no use for this old timer...i guess

[bound for glory]

let me say first, that i'm more likly just a bitter old man of almost 42, who, after being a player scince 1985, i've been semi retired from our great game. yeah, i like the idea that i'll get another emag(or tom will come back and make me something new, in which case i'll HAVE TO come back), and play with my boy when he is old enough to play on a field. but, whatever, people get old :(
i'm a teacher. i teach history at a tech high school(which means the kids are there to learn a trade, not about history, which most kids, sadly, could care less about), and i work a part time job(most recently at m&m...if you eat the plain ones, i probly have had my hands run through them ;) but i've recently bought a house in a nice little town in pa. and bad enough i have to drive every day to my beloved and missed new jersey to teach, i just could'nt keep up also driving there to make sure, by shifting through buckets and many buckets of m&ms, that most are not chipped or broken. so i quit the m&m gig. :clap: and i saw an ad in the local paper asking for "refs" at good old skirmish, usa in the lovly town of jim thorpe, pa. :rolleyes: hey, i think, i'm in, baby! well, not really...
still with me? hope so. anyway, i apply, get told i was in, that i would be contacted by phone or email for my training weekend, then get an email saying they had enough "refs" for the year. ok, its getting late in the year. 3 weeks later i get a call from the "head "ref" himself asking me if i was still interested. yes, i say. the jakass then proceeds to butter me up like a piece of corn, and tell me some of the "kids" he hired have found that being a paintball ref does indeed include some work, quit on him. "you(he sez to me) would, with your experince and know whats would be a fine addition to skirmish" :headbang: (i am not kidding you, he said this to me...really).
so i go to my "training weekend", which was cold and very rainy, and sit through all this happy what have you, with 8 teenagers and one house wife who, no offense, did;nt have a clue. all the time, especally when the kids went to smoke breaks, this head ref is telling me how hes been in the game scince 2001 and its all great and the best guns were made by smart parts(but the :tard: only owned a tippman 98) and hes never heard of agd of mags in general, but he has shoot a cocker(so you know hes cool) and so on and so on..over and done i get told i'll be emailed or phoned telling me if i passed this training and when i start(mind you, this two day, 17 hour training was unpaid, we got free lunch, which was'nt bad, tbh).
3 days later, i get a call from "head ref" himself..."sorry he sez, we can't use you now, but if we do you have to go through training again". i ask him why i've been jurked around? i did more than the kids did, even stayed lated to help out. so, wtf? he sez i missed a few calls during the castle game and, get this, "my ways are too set" :eek: again, wtf? because i yelled at a "customer" to keep his f'in mask on(3rd time that day, same guy) i did'nt respect the job. so i tell him to stick his job, and hung up on him.
am i wrong here? am i, becauce i had the termitidy(i think its spelled like that) to shout at some one to KEEP YOUR GOGGLES ON, KEEP YOUR EYES, IDIOT being pushed aside because i disrespected the job? with the mill that skirmish is, i think so. but i bet the little girl with big boobs who was kissing "head refs" *** all weeekend got a job slot. :cheers:

[warbeak2099]

I wish more refs would verbally abuse customers who acted like morons. I honestly just don't have any patience for people who act like dicks on or off the field, I don't see why a ref taking them down a peg would be a bad thing.

[teufelhunden]

hackettstown?

[GroovYChickeN 2.o]

I wish more refs would verbally abuse customers who acted like morons. I honestly just don't have any patience for people who act like dicks on or off the field, I don't see why a ref taking them down a peg would be a bad thing.

We tell our customers at Sudden Impact that we are mean and will shout and scream at you and kick you out if you break our 3 main safety rules. There have been many a times that we have pissed people off because they think we are too strict or mean. I however, would like to keep this whole never had an insurance claim on a customer thing going. Oh and we have been open for 17 years.

[behemoth]

John,

It aint you, or your age, brother.

You cant begin to tell me you've never come across some dumbasses before?

It just so happens they've hired one to be the "head ref"

Years ago, this guy woulda got a boot party, today, alls you can do is laugh about it.

I'm sure you'll find something more lucrative anyways.

-Josh

[punkncat]

I hate that you got jerked around over the whole thing and had your time wasted.

I am also very firm about mask and barrel cover safety. I actually apologize in advance in my intro speech for the fact that if I see a person with mask off on field that I, or one of the other refs (if not both) will be yelling at you to get the mask back on. No offence, or hurt feelings intended, but that we want everyone to be able to see just as well when they leave as they did when they came.

With that said....I don't know you, and am not trying to make a judgement call, but not all people are meant for all jobs. I have no doubt that with your experience in the sport that you are well more than capable of the job. Without "hitting it off" with the people that you would be dealing with, perhaps it was just not what you were meant to be doing at the time.

