Dopers: how do you handle being the ringer on trivia night?

In My Humble Opinion
41

[QUOTE=bouv]
The only thing I’m confused about is the prize. You said you got enough to cover about half your check, yet you personally paid for almost all of your meal? Shouldn’t the fair thing have been to split it up so everyone just pays half of what they would have owed other wise? How did you end up owing almost your whole pre-prize bill? :confused:
[/QUOTE]

Because the one guy wanted to divide the check evenly, regardless of who had what. The same one guy who had offhandedly said, “I’ve got your burger from now on!” after the first game.

42

I can’t see for the life of me how there’s any debate about this.

You’re there for the social aspect- to have a good time and play a game that you know is going to be held on that night. In that case, you win- it’s all good. An unexpected discount on whatever people WERE GOING TO BE BUYING ANYWAY, because they came out to have a good time.

Otherwise, why are you there? To win a free meal? In that case, stack your team.

Are you there to gain some personal glory or recognition for yourself? If so, “bar trivia maven” is a sad title to want. This is a title that is given to you, not one you seize for yourself. It’s cool if you’re organically recognized as someone who knows a lot of dumb shit, because it’s a minor and interesting facet of your personality. To demand it, in whatever form, seems shrill, and not cool at all- because you’re demanding recognition or definition by something so damn minor as to be laughable. “I should get more of the entirely social bar prize because my contribution was greater?” Crap, who even keeps TRACK of that stuff?

Seriously. In bar trivia, or high-arc softball, the office prank wars, or other things of that ilk, you should have a vague idea of who’s good and who’s not. To attempt to quantify such things is a waste of time. To invest anything in it emotionally is creepy and/or misanthropic. To demand compensation for it is… I don’t know what it is. I do know that you’d never get invited out with us again had you pulled that stunt- better to lose with people you like than win with a douche.

I’m not saying you ARE a douche or that your asking of the question was any more than an idle inquiry. But I’m answering your idle inquiry by telling you that a serious inquiry would be cause for derisive laughter and bouncing from whatever group played trivia.

43

The one guy shouldn’t have said “I’ve got your burger from now on,” then.

44

Whether you should be compensated as a ringer depends on whether or not you joined as a ringer. If you joined in the clear expectation that your extraordinary trivial knowledge would bring your team prizes, and it does, then they owe you. I’m not sure what they owe you, but they owe you sump’n.

If you joined because you’re just a smart guy who might help the team, then you’re just part of the team, not a ringer, and they owe you what anyone else is owed.

45

[QUOTE=Evil Captor]
I’m not sure what they owe you, but they owe you sump’n.
[/QUOTE]

See my post above. Clearly, he didn’t mean it, but he did say it.

46

I think I should have to pay less when I’m out for being the most fucking awesome person at the table. My friends should pay me appearance fees. They don’t realize how lucky they are that someone as smart as me shows up for free. Assholes.

47

Actually, in your case, I think you’re right, lobster.

48

We used to go to a local watering hole for trivia night back in the day. They had 7-10 rounds a night, and the winner of each round won a pitcher of beer. The final prize for best overall was either a case of beer or $25, depending on the week.

Everyone had their speciality. One of my friend’s was the ace for sports trivia. Another was an ace for music trivia. My brother was the go-to guy for movies, especially older films, Oscar winners, and James Bond. I was sort of like the utility infielder, not great in any one area, but lots of breadth, and I was fast, speed counted, so I was usually the one in charge of getting the answers in.

But, perhaps most importantly, we also brought along a couple of friends who pretty much never answered a question right. They were “the designated drinkers”. Someone had to drink all of that beer, and if it was left to us we’d have never gotten an answer correct after the fifth round or so.

49

[QUOTE=Rilchiam]
If it was something tangible, I’d draw straws or whatever, and if it was something tangible that could be divided, like candy or something, of course it should be divided equally.
[/QUOTE]
It is something tangible – it’s a certain amount of dollars you can only use within the bar. I don’t get why you’d be willing to split $50 evenly among the team, but somehow $50 in bar credit is something else entirely.

