The print said +/- .005 but the engineer meant something else entirely

Last Tuesday I was running a batch of 40 aluminum brackets, tolerances all in the green, and this young applications engineer comes out to the floor. He watches me work for about five minutes, then points at my test indicator and asks why I am checking the bore at three different depths. I told him the print calls for straightness along that section, so I verify at the top, middle, and bottom. He shakes his head and says "that's not what straightness means in this company," and walks off. I stopped the machine, pulled up the drawing on the office computer, and sure enough the GD&T callout is a total runout, not straightness, and my method was fine but my terminology was off. He never apologized or clarified, just corrected me wrong on the floor in front of two other guys. I have been doing this for 19 years, so I know a runout from a straightness callout, but the way he brushed me off made me wonder if I should just let these jobs fail next time. Has anyone else had a desk engineer talk down to them over a simple datum issue, and how do you handle it without starting a fight?