[Fluffy]

We played a tournament this weekend, at some point at the begin of the last session we called director because of a hesitation UI.

Director didn't listen to what we had to say, instead he first insulted us, then accused us of always calling director to put opponents nervous.*

I requested (I was told that I actually yelled this) that he better write down everything he was saying.

He said ok (he never did so) and also said he was gonna place a penalty on me.

Arguing went kinda violent, his answers being just a threaten to eject us from the tournament while I keeped requesting proof of what he just said. Everything was so violent, frustrating and unfair** that I first almost left the tournament, and then for the first time in my life thought about punching someone in the face.

I tried to play my best after this, but was completelly unable, all I could think about is how can I strip this guy out of his director's license. I only remember one board from the full session. Still we got an insane amount of luck (karma anyone?) thereafter, scored 72% and won the tourney.


*:to put things clear just to show how wrong director was: before calling director we explained to opps during a full minute that we in no way though that they were cheating, but we though something extrange might had happened and wanted the director to know.

That's becuase we don't like club players in any way to get on rage since we know many think calling director is calling them cheaters. First I'd rather lose money than offend anyone, but also when they get on rage and we have some argument, I get distracted for many boards.


**: To my mind, when a player cheats, you call director, when a civilian does something bad you call police, but whoom do you call when it is the director who acts improperly?. Finding no answer at the moment was so frustrating and outrageous and made me almost go berserker against him.

[blackshoe]

When you have a problem with a director, you call the director-in-charge of the tournament. If there's only one director, or the one you're having a problem with is the DIC, you speak to someone on the tournament committee (the "Tournament Organizer" in the Law's terms), preferably the Chairman. Else you report the incident to the NBO.

It's never good to allow something that happens at the table to upset you. It's even less good to allow it to upset you to the point you become argumentative or violent.

[Phil]

I play my worst when....

[ggwhiz]

I assume this is an ACBL tournament.

E-mail Butch Campbell with the details. A few years ago, one of our players e-mailed about a similar situation and it was handled REALLY well although I think it was Gary Blais at the time? There was an apology, a little chat with the person involved and a note to their file.

If there is a file of similar occurences on this Director, they will handle it. If there isn't, one should probably be started.

BTW, ACBL e-mail may be down while they are moving into new digs.

[babalu1997]

Fluffy, on Apr 12 2010, 08:38 AM, said:

**: To my mind, when a player cheats, you call director, when a civilian does something bad you call police, but whoom do you call when it is the director who acts improperly?. Finding no answer at the moment was so frustrating and outrageous and made me almost go berserker against him.

You call on the water cooler folks and get free therapy, i have been doing it for years.

But seriously tho, i do get disturbed by events of the same nature, and get most annoyed when opps break the tempo to control the game and get average.

i do not think i can stop it, but would love to know how to stop this effect from leaking into other hands.

i had a partner for 3 years who would be upset at every mistake and grumble immediately in bertween rounds-- i managed to stop it by simply ceasing to play with him-- it was a triple whammy.

[jjbrr]

Fluffy:

Here is a cat in a wizard's hat to calm your nerves



And here is a ram.



Hope that helps!

[jillybean]

Anyway, congratulations on your win I do hope something is done to address this directors behaviour.

[Echognome]

I actually think you did right in a way in asking the director to write things down. I think the director was wrong to start with an accusation and I can understand you being upset.

I have had a few terrible calls over the years and there's not much you can do. I normally go for the repeat back to the director what I'm hearing, to make sure the director knows how he is sounding. Maybe something like this:

"So if I understand you correctly, you are saying that we cannot get a ruling from you, because you say we always call the director unwarranted?"

"No? Can you please then clarify what it is that you are saying, as we called you over here for a ruling?"

"Can you write down the facts that we are stating?"

"So you are saying that you refuse to write down any facts?"

and so on...

I think that makes it harder for the director to be unreasonable as you make them take stands on all of their issues.

Also, note that I don't think you should ever feel the need to get violent. Yes it can be extremely frustrating, but try instead to feel pity for this poor soul who doesn't know better and is very poor at their job. Better to feel contempt than violent!

[Fluffy]

Echognome, on Apr 12 2010, 03:49 PM, said:

Also, note that I don't think you should ever feel the need to get violent. Yes it can be extremely frustrating, but try instead to feel pity for this poor soul who doesn't know better and is very poor at their job. Better to feel contempt than violent!