50

Yeah, that’s another thing. This group is alcohol-free on game night, because of what you and others have said.

Anyway, I think I see what’s been happening. The people responding to this have been envisioning a scene where the final scores are announced, the check is presented, and Rilchiam brushes the check away and onto the floor, sniffing, “I’m not paying that because I am teh awesomeness.” No such thing. Not even anything analogous to that, and not even anything I would like to have done.

What I was mulling was the possibility of saying to the one guy, “You know, a while back, you said ‘I’ve got your share even if we don’t win,’ and we won anyway. And this time we didn’t win, and you didn’t have my share, so I was wondering what was up with that?” But I’m not even going to do that. I don’t like it when people say things like that and promptly forget, but they don’t like it any better when people call them on what they said. However, I didn’t put that in the OP, because I also don’t like it when people state a simple grievance, then follow with a backstory that begins, “I met this person in 1999…”

I don’t dispute that people would be grossly offended by a check-brushing attitude. But if it was a matter of talking to someone privately, afterwards, and just asking what was up, would that also mean banishment from the group amid howls of laughter? I hope people around here are not so thin-skinned themselves that no one can ever express doubt or dissatisfaction in their friendship without getting bitten and excommunicated on the spot.

(And FTR, I had much appreciation for the other right answers, and I made this known.)

ETA: Interrobang?!, I don’t think it is the same. If it was cash, for use anywhere, not just the bar, I probably would not hand it right back to the bar. I’d more likely spend it on a book or something.

51

[QUOTE=ShibbOleth]
But, perhaps most importantly, we also brought along a couple of friends who pretty much never answered a question right. They were “the designated drinkers”. Someone had to drink all of that beer, and if it was left to us we’d have never gotten an answer correct after the fifth round or so.
[/QUOTE]

:smack: What didn’t I think of offering my services as designater drinker? A youth wasted.

52

I was at a trivia night with my folks ( I have *got *to improve my social life) I answered most of the questions and mum said how clever I was. Dad replied; “Well, we *made *her.”
We shared the prizes evenly.
Yeah, the guy who said he’d cover your burger is a jerk for forgetting that.
The only other trivia nights I go to are run for the local Italian club, to which I do not belong. As the ‘obscure stuff no-one knows’ ringer, I’ve stopped my team from coming last every time. They give me nothing!

53

[QUOTE= Rilchiam]
I don’t dispute that people would be grossly offended by a check-brushing attitude. But if it was a matter of talking to someone privately, afterwards, and just asking what was up, would that also mean banishment from the group amid howls of laughter? I hope people around here are not so thin-skinned themselves that no one can ever express doubt or dissatisfaction in their friendship without getting bitten and excommunicated on the spot.
[/QUOTE]

“Once, a few weeks back, you told me that you’d buy me a burger. Remember when you told me you’d buy me a burger? Well… I still haven’t gotten my burger, and you DID say you’d buy me that burger…”

Oh yes. Howls of laughter. maybe not banishment, because you’d be way too much fun to make fun of until you quit. And if you said this in private, it’d be three minutes or less before the “debtor” in this situation would be recounting the story to others. Whether he’d be amused or insulted when doing so depends on his individual temperament.

Please consider the possibility that it was a compliment and not a promise.
And get over it. It’s a social situation, not money game.

54

HSHP, who do you hang out with, that you can even imagine that scenario?

55

But there’s a ‘u’ in Doofus.

(Which is what I think when management pulls the ‘no I in team’ line…I mean no offence to anyone on THIS esteemed board.)

56

[QUOTE=Rilchiam]
HSHP, who do you hang out with, that you can even imagine that scenario?
[/QUOTE]

Probably people very similar to the people I hang out with, because that’s exactly what would happen. The reason I can barely imagine that scenario is that it is very unlikely anyone would raise the “you said you would pay for my burger” issue in the first place, but if someone did, it would result in some good-natured mocking.

