[SBU Board] Complaint: Patti McCallum, tournament chair

[Wilma Boyd]

SBU board:

I wish to register a complaint against *Patti McCallum, *the director of
the NLM tournament held at the Seattle Bridge Center on October 14,
sessions at 10:30am and 3:30pm, specifically during the afternoon session.

My partner Jon Weyn and I played NS at Table 8.  Generally we play
relatively quickly.  During the afternoon session at this NLM tournament,
however, we waited many times for the EW opponents to advance from Table
7.  At one point during the middle of this session, Patti, the tournament
chair, stood at my shoulder for quite a while, disrupting my
concentration.  She intervened and asked us to play quickly.  She took
boards already played to provide them to Table 7, and said more than once
that we should speed up.  I found this disconcerting, as our table had
waited over 10 minutes for opponents from Table 7 to appear in one case,
and significantly delayed appearance in others.  After one contract was
declared, I started to write down the contract on my score sheet.  Patti
asked me not to write and to get on with the play, to the point that I
could not remember the bid and had to ask my partner for a recap.

I objected to Patti's hovering, and she said she had been walking around.
If so, she was woefully oblivious to the slow play at Table 7 during many
rounds.

I feel that we were grossly penalized for opponents' lack of timely play by
Patti's behavior during this session, and I ask that you apply whatever
sanctions are appropriate and available for this inappropriate intervention
that was disruptive to me beyond words.

This was my first tournament.  I assure you that I will consult any
schedule to see whether Patti McCallum is in a leadership role or not.  If
she is, I will simply decline to play in the competition.  I am told that
there are measures which can be employed to speed up play when a table is
consistently slower than the tournament average.  These measures were not
employed in the Oct. 14 NLM Tournament.  One of our EW competitors also
confirmed that Patti had "rubbed fur the wrong way" with them on other
occasions.  Please consult the results and compare Jon and my outcomes in
the morning session vs. the afternoon session.  This should give you an
indication of the effect of Patti's inappropriate execution of her
responsibilities as tournament chair.  I mentioned my displeasure to Nick
at the end of the session, and he was kind enough to provide the
information about how to contact you.

This experience is NOT the way to encourage participation in tournament
play.  I would appreciate a response from the board about how to raise this
issue during tournament play, rather than implode due to such disruption by
the tournament chair with no recourse.

Thank you,

Wilma Boyd
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