Rules......rules are the rules. NO....rules were not made to be broken. Rules were made to be enforced and followed. I am a rule follower. I always have been. Now, I am not saying I don't occasionally break the speed limit or run a yellow light, but I still consider myself a rule follower. I spend most of my days enforcing rules and the occasional consequence on my children and other people's children and I am totally okay with doing that. The key word there is "children".
The past 2 weekends, Evan has had away football games. Saturday before last was at Centerpoint. When the family and I arrived to the field and approached the gate to pay, I handed the nice lady $6.00 to pay for me and Loren. She said it would be $8.00. I proceeded to tell her, no mam it will not because the pee wee football rules states that admission WILL be $3.00. She says, "well we were told to charge $4.00". I quickly pulled the rules out of my bag and shared them with her. To make a long story short, they (the people in the booth) decided to make things easier on themselves and charge the approved admission price of $3.00 per person. Well, I won't leave out the part that involved me standing by the gate and when I heard her say $4.00 each to someone , I would walk back over and say... "now remember, the rules say to charge $3.00". Same response every time....a roll of the eyes and she told them the right price. And yes.....those that paid $4.00 before I arrived went and got their money back. Loren said, We had been there all of 2 minutes and I was already ticking people off..... I guess it is just a talent I have. Come on people....just follow the rules!!!!
This past Saturday us Beavers traveled to Bismark. We were leaving the house around 8:30 and my phone began ringing and my Facebook was sounding. Somehow I knew it was regarding the game at Bismark. Once again, we encounter a school that has chosen not to follow the APPROVED pee wee football rules. They were also charging everyone $4.00 and they were refusing to honor AAA passes. Both of these statements are clearly printed in the rules. Many folks let the lady on the ticket booth know she was wrong about the price she was charging for gate admission. But once again they were told, "this is what we were told the charge.". The funny thing is, those individuals that are giving the instructions to over charge ARE NEVER PRESENT!!!! Well.....Bismark also decided it would be less trouble to go ahead and let people pay the approved gate admission, but would not budge on the AAA passes. I spent a great deal of my morning there confronting those that were breaking this rule. In a matter of 45 minutes, I was a witness to an adult female lying to my face about attending a game at GR and her AAA pass not being accepted, I was accused of typing up the pee football rules myself, and was also told that the rules were not "rules" they were just "suggestions". The last excuse is my favorite. That one did make me laugh out loud when she said that.
The past 2 weekends, I was witness to adults breaking, ignoring, and bending the rules so they could collect more money. What a sad day to be an adult. The rules were established to be enforced. The same rules should be in place at every place we play pee wee football. What kind of example does it set for our children if we choose to be "rule-breakers". And yes, those people from those two schools were breaking the rules..........pitiful.
And.....last thing...... I am used to people rolling their eyes at me. I am used to people getting upset when I question what they say and what they do. I am used to people just acting like we should ignore it when people are rude , mean, and are obviously breaking the rules. I have been called a "pot-stirrer" a few times......and I am prepared to wear that label with pride..... We all need a nickname.