Actually, I agree with you that it is unfortunate that the guy said that in the first place. He was expressing his admiration, and that is cool, but he did it in a clumsy way – was it supposed to be hyperbole? Did he mean it and it slipped his mind? Was he expecting you to respond with “oh, don’t be silly, I’m here for the fun” (which is the correct answer, but you can’t always count on it). As with many things in life, responding to a clumsy social move with another clumsy social move is never the way to go. Two wrongs don’t make a right and all that. In case it’s not clear, going back and asking for clarification on the burger statement is the second clumsy social move. You don’t need clarification because you already have it.

57

[QUOTE=delphica]
Probably people very similar to the people I hang out with, because that’s exactly what would happen. The reason I can barely imagine that scenario is that it is very unlikely anyone would raise the “you said you would pay for my burger” issue in the first place, but if someone did, it would result in some good-natured mocking.
[/quote]

Yeah, but within three minutes? Would a clumsy social move, as you call it, be important enough to run and tell everyone about it immediately? And I don’t know where HSHP got the idea that I would mumble and stutter like Hugh Grant, even if I did ask.

He and many other posters in this thread have engaged in a great deal of hyperbole and jumping to conclusions. Based, I might add, on something that I was unsure enough about that I started the thread in IMHO. Yet I got reactions more appropriate to a Pit thread in which I was convinced that I was an injured party. If I really needed to “get over” it, I wouldn’t have asked for input.

Anyway, the clumsy social move explanation makes sense. (Also, that bit in the OP about a dollar from each player shouldn’t have been in there. I wanted to hint at the amount I owed; poor wording.)

58

Well, maybe it’s time to put a dollar value on praise and admiration. How much is it worth to you to have someone say you’re “fucking amazing?” Is it worth about the price of a dinner? Then you’re fine, you’ve been more than adequately repaid for your hard brainwork.

And if that’s not enough, think about how much it’s worth to you to know that everyone who reads this thread now knows that you’re a “ringer” on trivia night, that your teammates think you’re “fucking amazing,” that they’ve improved drastically all thanks to you, that you’ve not yet ever suggested a single incorrect answer, and that a careful tabulation done by yourself revealed that you, alone, account for 40 of their 98 points. I mean, wow, now we ALL know that. That’s got to be worth a dinner AND some mozzerella sticks.

More seriously, it’s time to look at the reactions in this thread and chalk them up to something more than just people “misreading” your post or “jumping to conclusions.” Thinking about how you should benefit more from the prize because you’re the dominant player strikes me as petty, and maybe also cheap. And apparently other people think so too. Honestly, I can see how this might leap into your mind as a wry little random thought when the check arrives. I think most people in that situation would dismiss it, chide themselves, and not bring it up again. But you went further-- you came to an internet board to get other people to ring in on it.

Next time don’t order dinner and then it can be a non-issue. Or would it bother you even more to have your teammates derive all the benefit, and you none?

59

[QUOTE=Rilchiam]
Out of 98 points, 40 of them were all me.
[/QUOTE]
We’ll just have to agree to disagree on the bar credit issue, but I thought of another issue: Would you have won if you were playing by yourself? Were the other 58 points necessary for your victory? If so, then I think it’s another argument for letting it go – whether your team wins by 1 point or 57, the prize is the same. Its size doesn’t vary based on your total points, so I don’t see that it’s necessary that your share of the prize should vary based on the number of points you contribute.

Of course, all of this is up to you and your circle of friends. You know 'em better than we do.

60

[QUOTE=Rilchiam]
Yeah, What I was mulling was the possibility of saying to the one guy, "You know, a while back, you said ‘I’ve got your share even if we don’t win,’ and we won anyway.
[/QUOTE]

The guy sounds like he was saying something in the heat of the moment/drunkenness. I kind of am getting the sense that if you ask him what’s up, he might not even remember/care. Better to let this one go.