[blml] "Carefully avoid." Was Zonal Delegation of L12c3

[Jerry Fusselman]

On 7/19/07, Robin Barker <Robin.Barker at npl.co.uk> wrote:
>
>
>
> > From: blml-bounces at amsterdamned.org
> > Sent: 19 July 2007 02:12
> >>Richard Hills:
> >>
> >> For what it is worth, my favourite Law is
> >> Law 74A2:
> >>
> >> "A player should carefully avoid any remark
> >> or action that might cause annoyance or
> >> embarrassment to another player or might
> >> interfere with the enjoyment of the game."
> >>
> >
> > I admire that one too, but why can't there be
> > a law like that which applies to directors?
>
> Applies which way to directors?
>
> "A director should carefully avoid any remark
>  or action that might cause annoyance or
>  embarrassment to a player or might
>  interfere with the enjoyment of the game." ?
>

Yes, this is the one I meant.  (The other possibility you suggested is
clearly covered in the laws.)

I will now give two examples of director behavior I take exception to
from my last midwest ACBL regional---march of this year.  By the way,
one of the directors at the regional was among the politest and best I
have ever enjoyed playing under.  But two of those directors I wish
would learn to follow the above quote of Robin's.

My partner at the regional was Teresa, a young beginner with 1
masterpoint so far.  (We both met Eric Landau and became instant
friends at an APL conference if Florida, and I am sure that Eric will
agree that she is a totally charming person.)

In the first example, we sat EW, and there were four boards to play.
After completing the first two boards, South noticed that the boards
were incorrectly rotated 180 degrees.  Too late to fix those, but what
should we do about the other two, she asked.

My partner, inexperienced though she is, called the director.
(Directors were scarce, and she was, unfortunately for her, the first
to spot one.)  She knows that "When attention is called to an
irregularity -- please call the Director" is the sole boldfaced slogan
on the back of ACBL convention cards.  (You would think the ACBL
really means it.)  This was her first director call.  The director
knew her, and knew her inexperience, but as is his frequent style, he
snorted to her "So?"  Someone asked, "well what do we do with the
other two boards?"  He snorted again, as if his dignity was offended
to have to answer such a question, that we should, obviously, play the
last two in the correct positions.  (Not so obvious to me, by the way,
because two of us became dealers twice.)

This director made it clear that he thought the director call was
idiotic and a waste of his time.  We should have just figured out by
ourselves what to do, he implied.  As he was leaving, North and South
assured my partner that they thought it was correct for her to call
the director, and did not see why this director was gratuitously rude
so frequently.  I agreed:  What purpose did that kind of nastiness
serve?

In the second example, my partner accurately alerted that my opening
bid of 1S was unlimited (but otherwise normal), because we have no
strong artificial opening such as a strong artificial 2C.  This is
totally clear on the typeset convention card, but the director ignored
the card at first, preferring to grill my partner and roll his eyes
and go on and on about how he could not fathom why we would agree to
play such a thing.  He said it was an inferior agreement, and we
should not be playing it, and I quote, "you will win more often when
you learn to play bridge."    His hostility was impressive and
memorable.  Personally, I don't think directors should spend any time
denigrating a pair's legal and properly disclosed agreements.

If gratuitous, pointless director rudeness happens twenty times per
regional, we just have to accept it or stop playing, I guess.  There
is apparently nothing in the laws to prevent it, but I wish there was.
 This was the reason for my original post on this subject.

-Jerry Fusselman