Well, it’s been a rough week in my corner of the table tennis world. I’ve been juggling a few issues, and they all seem to have a common denominator. I expect something to happen predictably, even smoothly, and for some reason it doesn’t. One bright spot in this otherwise chaotic week is my experience with Paddle Palace. It didn’t start out well. They shipped me the wrong order. This was disappointing; but the way they resolved the issue gave me renewed faith in mankind. The Paddle Palace customer service guy corrected the issue by shipping out the right order next day delivery, apologized, and maintained his sense of humor. He assured me he would slap some people around in the shipping department.
Gwinnett County Parks and Recreation inexplicably decided that the table tennis program only needed five tables. Decatur Table Tennis is dealing with record crowds and new COVID restrictions. Good luck! I dropped my grievance against AGTTA/USATT. It’s not that I suddenly saw the error of my ways. I think a policy of no refunds under any circumstances is a great policy for tournament directors, but a terrible policy for players. I salute Frank Roth who handles grievances for USATT. He maintains a cool head, has a logical mind, and has been around table tennis for a long time. Unfortunately, USATT charges $250.00 to address grievances. This is a great way to keep members from being heard, and guarantees USATT will maintain an unrealistically rosy perception of member satisfaction. Having made my point about bait and switch policies at tournaments, I decided not to pay $250.00 to recover my $155.00 entry fee to AGTTA.
My original grievance was that masks were being required during a time when CDC was not recommending masks for those who had been vaccinated. There was no mention of masks on the entry form. I withdrew when the last minute mask “reminder” was issued. The same club that claimed they were enforcing mask usage on Saturday, opened on Sunday with no such requirements. I’ve included one picture from the tournament. Apparently, this was a masking optional event.
I won’t bore you with issues with my dog, finding a house painter, juggling table tennis schedules, my struggles to cook a decent meatloaf, and weighing the benefits of carbon blades. Nobody will feel too sorry for me. But, I tell you this – It’s always something.