Bad behaviour at the table
Two questions about players being abusive towards a partner or opponent at the table.
In general a director does not wander the room looking for infractions but waits until called. But what if the director overhears abuse at a table? Do they intervene or, perhaps persuading themselves that what they find abusive others may not, wait until they are called?
People may be reluctant to confront bad behaviour with the result that it becomes the norm within a club, for at least some of its members. Has anybody had experience of this happening at a club which has then had to “re-set” the standard of behaviour? I would be interested to know how it went about making the change.
Comments
First question:
I don't think you can ignore overheard abuse.
Ignoring it is a small step down a slippery slope away from being seen to condone it
I think I would approach the table and ask the whole table: "is everything OK here?" then remind them about BBAB.
If I found a real problem I would need to be prepared to deliver at least a warning and maybe more
Peter Bushby Suffolk
Second question:
Resetting standard of behaviour is in effect bringing about a culture change and that is a long journey
I don't want to post too many details here so i've sent you a message with my email address
Things that help:
Peter Bushby Suffolk
my club is well behaved most of the time but one person can be a problem - when she starts having a go at her partner I just call her name and ask her to keep her voice down. She get's the message and settles down.
another director frequently gives a lecture on etiquette before the session and I have noticed that a few players get annoyed - they come to play bridge.
I gave an impromptu lecture on good behaviour at the table a few weeks ago, since we'd had a complaint from one member via email. It went down well and players were then effusively pleasant for the whole evening.