Where was the GP at Championships?

FIRST General Forum
1

So I thought a long long while about how to bring this up and I figured posting it would be the best way.

Mind you the incidents stated are just specific examples, this was something that happened the entire weekend, not an isolated case of GP slipping someone’s mind.

I spent a lot of time taking the elevators up and down to get around the dome this Championship. It was early Friday when I got denied access, so I just smiled and waited for awhile (45 minutes) until someone showed up that would give me the clearance I needed to get me my badge, after all, the men and women working at the dome were just doing their job.

It was in these elevators that I heard things that broke my hearts. For example, Saturday I was going to retrieve a camera case and entered an elevator to see the operator in near tears, when I asked what was wrong she informed me that a member of one of the teams had called her a B***** with a few expletives that came prior to the offensive word, all because the woman was doing her job and didn’t let the woman on the elevator.

I tried to calm her down only to learn that she had heard that same phrase 6 times earlier that day, a day that she had only been working for 3 hours. The man who came in to relieve her for a bit said that he had been sworn at too, by both students and their parents.

I started to listen a bit and heard people yelling at the guards when they said they couldn’t bring in water, or their flags.

I’m sorry but if my grandmother heard me talk like that she would be turning over in her grave. GP is not something that just lives between conversations of FIRSTers, it should live everywhere. GP shouldn’t just come out for 7 weekends a year, it should come out 365 days a year.

Thank you for your time and I hope that next year I don’t have to walk into an elevator and hear what I heard, I was disgusted.

-Kelli

2

dude,
I’m speechless. If i EVER heard any member of any team say anything like that, I would have corrected them right then and there. I would also get their team number and gone directly to their pit to discuss such behavior. If I ever heard of one of my students acting in such a way i would demand they apologize to the offended party, the student would be put on probation and if it happened again they would be kicked off the team with no questions asked. I hold the tenet of GP too highly to allow such idiotic behavior to pass without action.

PS: folks have to remember that volunteers/staff are people too.

3

I witnessed this as well.

A few team members and myself gently stopped a FIRSTer from another team who was screaming at a guard. Fortunately he calmed down quickly. I was embarassed for his team and for FIRST.

As FIRST grows larger this will be more of a problem. The problems of society will start to creep into the FIRST experience. The answer is grassroots action. This can only be solved one team at a time. Coaches need to teach the underlying FIRST principles all year long and hold a very high standard for coaches, students, and parents.

On our team, if you don’t get the message, you don’t travel!

4

I would go as far as to say this is not just an issue between team members and workers, volunteers, and event staff, but I would say this a problem between teams too.

There was an instance at the Boston Regional where students from another team ripped down the banner that some of our students spent hours working on the day before, and then ended up tearing our banner. Every time we put it back up, it was ripped down again. Then one of the students cursed at one of our college mentors, saying some very nasty things, for no apparent reason.

Behavior at competitions and anywhere else for that matter not only reflects your team, your school, your town, even your state, but also represents FIRST.

I know the majority of students in FIRST would not act that way, but “it only takes one bad apple to spoil the whole bunch”

5

I witnessed a similar thing from a distance on the way into the dome itself right before Einstein started.

It seems like some people have a problem with elitism, thinking they are “better” than the “hired help”. In my experience, this is unfortunately not something you can expect to solve via a direct approach to the persons involved.

6

I did see some of this in the Pit. Not a whole lot, but some.

FIRST did initiate a new report this year, a ‘Non-Medical Incident Report’, and it WAS used at regionals and Championship. I don’t know how they’re going to use the information, but they need the information before they can use it.

If you witnessed or were part of the receiving end of some non-graciously professional behavior, let FIRST know about it. Send an e-mail to [email protected] to let them know about it. Please include the team and/or person, if you are aware of it.

7

Well, that’s awful.
I’m sorry to hear this, Kelli. ugh.

The event staff should have a system in place for them to contact a FIRST staff member directly - to report these behaviors. They could be instructed to note the team numbers/colors/name and then report the incident(s). Then the team lead - mentor or parent - should be notified as to the behaviors and the consequences if these actions continue. (It’s not too hard for FIRST to find these staffers for confirmation, they are at the entrances and in the elevators and they can’t go anywhere.)

There should be consequences.

