The ClusterF#*K Called Competing

I’ve competed a total of two times in my career.  You always hear that it is such a great experience, that you will learn so much and get so much out of it and it will make you a better tech.  While that may be true, it is not the most awesome experience I have ever had in my life.  Actually, it ranks as one of the most frustrating to date.

You have people who check you in who are rude and bark orders at you at 7:00 in the morning.  Never mind that you are new, have no idea what you are doing.  Yes, the rules were read, yes, the competition class was attended the day before, yet you still don’t know all of the procedures.  Some simple guidance would be appreciated instead of being barked at.

Next, you have the people attending and competing with a supposed language barrier.  I say supposed because I feel some of these people use this as an excuse.  I sat and witnessed one girl, be told over and over that she was not allowed to touch her model.  Yet she continued to do it when no one was looking.  She did this for all three competitions during that two day time period.  At what point, should these people running the competition disqualify her?  I heard a veteran competitor complain and say that she was warned three times and should be asked to leave.  The floor girl just shrugged her shoulders and the rule breaker kept breaking the rules.

I have heard through the years about the rampant cheating that goes on.  I didn’t witness any, but then again, I am new, I wouldn’t know how they cheat.  I didn’t see anyone getting busted for cheating, but then again, no one was really watching things too close.  I know that there were things that I asked about and was told I couldn’t do, yet others were doing it.  When I questioned someone later, I was told it was a miscommunication.

Here’s the worst part, you pay $85 per competition and unless you are one of the top ten, you don’t get a score sheet.  So, no critique for you.  How are you to get better without a critique?  They say that judges will be around later to critique, but I never found one to do it for me.  They say that this type of judging makes it go faster.  REALLY?  It took hours for the judging to be done.  I am kind of happy I didn’t make the top ten or my model would have been sitting in a chair all day long.  No exaggeration.

I think the thing that bothered me the most was reading on Facebook, one of the judges saying something like (totally paraphrasing here) “So proud of my girls today, it was such an honor to hand them their trophies”.  Now this sure sounds like favoritism.  I’m not saying that this happened, but if you put something out there like that for the entire Internet to read, it’s going to make people wonder.

After that first time, I thought what the heck; I will try it again next year.  I thought maybe if I did some research over the next year it would help me.  I also thought maybe the running of the competition was a fluke that last year.  Well, I was wrong.  Nothing changed.  Well, that is not necessarily true, I did make the top ten in two competitions this time, but for the most part, things were the same.

I actually saw an almost knock-down, drag-out figh,t due to one of the judges, being accused by a veteran competitor of letting someone from the company that they own win.  It was crazy.  I realized then and there that nepotism is rampant in the competition arena.  There really isn’t a fair shake given to the no names.

It’s sad that there is so much politics in competitions.  Why can’t we just have a fair and square way to come, have our work judged, critiqued and become better professionals?  That is what is currently being promised, yet that is NOT what is being delivered. 

Signed - Been There, Done That and Moved On