I want to share a story that happened to me tonight, and find out how you would have felt?
I was at a community dinner with the entertainment being a quiz. There were 12 tables and their was one prize ONLY for the winning table - a cruise on a yaught.
The crowd was noisy and there weren’t proper rules for answering the questions, so our table was quite content to enjoy the evening rather than go crazy like some of the other tables.
One of the girls at my table told me she had a competitive nature, and that she wanted to win at everything she did so she was a little more aggressive in answering the questions than the rest of us.
I was enjoying the evening, but wasn’t phased in the least that we weren’t winning.
Then we were asked to make as many words as we could out of a couple of letters, and sitting next to the competitive natured girl, she motivated me to start firing off words. Half our table really got into this part of the competition, and we came up with a pretty damn good list.
After dessert, the results were shown on the screen, and I was SHOCKED to see we were in tie FIRST PLACE. A sudden death round was called - one person was to be nominated from each of the tied winner’s tables, and the first one to stand on their chair and answer the question correctly, was the WINNER. My table nominated me.
The question was called out:
Which part of the body do you wear a Garter?
In seconds I was up on my chair, looked round my table, and as none of them were giving me any contradictory signs, I confidently answered:
Around the thigh. (there is a custom for Jewish girls when they get married - the guy takes the garter off his newlyweds thigh, and throws it over his shoulder and the single guy who catches is, is suppose to be the next in line to get married)
I was expecting the annoucement “that is correct, table 6 is the winner“, but instead heard “incorrect“.
By then, the question had been placed on the screen, as I had jumped up while the question was being read out before it even had time to be displayed on the screen…
…and I read “On what part of the body do you wear the Gartle?”
A gartle is a belt in Jewish law - I knew the answer, and watched in dismay as the other team gave the correct answer and were declared the winners…
…and won the prize of the cruise on the Yaught!
So now I’m on a LOW! I’m not phased about not winning the cruise - if I want to go on a cruise, I’ll book one! But I do feel that I let my team mates down. Perhaps I should have listened to the question being read more carefully? Perhaps I should have discussed with my team mates more before I gave the answer?
Anyway, I don’t feel like I had an overly competitive nature tonight - the girl sitting next to me had a far bigger competitive nature than I did! And yet, without being able to explain it, I’m on a low. I had victory in my grip, and I let it slip away.
I wasn’t phased before about winning, but when VICTORY was handed to me, and I handed it back - for some reason I can’t explain, I am now on a LOW because I had lost when I should have won.
And that hit me harder than if I hadn’t thought of winning in the first place.
6 responses so far ↓
1 Amanda // Jul 30, 2007 at 2:41 pm
Hey Eric
As the competitive girl who was sitting next to you - I gotta say being competitive is a good thing - embrace it! We had an awesome time made ever better by the tension. And your post has lured me into commenting on a blog - which I almost never do. Garter was far more interesting anyway!
see you
2 Robert // Jul 30, 2007 at 4:28 pm
Eric,
Just like your quizz team companion or as she says,”the competative girl who was sitting next to you”, I too am competative. I’m a typical Type A person. And it did me serious harm healthwise. But luckily I learnt how to now never let the word ‘failure’ into my vocabulary.
Instead I get ‘different results’ and can tolerate the type of misunderstanding that happened to you. But I still get moering hacked off with life’s other different results! :0[
Anyway - who was the quizzmaster? I’ll get my people to call your people then we can all call his people and……
Don’t fret about losing a trip on a yacht. There’s plenty where that came from.
See you later!
R@iScattlerlings
3 Chris M // Jul 31, 2007 at 3:27 pm
Well, I would consider a couple things.
1. The team nominated you as their leader for the final question.
2. None of them objected to your premature jumping up.
It’s a pity that you did not hear the word correctly, and perhaps waiting for it to arrive on screen would have been safer, but if you had waited, the chances are the other team might have leaped up before you managed too.
A competitive nature is always a good thing, and from knowing you personally, I know that you do have a competitive nature, and that you do think before you do things, so based on my opinion, I’m sure the other members of your team see these same characteristics, and therefore won’t have felt the slightest bit upset with your attempt.
As you said.. if you want to go on a cruise, you’ll book one
4 Ishtar // Aug 3, 2007 at 1:41 am
I think you should be cool about it. A competitive nature is a good asset, but it also depends on the setting and the motive. Somethings are really worth fighting for - others aren’t. The fact is, I am actually more impressed with people who are satisfied with what they have, rather than those who always want more. You can always think about it this way: The other table got to win a nice prize, and you guys can always book yourselves a cruise. It’s not like you’re living in a landlocked country!! I on the other hand get to go on sand safari (if I like). Or I can take my mare and race for an hour… Mmmm, life is what you make out of it. I wouldn’t fret, especially not over one lost opportunity that you weren’t so keen on in the first place… Cheers!
5 Tania // Aug 3, 2007 at 12:22 pm
If a gartle is a girdle and a garter isn’t a gartle or a girdle, is a “yaught” a West Coast version “yacht”? If so, don’t worry. You missed getting sea-sick on a fishing boat.
6 Henk Kleynhans // Aug 13, 2007 at 9:10 am
Eish, I know that feeling!
Being competitive is not the issue here. You DID know the answer, but got snaaied by a glitch!
Don’t worry though, I didn’t know what a Gartle is. For enlightening me, I’ll take you on a yacht cruise one day with pleasure!
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