I agree with this, in fact I am feeling just pity for him now, but on the other side, the vision of playing tournaments in the future with this guy as director (he is the director of about 50% tournaments here), who thinks we cheat, its something really umcomfortable, so I will try that this doesn't happen again.

[Phil]

Disagree with asking the director to 'write down facts'. It puts the director in a defensive mode. No one likes their authority challenged. If you need to appeal it, I'm quite certain the director is going to have to explain the basis of his ruling later.

This is tantamount to saying 'if I don't agree with your ruling I'm going to appeal it'.

Nevertheless, I find nothing wrong with, "can you explain the basis of your ruling please"?

[Fluffy]

there was no ruling phil, he didn't even let us explain why we were calling him, he just insulted us* and stated clearly that we only called him to make the opponents nervous and that we use to do so.

The part where he says that we always call director just to make the opponents nervous is the part I wanted wrote down since I know he doesn't have any proof.

*to be fair, no real insult, but treat us despectivelly would be more accurate, I have problems translating to english.

[kfay]

Fluffy, on Apr 12 2010, 08:38 AM, said:

Everything was so violent, frustrating and unfair** that I first almost left the tournament, and then for the first time in my life thought about punching someone in the face.

I got in a fight once at bridge club.

Not a LOL

[Echognome]

Phil, on Apr 12 2010, 09:18 AM, said:

Disagree with asking the director to 'write down facts'. It puts the director in a defensive mode. No one likes their authority challenged. If you need to appeal it, I'm quite certain the director is going to have to explain the basis of his ruling later.

This is tantamount to saying 'if I don't agree with your ruling I'm going to appeal it'.

Nevertheless, I find nothing wrong with, "can you explain the basis of your ruling please"?

I think you are simplifying the situation. We're not just talking about disagreeing with a ruling here. If that were the case, then a simple request for a more detailed explanation of the ruling is in order, to which the TD can say "Here is my basis and you have the right to appeal."

Here we are talking about the director making an opinion on arrival at the table. Obviously it's going to be a difficult situation and of course I'm sure we'll here a different side of the story if heard from the director's side. So what can you do in such a situation? Well unfortunately, all I think you can do is to take steps that everything is noted. If the director writes things down or clarifies them clearly and they are reasonable, then what's the problem? It will basically make Gonzalo look bad. But if the director is being unreasonable, yet refuses to write anything down or clearly state what he is implying, then it is back on the director who will look bad.

If you are familiar with game theory, I would consider this a "brinkmanship" tactic in the sense that you are upping the ante by suggesting the dispute be written down. Having things in writing give credibility to arguments made later and, again, if it was Gonzalo being unreasonable, would work against him.

[PassedOut]

kfay, on Apr 12 2010, 12:05 PM, said:

Fluffy, on Apr 12 2010, 08:38 AM, said:

Everything was so violent, frustrating and unfair** that I first almost left the tournament, and then for the first time in my life thought about punching someone in the face.

I got in a fight once at bridge club.

Not a LOL

Once I was playing in a club game when one faster player kept poking a more deliberate player, who was always still playing, with the boards after each round. Several times he asked her to stop -- a bit louder each time. Finally there was a huge commotion as he grabbed the boards from her hand and hit her over the head with them. (He was suspended -- I think for two years, but am not completely sure about the length of time.)

[dicklont]

jjbrr, on Apr 12 2010, 05:12 PM, said:

[snip]Here is a cat in a wizard's hat to calm your nerves[snip]

I must slip that picture in my conventioncard!

[gwnn]

wouldn't that be a visual aid?

[mycroft]

on the poke-with-the-boards - if I'm concentrating, I'm strangely uninterruptible; if after "please don't, at least before the round is called" it still happened, I would be amazingly unresponsive. I'm good at it.

My other alternative would be to mosquito strike the wasp that's annoying me, which is likely to lead to a similar suspension, so I'd go with the ultrapassive-aggressive alternative.

The right answer, if possible, of course, is a chair or small table. Or/and a director call.

[blackshoe]

I get people poking me with boards even before the round is called. Kind of "we were done in 4.3 milliseconds, what the Hell is wrong with you?"

If it becomes annoying enough, I call the director - which annoys her, btw - otherwise I just ignore it.

[Fluffy]

the board thing kind of surprises me, in Spain we most of the time require that EW change boards, and the tables are not correlative at all if we can avoid it, this is to avoid overhearing comments from the next table about the hands you are about to play.

[blackshoe]

ggwhiz, on Apr 12 2010, 11:04 AM, said:

I assume this is an ACBL tournament.

Why would you assume that?