Players too noisy
I direct and have 10 - 12 tables. I seem to be losing the battle to keep the talking down, more so between rounds. I ask politely for members to lower their voices and, if I do not keep asking for some reduction of the noise, it gets completely out of hand.
My other problem most weeks prior to starting play, the president or vice president, front me with complaints from members. One complaint was about a gentleman (dummy) who advised his wife which cards to play. I did say something about dummy not speaking but felt it wrong to name the couple. The wife is slowing down and it looks like she has early dementia. I feel that the person who complained should have called the director at the time. The couple really love their weekly bridge game. Although I do bring complaints to the members notice but I did think if a complaint is made after a game, the committee member who listened to the complaint should take some responsibility and speak directly to the person named.
I like to direct but am finding it harder these days. I play whilst directing Anyone have any suggestions?
Johnathon
Comments
I see the primary function of a director is to make for pleasant evening where people enjoy themselves and come back next week. With 10-12 tables it seems that you are achieving that goal.
With decent numbers and noisy people it sounds as thought you have a social session that plays bridge, rather than a bridge session that is friendly. I don't mean that in any way disparaging, these are great to be involved in. Should you succeed in keeping people quieter, you run the risk of changing the atmosphere and popularity of the club?
Part of keeping people happy though, is applying the laws in a fair and consistent way. So that issue has to be managed.
Your current form of reminding players at the start about some aspect of the rules (remember that dummy should stay silent and not indicate cards that should be played, or whatever), is great.
In this specific situation with a player possibly having early senility, one should be sensitive to all sides. A quiet word with the complainant to let them know the situation is a good start. People will often make some allowances when the know what is happening. A word with the dummy that was leading partner is also needed... clarify that your reading is correct about his wife and to set some expectations.
It may be too soon for this yet, but some years ago our club had a long standing member (40+ years) lose her mental facilities. We all agreed that we wanted her to keep coming for as long as possible, so carried on letting her do whatever, revoke etc... then at the end of the night we removed all their results for every board. That way people could be relaxed, supportive and sociable with her without any impact on yhe results. Only when she lost physical capabilities (so accidents became to risky) did we have to, sadly, stop her from coming to the club.
It sounds as though you are doing yhe right things, so try not to stress about it... Good directors that run popular sessions are invaluable.