Idiots

[Gogger]

Look, I know that "rentals" are the life blood of paintball and that we all probably started that way, but having just spent the weeked marshaling some painfuly awful groups, I had to make a comment on them.
At our site, we are very strict about keeping masks on. At the start of the day I give a 20 minute talk, half of that is telling them about the mask and that they must keep it on!
We let them know that the first person that lifts the mask outside of the safe zone, will sit out the next game.
The second person, and every person after that who lifts the mask will STOP PLAYING AND LEAVE THE SITE!
I can't understand why on earth they keep taking the damn things off? One guy I caught today with his mask on top of his head thought I should let him off, as he was "only adjusting it"!!!
Towards the end of the day, the guy that had sat a game out earlier (yes, caught again!) Asked me if I would "turn a blind eye this time!" Can you believe the cheek, or the choice of words.
Short of stapling the mask onto their heads, does anyone have any ideas as to what else we could try.

 

[KillerOnion]

I saw that all the time at the field I reffed at for 3 years or so. Basically what I did after a while, other than make jokes about it over lunch with my fellow refs, was to fully explain to them that it's for their safety which is important to both them and us. In short, I was emphatic about it but nice and professional. Occasionally I'd blow my top and yell "Hey jackass, keep your f$%&ing mask on!" or "Is this sinking in?!?! MASKS ON UNTIL YOU GET TO THE PARKING LOT. THIS IS NOT COMPLICATED PEOPLE!" and so forth, but that was rare. You basically have to catch them with their hands touching the mask before it comes off, meaning that you are watching and that you do mean business. Don't even think about it is the message. Convey that it is simple and not unreasonable and to an effective end and it will sink in. My voice gets about 300% louder on the field, so often I've been told by them that they didn't want to tick me off out of simple fear. Hey, not exactly what I was looking for, but it got the job done.

Also, recommend PGI and this site to them. That has been proven to raise the IQ of paintballers everywhere.

 

[eric]

Whats wrong with your staple idea?

 

[KillerOnion]

The staple idea costs money for the staples and a stapler strong enough to get the job done. Talking/nagging/screaming costs nothing except maybe 10 cents for a peppermint or two to keep your throat working well.

 

[eric]

I'm too lazy to yell, just charge them for the staples.

 

[KillerOnion]

Yeah, but by the end of the day you would have carried cases and cases of staples. That takes a lot of effort along with loading them and taping their mouths shut to suppress the screams of tacking staples into their heads, though in some cases they may not have any feeling up there anyway.

 

[eric]

So you tell one of them that if he does all of the work he won't get stapled. If he lifts his mask, staple him too.

 

[KillerOnion]

Now you're getting into as much dialogue as my method employs, but with the added need of possessing a stapler and staples capable of the job for such to work...an unnecessary step and expense, especially for a self professed slacker. Staple idea loses 3-0.

 

[eric]

We have several, my dad owns an aquarium business that runs from our house, and you have no idea how helpful industrial size staples(dry wall staples) can be.

Eric -1
Onion -0

 

[permboy]

the best way our site finds to deal with these sort's of people is to explain in raw detail what happens to an unprotected eye. E.g incoming gruesome bits and gore flying out of the eye and so on and so forth