Question of the day: Do you have ethics?
You are an ITA rules certified official who received an availability from a coordinator in September (obviously it wasn't from Baylor because if it was, you would have gotten it in June). You filled it out completely and returned it. Then the coordinator sent you your assignments--which you confirmed.
Then in December you got an invitation to do a big women's pro tournament in Possum Gulch, Texas--which was a tournament you have wanted to work for 17.5 years.
What do you do???
A. Cancel the original assignment because you like the newer assignment better. After all, you have always wanted to climb the pro tournament ladder and this is your chance.
B. Honor your commitment to the first assignment.
C. Call the original coordinator and explain your situation to him--being completely honest that you simply wanted to go to Possum Gulch. Then you honor whatever he allows you to do.
D. Pray that the Lord sends you a case of "travelitis" in which you cannot travel more than 19.7 miles from home. Coincidentally, Possum Gulch is only 19.6 miles from your house.
While I realize that the "Code of Conduct" in the Friend at Court specifically forbids this practice, we all know it happens all too frequently. We would welcome your input on this serious problem in the ITA world.
7 comments:
C. Many times there are others who are available to take your place and are happy to have the work. That's a win for both parties. If, however, there was any hesitation that there would be a replacement then no question...I work the ITA match.
Why in the hell would any able minded official want to work a Women's pro event instead of a college match in the first place.
The main thing that pops into my mind is you would probably have to work with Sue Pranke on the Women's event. You really can't be serious!
I've seen this in action...
A few years ago I had made assignments to a female official and she had accepted the assignments. Seems that she was out working a woman's pro tournament someone in the northern hemisphere when some of the "leaders" at the tournament convinced her she should rise to the top of the pro group and do more tournaments.
She then called to cancel numerous assignments and I could hear the "leaders" in the background telling her that I didn't have the right to expect her to do those assignments...
Now they wonder why we doubt the validity of some of the "leaders" in the pro ranks.
None of the above. If I ever try to get out of an assignment for a "better" one I should quit officiating.
I wish that were true but unfortunately, its not the case for a lot of officials. The best way to cure that is to not use them any longer.
From Haymuncher:
If you are a coordinator with this problem perhaps you should consider adopting the language I used for many years in my availabilty notice
"Officials failing to honor committments will be tortured by
covering them with fire ants prior to be eaten alive by wild animals"
I can state it worked for me
Of course you could simply restrict your availabilty to high character officials of which there are many!
Haymuncher
On a side note. Does anybody know who the black dreadlocked ESPN'S commentator covering the US Open is? He's worthless and I have a hard time understanding whatever dialog is coming out of his mouth. I would bet a $1 the USTA mandated a black person had to be shown on ESPN's team, all in the name of diversity.
WHAT A JOKE
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