Win or Lose

I was recently invited to be a judge in different competitions by an IT school. It was a new experience for me. I've been a judge before, yes - for college beauty pageants and games such as Paint-Me-A-Picture. Sheesh. =D But not in "serious" stuff.

I was kinda apprehensive about accepting the offer but my friend assured me that all I had to do there was watch the participants, and eat my snacks. Haha. Pretty easy...

So I just shook all the apprehension away and prepared for the event by reading the guidelines for the different competitions. And I thought, well, it was a bit challenging but I guess there ain't much to worry about.

But I was in for a surprise. There was one participant who was so toxic. As in T O X I C. At first, he corrected me on the way I pulled the IDE cable. He said I could break the pins if I pulled it the way I did. Grrr.. I admit pulling computer cables is not one of my favorite things in the world but the way he said it really got into my nerves. I wanted to excuse him for treating me like that because he didn't know me but I can't help but get irritated. So I let him pull the other cables instead - though it was not allowed in the guidelines. Duh, whatever.

Then, when he started to assemble the PC, he was so rash, impetuous.. I deducted points from him for improper handling of the hard disk and other devices. He even shook the CPU box because one screw was missing. Gosh. And then when he turned on the PC, he couldn't get it to boot. After a few attempts, the computer really didn't boot at all. He kicked the table and said "Malas, Sir..", with a very disappointed face.

He started complaining that he got all the connections right and that there was just something wrong with the computer that is why it didn't boot. The other judge told him that he saw that the computer was functioning well before the competition and that there was no reason why it would suddenly malfunction.

To cut the story short, he was the ONLY ONE out of the 9 participants who wasn't able to boot the computer - and he was the MOST ARROGANT!

I was really stressed by the incident but I learned the following from the experience:

• Neverbe arrogant. Always be humble.
• If you are a judge, read the guidelines thoroughly.
• If you are a judge, you have to be calm and composed, ready to resolve any complaints from the participants.
• The decision of the judge is final and irrevocable.

I really learned a lot from the experience. =)