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guest
November 25th, 1999, 04:34 PM
If you want proper validity given to your complaint, you should have the courtesy to give your name and e-mail address for BDA to respond.

Anyway, here it is:

Avery, Harry and Dennis have been working Bridge Day for years.
It is not lack of experience that brings glitches and snafus.
It is just the nature of the beast, and that beast is Bridge Day itself.

Many jumpers who have gone to Bridge Day for many years, have made comments about its' improvements. It seems that most of the recent string of bitching is from those who have just started the yearly Bridge Day pilgrimage.

Who stood in line for 6 hours at the gymnasium?

Who had to go to Keller at 5am for their jump pass?

We have tried to make improvements where we can, but we can't please everybody. We just better be sure to please YOU!

We sell 300 slots, and that does not include OUR staff.
WE choose who will be on staff.
Many of those people have proven their commitment over the years.
Those people give MONTHS, or WEEKS, or DAYS, or at least HOURS of service. The people who run the exit area give TWO HOURS ON BRIDGE DAY.
Some of the jobs they do:
They build exit ramps, they run errands, they go to the airport at midnight to pick up stranded jumpers, they brief the Rangers on proper gear handling, they brief the Boat Rescue guys on proper gear handling, they patrol the river shore to pull YOU out, they make sure the portable toilet makes it to the exit area, and then back off the bridge at the end of the day.
(When they remove it, it's as full of $#it as some of y'all!)
They run the exit area.
Examples of people who do not qualify to run the exit area:
First time jumpers,
those who have flaked on commitments in the past,
and whiners.

Some of the staff members only get one jump on Bridge Day.
Take Harry Parker for example.
He worked the event, ran the exit area all day, and jumped ONCE.
He is not complaining.
He has the passion for the sport, and more to the point, he has the passion for that one special day.

For Harry, Avery and Dennis,
Bridge Day IS ALL YEAR!!

The Bridge Day Commission wants to micro-manage us, and now you too want to micro-manage us.

We do not run the Hotel.
We try to work it out as best as possible.
There's hundreds of people,
119 rooms.
We do not run the bus.
There's hundreds of passengers,
and only a few buses.

As far as the competition,
Dennis, Harry and Avery have been working Bridge Day for years.
Even when that other guy signed the permit, we still were right there helping make the day run as smooth as possible.
We do this because we have a true heart-felt passion for Bridge Day. We do it with very little reward or appreciation. We get bitched at.
We have made OUR Competition OUR reward. WE run the show.
WE have been given the right to run it how WE SEE FIT.
And, the bulk of our committed staff members is harvested from those competitors. That's because we spend lot's of time together over the WHOLE YEAR, time when we train, and work out problems of the last year.

Your registration gives you rights to make ONE JUMP, after that, another jump is a bonus.
What are you going to do when the weather sucks and you do not get to jump AT ALL?
Are you going to bitch at GOD?

I made sure to go down the line a few times and see that people were in line at the proper time. At the end of the day, I made a sweep to be sure that any body who did not jump yet, was ushered to the exit area, so they could jump.

We do not require an I.D.
The State of West Virginia does.
We have to go with SOME of their rules. (They don't want you to do a Mr. Bill, but….. you can!)
As far as people cutting in line,
(that's q-skipping)
how on earth can we police the line all day? You people have to cooperate amongst yourselves. If your jumping pals want to hose you, sorry.

Someone complained about standing there for an eternity between ten and noon.

AT ABOUT JUST BEFORE 11
THERE WAS A TRAIN!
THE PERMIT DOES NOT ALLOW JUMPING WHEN THERE IS A TRAIN.
THAT TRAIN WAS THE LONGEST AND SLOWEST TRAIN IN THE WORLD!
AND JUST WHEN IT WAS ALMOST PASSED, IT STOPPED,
AND PARKED FOR TEN MORE MINUTES!
WE LOST 52 MINUTES TO TRAINS THIS YEAR!
NOT IN OUR CONTROL!

Also, when some fool hooks in his Sabre, it takes a long time to pick up his broken body.
YOU have to wait. Sorry.

As far as special care being taken, this in regards to Yuriko Fujiwara.
It's my prerogative to help people in situations where I see fit.
I took a special interest in a girl from Japan who did not speak English. She was coached off the bridge for the first time ever by Harry Parker USING ONLY SIGN, AND BODY LANGUAGE!!
Talk about passion.
I made sure she was escorted bottom to top.
If you are so selfish that you do not want us to take that kind of care when we choose to, please do not come around!!
We take care of you at other times too, when you live in Europe and can't get a US$ money order, we try to help YOU out with leniency.
If you miss your plane, and do not show up until 10pm on Friday, we make an effort to get you registered.
It goes on and on and on.