Thank you for thinking about how you wanted to introduce this topic into the CD fora and what you wanted to say, Kelli -

Jane

8

This is completely unacceptable, wether in FIRST or out of it. It makes what Woodie is saying just seem like lip service.

One of my team’s parents was doing traffic control on Saturday during load up in Atlanta once, and was cursed out by a mentor of a team we are friends with. She was crying, didn’t know what to do, and many people checked with me to see if this team has always been hostile with us. I was shocked and saddened this had happened.

I vow as a FIRSTer, a gentlemen, and a brother to never do this, and to stop it when I see it happen.

It seems like some people have a problem with elitism, thinking they are “better” than the “hired help”. In my experience, this is unfortunately not something you can expect to solve via a direct approach to the persons involved.

This too is a problem. These people are doing their jobs, just as I’m an engineering student and had to do some guest relations jobs, so could these people and they should deserve our respect. I think this should also come from the top. When I heard Dean talk about unsatisfied HS drop outs in their work lives, I saw some of the crowd control at the Dome shift a little and feel awkward. These aren’t statistics; they are people who have real problems and lives. Lets treat them that way.

9

It is a reality that, as FIRST grows and more teams and more participants join, the number of opportunities to both display and deny the tenets of gracious professionalism increase.

No team is immune to this. In just this past week I have seen some of the most amazingly professional behavior exhibited by a rookie team that obviously “gets it.” Simultaneously, I saw acts by a long-term veteran team that would have made Billy Martin and George Steinbrenner cringe in embarrassment.

The intent here is not to point fingers, but to reinforce the idea that ALL participants in FIRST need to be aware of our behavior and how we act. This is not limited to just the things that happen at the Championship. This is true whether we are at a competition, in school, at work, at home, on a internet forum or chat room, or out in public. We may or may not be wearing a FIRST team shirt or be identified as a FIRST participant. But that shouldn’t matter. The principles of gracious professionalism are not to be taken off when the team t-shirt is removed. Our representation of our respective teams may come and go. But we always represent ourselves. It is how we each behave as a person – not as a team member – that matters.

You can disagree with a referee’s call. You can be upset with a “silly rule” being enforced by an event employee. You can disagree with the policies of a school or sponsor. You can be angered by decisions made by FIRST or any other organization. There is nothing in the principles of gracious professionalism that dictates that you should simply roll over and accept any of these situations. The important part is HOW you decide you are going to react to them.

You can scream and yell invectives at a referee, or you can present a logical, reasoned, supported argument for why you disagree with a call, and then elevate an appeal if a satisfactory solution is not found. You can verbally assault someone that is doing the job they were directed to do, or you can recognize that they have instructions that probably stem from a set of goals and concerns that are different than yours, and understand that the restrictions may source from a person different than the one standing in front of you. You can throw a tantrum over school board restrictions that prevent you from attending a certain competition, or you can become determined to do something about it and work within the system to enact a change to what you view as restrictive policies. You can post a series of vituperative missives on Chief Delphi about “dumb decisions” by FIRST, or you can find a way to make your displeasure known in a strong and unmistakable way that is also calm, respectful, not insulting, and acknowledging that there may be other factors associated with the decision of which you are not aware. Then you can volunteer to jump in and help find a solution.

Our behavior – both good and bad – is contagious. Set a good example, behave in a mature, reasoned, professional manner and we will find that others around us will too. Throw tantrums, scream at officials, abuse those lower on the corporate food chain, and others may follow suit. We lead by example – the only choice is what type of example do we want to set?

Remember, as the reports of the unfortunate incidents listed above indicate, your grandmother - and everyone else - is watching.

-dave

.

10

Well put Dave,

GP is a way of life we all should be striving to abide by, and in the mentioned situations, it was definitely lacking. As Dave said though, many people seem to have this vision that GP doesnt allow for standing up for one’s rights, and standing up for what they feel is right. One fairly frequent CD-er has a sig that essentially states that GP is just that, Gracious Professionalism, not Granting Pleasantries (i think those were their words).

11

Kelli, I heard a lot of this too. I had to take the elevators about a trillion times a day, and I was always very nice to the Georgia Dome staff. However, I saw many instances of teams (and even volunteers) being rude to the staff. Yes, we’re in the Dome all day, running around…things get crazy. Tensions can run high. But that is no excuse to stop demonstrating the gracious professionalism we have had ingrained in us from day 1.

