By definition, buying a pig in a poke is buying (or hiring) someone that turns out to be inept, uneducated, or useless. Believe it or not, this happens in tennis officiating too! Sometimes those that shine the brightest and toot their own horns the loudest turn out to be ineffective even to the point of uselessness.
Sometimes after hiring someone you hear these words all too frequently...
There are reasons why officials prove to be a pig in a poke. Foremost among them are lack of knowledge concerning the rules.
There is no excuse for an official to not know the rules. Tennis is a game with a rule book and you can study and learn it! Lack of knowledge will get you in trouble quicker than most anything in officiating. You have the know the rules well enough to make the right decision when you have two coaches, four players, and a bunch of fans yelling at you so study, study, and study some more.
Sometimes you hire someone who has absolutely no idea what they are doing in a chair--but they are good at selling themselves and getting hired. Never hire someone whom you have not seen work! If they act like a deer in the headlights then they probably are...
The worst "pig in a poke" that you can hire is an official who is rude and condescending toward players, coaches, and other officials. These are the ones who everyone avoids so don't be taken in by their slick sales pitch to get hired. They usually get fired by enough coaches during the year that you soon figure out you were taken... Don't let them con you into believing that "that is just the way they are." They can be that way somewhere else--they have no place in tennis officiating. The quickest way to be out the door at my house is for you to "not play well with others."
What about the one who has a good attitude, knows the rules, loves everybody but continually screws up everything they touch. Remember that the best intentions do not make a good official and maybe its time to take them to lunch and encourage them to take up another occupation. Players and coaches will give you some leeway in making mistakes but not a blank check...
Its sad when their best intentions always turn into mud...
The bottom line is that we have a responsibility to our coaches, players, fans, and other officials to hire the very best officials we can find, hire, and train. Work product is vitally important in tennis officiating so let's all be on guard so this doesn't happen to us...
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