[Old School 626]

Teuf, You in H town? As an ex-Martian I am interested too when I saw that. I was in Vernon, CA before the move to Nashville, Commercial.

[Richter]

no offence but when does a 42 year old use "sez" in a sentence? I know I missed type quite often and especial on a rant when i am emotional but "sez"....come on now; you seam way too old to be using that type of wording in a post ;)

[teufelhunden]

Nah, I've lived in Morris County since '96 though and have known a number of people who've worked there.

Live in Randolph, work in Florham Park

[bound for glory]

well, yes, hackettstown. and i use "sez" here because it was a long(and most likely useless)post. if you missed the point, i'm at least glad my brother josh got it. yeah, josh, the guy needed the doctor martin dental plan.
i've refed at several paintball fields in my ao. bottom line is skirmish is just the mill that it is. nothing more, nothing less. buses filled with people from the cities(absolutly no offense to you nuts in philly and new york) with no idea about paintball. "oh, i'll buy a marker on line and some k-mart cammies and go to skirmish and pay $110 for a case of paint :wow: not where my eye protection(mostly because skirmish' gog's are beat) and then get bothered by some guy who yells(again, FOR THE THIRD TIME THAT DAY) KEEP YOUR MASK ON! can i be any more clear here? am i the only one who follows the f'in rules? when did it become "bad business" to be looking out for a stranger because he just did'nt care?

[going_home]

You are way to cranky to be as young as you are.


:D

[bound for glory]

yeah, going home, you may be right. but i don't think i'm wrong. :cheers:

[gunman_2000]

I say good for you, they certainly did jerk you around a fair bit on the "hiring" process. At least you got lunch out of it. As for yelling at the customer, thats what you're there for. One day that guy will have a customer hurt on his field cause there wasn't someone yelling at them to follow the rules. I love it when I hear my refs yelling at people, means they are doing their job :)

I'm another one of those people that when going through the safety talk, apologize in advance for how I'm goin to yell at people :)

[splat15k]

I played at skirmish 3 times this summer and every ref yelled at people who were doing stupid things, especially concerning proper mask and barrel condom use. One of the refs there has his own rule that if you do something unsafe or stupid you have to select somebody to shoot you (after the game) from ~15-20 feet away until a ball breaks. He does this in front of everybody so that it adds embarrassment to the punishment: I've seen this event occur twice and there were no repeat offenders...


Long story short, you didn't lose the job because you yelled or are too strict. Their true reasoning may still be dumb and unjust, however.

Side note: I was born in Hackettstown and my father has worked at M&M Mars for ~20 years or so. He also commutes from PA. Small world it seems.

[breg]

Glory, that is a real bummer. Imagine, yelling at a customer who kept taking off his mask! If you were not resposible, you could have seen Darwinism in action.
But, honestly, if you got the job it maight have took you from semi-retirement into full on "I hate this game and the young jerks that play it" mode.

[Konigballer]

Your greater age was probably the superficial reason for them not to hire you because anyone with your level of experience is 'to set in your ways'...

Really, ignorant people don't like having their ignorance, lack of experience, perspective, etc, exposed on a daily basis, especially by someone older. It would burst their bubble of self-importance. It would be easier for them to give the job to some young clueless kid that they could then impress with all their 'experience'. You'll find something better.

[WUNDERWAFFEN]

I have played at skirmish almost exclusively since getting back into the sport. Mainly because my groups can only all get together to play on weekdays & it has the most extensive fields within a reasonable driving distance.

We stopped playing at skirmish because complaints about the amateur refs were becoming widespread among the group with more friends bailing after each trip up to skirmish.
Also we wanted to play their varied fields and instead ended up playing the castle half the time.

You sound like you would have made a great ref but you would have been the exception there and probably just would not fit in with their "elite" team.

They do not need you because they only send a ref or two out per group (I’ve played there in groups of 8 to 50ish players and we never had enough refs.) And they rather have players play on and keep shooting like mad than go over and pull a marked player out.

[Bassaro]

I've been in the game for the better part of the past 2 decades and frequented skirmish a good bit over the years. THIER REFS HAVE AND ALWAYS WILL BE KIDS THAT KNOW NOTHING ABOUT THE GAME. They are easier to pay (or in most cases not pay). A fella like you who was there at the begining of the game intimidates the "all knowing" tournement players who have taken over the scenario community.

I see threads all the time about why the sport is dying... What can we do to make it? How do we get more players involved?

I've got the answer... remember when it was about getting drunk and hanging out with friends then shooting each other laughing like a jackass the whole time? It used to be about getting together and having fun. Not the game these elitist d!cks have made, pwning nobs, mowing muppets, bonus ball? That's not drunk talk just rich kid ellitist d!ck talk from someone who play in a pick up game with his buddies because he has no friends.

Sorry tangant P!ssed at what this game is turing into, then I hear stories like yours and it gets me going.