As FIRST grows I think it is especially important to remember to teach GP by example- some teams don’t get it taught to them as rookies because of inexperience, and some veteran teams don’t demonstrate it as often as they should. However, most teams that I see are great. Those of us who do know what those two letters are all about should be teaching it to others. I’ve been lucky enough to have my grandparents at most of the events I have been to in the past, and learning GP by literally acting as if my grandmother was watching- because she was. I have always kept that in mind, and encouraged others to act the same way.

Like Dave said above me- Gracious Professionalism does not mean letting things that bother you just roll off your back. You can, by all means, be against a decision or a rule set in place. It is HOW you react to those situations that really makes the difference.

When the going gets tough, the smart keep their GP.
:slight_smile:

12

What you described, Kelli, was absolutely despicable. I don’t know if those students/parents got what they deserved or not, but they should. unfortunately for them, though, an offense such as disregarding GP only has long-term effects; its the kind of thing that can lose a team’s sponsor, respect from another team, job opportunities, or later in life get someone fired. I hope the offenders realized that in some simple actions they have probably ruined this ‘robotics competition’ for many people.

for shame.

I know we had an incident in the Connecticut regional where a representative from a rookie team wanted to talk to us for alliance pairing. They weren’t doing too well, about 40th in the rankings and didn’t stand out much to our scouters. The went to talk to us, and happened to get into contact with the wrong person on our team who told them, “Sorry, we don’t want to be with you. We are too good for you”. That is another one of those little things that can absolutely ruin this program for people- and for a rookie team no less.
We are still in a tough spot as to what to do with this person- she appears to be the person on our team who just doesn’t and refuses to “get it”. its sad, really.

13

GP is simple. If I can steal something from the Scouts:

A FIRSTer is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, brave, clean, and cheerful. I left out a few items from the Scout Law that are more in line with Scoutings mission than FIRST’s, but we could do a lot worse than adopt a simple code like this.

14

I completely agree with you about most of that. For example at Palmetto there was serious scoring mistakes during the elimination rounds (quarterfinals to be exact) The opposing alliance had their bonus points doubled and when I found out I approached the refs. The refs were more than amazing and were extremely patient. It took a while for the whole situation to be sorted out and eventually we played another tie breaker match to settle the problems.

At Nationals I noticed that the refs were a little overwhelmed. When we approached about a penalty given to us after we were pushed past a line marker they were not extremely happy and we lost the match. I guess the refs had been hearing all sorts of complaints and just couldn’t take one more. =(

It’s really a shame that some teams and individuals have to resort to such hostility and unGP during the heat of competition. Hopefully the situation will improve in the future.

15

It is unfortunate that these events are happening but what Dave said is probably the best advice. We are fighting a culture here that recognizes that throwing a fit/cursing will get you attention and often times, sadly, results. I would be extremely embarrassed if it was one of my students or another Purdue FIRST team member/mentor.

At Midwest regional they asked all the volunteers to watch a video on GP but I am beginning more and more to think that we should have set it up for the teams to watch as well.

FIRST is about leading instead of following and we need to make sure we lead our fellow mentors and students toward positive ideals.

16

When we checked in at the airport, the lady at the counter said “there was another team here before you and they weren’t very nice at all. I never volunteering to do group check in again” I heard a similar thing from another one of the airport staff last year. This just isn’t right.

17

Boy, that put’s spreading the news of FIRST in a whole different perspective, doesn’t it?

18

Another thing to keep in perspective is you will almost always only hear about the bad things that happen. When I volunteered at West Michigan Regional the hotel staff told me the teams staying there were some of the most kind and respectful groups they had ever had.

19

This is really terrible that this goes on but Dave nailed it.

Honestly i think it a best practice for teams to spend time on this issue. We have given 1 year team suspensions to students that don’t get it and we will not hesitate to do that again.

On a semi related issue it seem like, and several people mentioned it to me, that it seemed that the pits were unnecessarily messy. It seemed to go beyond the problems of having to travel long distances to Atlanta but went down to just bad habits.

It isn’t a tough leap to go from messy areas to messy minds.

I’m not talking show booths, but just basic industrial hygiene.

20

What are you referring to because I didn’t attend this years championship?