying to educate here by example.
The only time I remember being stung, as Gleneagles says, is when a dozy wasp at the end of the season is crawling about on your seat or table. Probably looking for some crevice to hibernate in.

[#6]

While there is plenty of nectar and pollen around in the early summer wasps are very little trouble -as indeed are bees- in fact you probably don't see many wasps at all. None of them are particularly naturally aggressive towards humans if left alone (particularly bumblebees which actually seem to like human company) But at this time of year wasps in particular can be very short-tempered.
It seems to be their tendency to hover very close while they inspect you that bothers most people.
Learn to love (or at least leave them alone) our black and yellow striped neighbors, they do a lot of good providing us with honey and killing off other bugs.