[zasanya]

I am the district secretary of our small little bridge community.
Earlier I was a fairly active bridge player but never took much interest in organizational matters.In those days I always used to look upon the organizers as a bunch of incompetant guys who put the players interest last and were more interested in sucking upto sponsors.The TDs were looked upon as an appendage of this bunch and on the rare occasion when TD disallowed my appeal or ruled in favour of my opponents or disallowed my pet convention , I always suspected ulterior motives.
After becoming the secretary now I find that my friends with whom I always had the most cordial relations now suddenly become more than a little suspicious of my motives!On certain occasions when I have to officiate as TD my fairness is doubted by people who would have earlier vouched for my high ethical standards! I find that I need to keep the existing sponsors in good humour and keep excellent PR with potential sponsors;in other words do what in earlier years I would have called 'sucking up'.
Judging by the posts on this forum on many related and unrelated topics it appears that this phenomenon of players being suspicious of officials actions seems universal.
Why can't players and officials understand that we all love this game and we are doing our utmost to increase the enjoyment from this game?

[Hanoi5]

People will always be against authority (or try to).

[jtfanclub]

zasanya, on Nov 6 2007, 03:14 AM, said:

Why can't players and officials understand that we all love this game and we are doing our utmost to increase the enjoyment from this game?

I think it's especially funny when you're talking the district level. I don't know the board members of my local disctrict. If somebody asked about person X's ethics, and I talked about how wonderful they were, would I change my mind about the person if I found out that they were on the board? I should hope not!

I do suspect* them of ulterior motives, but only in favor of geriatric "B" players who have heard of Precision but never played it and are shocked and confused by anything more complex, and don't understand why they have to alert Drury or Bergen. Since that's a majority of ACBL members, I can understand their bias.

But the truth is, it is SO very rare that I've been penalized for anything, I can't say it worries me much. I usually get upset that they don't penalize the geriatrics for obvious misconduct, but that's kind of mean of me.

*suspect is a nice way to put it. The reality is, I've had various officials come out and say it to me.

[helene_t]

I hate meetings and therefore I grow negative emotions towards other TC members when I'm a member of a TC.

As a player, I suppose I appreciate the voluntary work done by club board members. They make routine decision mainly and set up a poll whenever it becomes controversial.

As for the higher-up regulatory boddies, I'm occasionally annoyed by them, but generally I think the regulators do a good job.

[mycroft]

As an official, your job is to the office. And that means that you're doing the best you can to mediate between everybody, not just your friends; it means you're ruling to the Laws, not your sense of fairness or justice. Of course people are suspicious, especially when things go against them.

I say, jokingly, that I know I've given a good and fair ruling when *all four players* at the table are upset with me.

Frankly, I stay surprised at how low the number of people there are who won't speak to me because of what has happened at their table when I come as TD.

But that, too, is part of the job.

Of course, we've all heard the story about The Honest Politician, The Crooked Politician, Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, and the $1000, right?
Michael.

[JanM]

Wrong, but I suppose I'll be sorry I asked!

[jonottawa]

JanM, on Nov 8 2007, 05:25 PM, said:

Wrong, but I suppose I'll be sorry I asked!

I think it goes something like:

An honest politician, a crooked politician, santa claus and the tooth fairy are all walking down the street and notice $1,000 lying there. They're all equally fast, notice it at the same time, and are equidistant from the $1,000. Who ended up with the cash? (Answer hidden below.)

Spoiler

The crooked politician. Duh.

An honest politician, santa claus and the tooth fairy are all imaginary.

[kenberg]

zasanya, on Nov 6 2007, 03:14 AM, said:

I find that I need to keep the existing sponsors in good humour and keep excellent PR with potential sponsors;in other words do what in earlier years I would have called 'sucking up'.

I guess I could see how this could lead some folks to be suspicious of your motives.

Generally I am fine with officials. There have been a couple of exceptions. Some years back I had a team with only four members in one of these events where you move up if you win, play a couple of weeks later, move up again and so on. I found that on one of the scheduled days I had to work so I sought permission for a substitute. I was turned down (tough but I understood) but the director explained that I just had to choose between my two hobbies. I explained that no, I had to work. He repeated that I had to choose between my two hobbies.

The point here is that the only times I can remember ever being really down, and staying really down, on an official is when I feel I have been treated with unnecessary rudeness. Most of us can accept that if your job is to make rulings then you have to make rulings.