Shauna Moerke is…

I have been a high school debate tournament judge for the last 10 years. 10 Years! Geez, I feel old. I was a debater in high school (Lincoln-Douglas debate, the only real kind as far as I’m concerned. Watch the Policy people come after me now.) and I was more than happy to come back and help my school out at tournaments.

It means giving up most of your Saturday’s and some Friday evenings throughout the fall, but I felt it was worth it. I get to help out my school (judges are hard to find and good ones even harder), and there is a little monetary compensation for my time as well. My family has also been heavily involved, and at one point I was even recruiting, training, and coordinating judges for my school. I feel a lot of loyalty to the program and the people.

But now we have a problem. The last two years I wasn’t paid for all the tournaments I participated in. Neither has my sister or husband. All told, we’re talking about $1,000. We will never see that money and we accept that. We certainly aren’t going to try and get it now. But do we go back? Do we keep judging for them even though the last two years we have been shorted? We aren’t doing this for the money, but that’s where the problem lies. We were promised a certain amount of compensation so it hurts when the promise isn’t fulfilled.

How much should we forgive because of bonds and loyalty? Would you? What if it happens again this year? Would I even be questioning this if it was any other job?

As it stands now, nothing has happened. We haven’t contacted them about judging this season and haven’t been contacted yet as well.

Should it stay that way? Let me know what you think in the comments.