Complaints, Change And Resistance

[charliej47]

Originally Posted by fitump56

If you think that you are not emotionaly or psychologically influenced by taking pay, you are either in denial and/or out of touch with your real feelings.

I see this constantly on this Forum, and with hundreds of umpires I have worked with. I had the same puffy chested stance myself.

Who wants to admit being under the thumb of the Payor? Especially when we are abused, underpaid and at their whim and call? It is degrading, isn't it?

So the answer is often " no one owns me"; ain't the case. No matter what, if you take the pay, you are owned.

For outward appearance, umps talk tall " I won't do this or that", "I call the shots, not those who pay me". BS, puffy chested talk.

Umps are human beings, with egos, most of us have been terribly abused; we need the paycheck and no one stands up for us. What do we have left?

Puffy chested self esteem. What a sad comment that is on our society that we are so undevalued.

By your definition everyone is always under someone's thumb. When you pay to have you hair cut, they are under your thumb. When you go to work, you are under your bosses thumb.

Or you can look at it as a business transaction. That is why in the state of Ohio I am labeled a contractor. The HS contracts with me to perform a piece of work under certain conditions and I sign a contract that obligates both of us.

When I "contract" to umpire a ball game, it is under certain conditions. I am an independent contractor performing "piece of work" "umpiring a ball game" for a certain amount of money under established rules that I will enforce and they can not change.