[Steppes] Discouraging / Encouraging

[Jay Rudin]

Ches wrote:

> How can we fix this? Well, from now on I will personally put
> fake regalia on our gate people if that is the problem. Burger
> King still makes those crowns ... right?

Even better -- put real insignia on our gate people.  Nobody gave us any 
trouble when the people at gate were Baroness Katheryn, Mistress Serena and 
myself.

[It sounds like I'm being flip here.  I'm not.  Part of the solution is not 
to expect new members to do our uncomfortable work alone where they can be 
easily mistreated.]

> Seriously though, is there a method of submitting a complaint
> if the offender is a person of higher rank?

Sure.  Go up to any peer or noble you trust, or to the event steward or 
whoever is in charge of the gate, and give them the details, complete with 
name.  (Even if the event steward isn't a peer or noble, he or she has the 
ear of many people who can fix this.)  At a small event you see such a 
person fairly soon, and at a large event you should have a walkie-talkie.

> How can we complain or to whom so that there is no
> backlash on us if it is a person of rank or Peerage?

The short answer is that you can't.  If you embarrass peers or nobles 
publicly, they will be annoyed, just like anybody else.  And by hypothesis, 
we're talking about a peer or noble who's willing to be a jerk to you.

But don't let that stop you..  What have you got to lose?  The jerk peer is 
*already* being a jerk to you.  If you complain, they may be a jerk to you 
again, but also, we may get the problem fixed.  And your reputation goes up 
with the rest of us, as you become known as somebody willing to take risks 
and to stand up to highly-placed jerks in order to make things better.

Robin of Gilwell / Jay Rudin