What the Hell?

[Corvidia]

I work as a referee for girl's volleyball a couple days a month, and the association I work for puts us in schools all over the area.

Today, I was assigned to a school waaaaaay on the other side of the city--about thirty miles from my house and the game started at the same time as everyone else in the family needs to be picked up from school, so the other referee picked me up.
He spent the entire trip complaining about black people. "There's something cultural in them that makes them not want to learn in groups..." "One time, I told these kids to get off the net and they wouldn't! I had to go get a janitor of the same skin color to tell them to get off..." etc.
The school we refed at is mostly black.
Seriously? What are you doing refereeing at a school like this with that attitude?

And THEN he complained about racial tensions and how he thought that was all over with his generation (he's like 80). Right, because bussing kids around forty years ago solved all racial tensions forever more.


Also, does anyone else ever run into people who have NO concept of personal space? Seriously, it irritates the shit out of me. This guy was also one of those kind of people. He would be talking to me about some damn thing related to volleyball between sets and games, and he would stand FAR too close. He's old, I don't know him, he was in a position of authority over me, he's slightly creepy, and I already didn't like him when this shit started. I would step back, he would step forward. Repeat. For all four hours I was stuck with him; at one point he had me backed against a table trying to escape him.
It's not like he's blind or senile. He should be able to read my body language enough to know when he's making me uncomfortable and ref-ing requires some ability to read body language anyway. Shouldn't repeated attempts at backing away be a sign?

Or kill me.

[Elder Iptuous]

there's some people that just didn't go to class on the day they taught reading other people's body language.
these people suck.
there's this guy i work with that's like that.  won't let you escape a conversation even if you have your damned back to him and are walking away.  once, i even told him i had to use the restroom and did the pee-pee dance, and he wouldn't stfu....
and when in meetings, he has this gawdawful loud nervous laugh that can be heard far across the cubicle farm, and will slap your thigh or back when he tells a joke that's not even really a joke.

what the hell?!

[Golden Applesauce]

Those of us with poor body language skills often appreciate direct, blunt feedback on our performance.

If someone is talking to you and won't stop, say "Look, the reason I'm walking away is because I don't want to listen to your incessant yapping." or "Try that at half the volume and about 2 meters further back."

[Corvidia]

Refereeing requires the ability to read at least some body language; you have to know when a parent or coach is going to explode and you have to be able to read the other referee in order to either save them from angry people. He does that but can't seem to get it when I back away.


GA: If the person in question isn't my superior, I DO tell them. There's a guy from the Hollywood Video I do bank runs with (I work at Game Crazy, which is inside the same store), and he has this problem, too. I've told him to back the hell off and he does. This guy is my superior for a little longer and I don't want to be assigned games thirty miles away again.

[Corvidia]

I like that idea. I'm going to find a picture of a lovely black girl now.