Thanks for the opportunity to set some things straight.

I guess if ten people bitch, and 290 are satisfied, then we must be doing a fairly good job. I guess it's just that the satisfied people are naturally content with their lives, and are out living.
The ten bitches, have to sit around the house bitching and whining,
And whatever,
screw you guys!

Avery Badenhop
Bridge Day Association
Event Coordinator
bridgeday@hotmail.com

imported_mknutson
November 25th, 1999, 04:57 PM
I think that the mear 10 people bitching is pretty good.

guest
November 26th, 1999, 05:46 AM
I think you guys are doing a great job & it gets better every year. Keep up the good work!

guest
November 27th, 1999, 10:35 PM
If you can't please 'em all,
at least you can please yourself!!
Good job, BDA.

guest
November 28th, 1999, 06:47 PM
Avery,
I try every year to find you on Saturday night and thank you for your efforts. I also try not to interrupt when you are taking care of business, so I am sometimes unable to do it.
I thought BD went great aside from the couple of things beyond your control. Thank you again.
Todd

guest
November 29th, 1999, 12:16 PM
This was my second year at Bridge day and you still do an excellant job. I saw you walk the line a couple times and make jumpers get back in line who otherwise were trying to skip ahead. I also saw you walk up and down the line asking if there was anyone in line who has not jumped yet. You can only do so much and I would like to say that your efforts have not gone un-noticed.
thanks again for doing such a great job!!

guest
November 29th, 1999, 05:36 PM
Avery,

Don't sweat it! It comes with the job. And it's nothing new.

"I hate Bridge Day, and I'll never come here again as long as Jean Boenish's running it!"

.................................Bridge Day 1987

"That Andy Calistrat guy has got to go!"

.................................Bridge Day 1992

"Only one jump, line cutting, ba blah, ba blah!"
.................................Bridge Day 1999

Bridge Day Satisfaction Plan:
(Follow this plan, and you will never have a bad Bridge Day experience).

1. Don't act like a skydiver at a boogie.
2. Do act like a pro making a demo.
2. Plan on making one jump. (Maybe!)
3. Learn something new.
4. Greet old friends and meet new ones.
5. Watch at least a hundred BASE jumps.
5. Help one person who knows less than you.
6. Personally thank the current organizer.
7. Enjoy the party.

Nick
BR

guest
November 30th, 1999, 12:25 AM
Those 10 bastards are a bunch of assholes. This was my first year at bridge day and it freaking rocked man. Had the best time and was really imopressed with the organization. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!! AND THANKS FOR THE RIDE FROM THE AIRPORT.
P.S. IF YOU NEED ANY HELP FOR NEXT YEARS THEN GIVE ME A CALL.
NACHO

MT
November 30th, 1999, 03:28 AM
1. Don't act like a skydiver at a boogie, didn't.
2. Do act like a pro making a demo, didn't
2. Plan on making one jump. (Maybe!), did that.
3. Learn something new. Did that.
4. Greet old friends and meet new ones. Did that.
5. Watch at least a hundred BASE jumps. Did that.
5. Help one person who knows less than you. Not possible.
6. Personally thank the current organizer. Did that.
7. Enjoy the party. Did that.

Why make all these comments? well I put on one of the comments under discussion and I don't think people realised that even though I had a minor complaint I was still seriously indebted and grateful to the organisers for doing all the hard work that resulted in my first base jump.

My complaint wasn't (although I mightn't have made it too clear) leveled at the organisers. It was at the assholes who took advantage of the general freedom of the event and jumped the queue, lied to Avery when he enquired as to whether or not they had gotten in one jump,

Major thanks to all involved it opened up a whole new realm to me and apologies if it seemed like I was laying the blame on you guys. I was just making an enquiry and at least the BDA got the chance to show how much goes into the event and I realised that next year I'll bring a baseball bat and beat the first ##### who jumps the queue to death and hopefully that will make them think twice (like #####, assholes will always be assholes).


Next year,
C-Ya.

guest
November 30th, 1999, 08:49 AM
Yo Avery, Hary, and the rest of the BD Crew !

This was my 2nd BD (just drove down from NY to
watch last year 98') and my 1st Base Jump this
year 99 !

Even last year ...I was amazed to learn that
that huge event was put togther by a small
VOLUNTEER group of folks !

Kudo's to you all for the excellent job ya's all
did !
It looked like it was wearing a few of
ya rough around the edges (yea...isn't this
stuff supposed to be fun ! ha! ha!)

Thanks for all your efforts and if there is any
thing you need help with next year let me know
I wouldn't mind helping out!

Thanks for making it possible guys!
Charlie Krachy

guest
November 30th, 1999, 10:04 PM
Thanks again..another kick ass BD. C-ya next year.