u/sheepishcanadian82

I'm pretty new to the sports side of things. I've always been active, but I'm new to the social side of pickleball. I didn't grow up playing tennis or anything like that, so I have a question more about open play etiquette than actual pickleball.

My husband and I mostly play together. We're not DUPR rated, we're not trying to become some professional pickleball couple or anything, but the main reason I play is because it's a hobby we enjoy together and want to get better at together. He has a tennis background, so he's a little better than I am, but we've been playing for a couple of years now and we're improving.

We've been joining lots of open plays, mostly all-level sessions, which is totally fine with us. We've talked about getting rated so we can join higher-level open plays, but honestly we don't care that much. Sometimes people want us to split up, and that's fine too. We'll play with strangers. That's part of open play and it's fun.

I've seen a bunch of different formats. Some places do 12-minute rounds where you play whoever you're with until the timer goes off, then everyone rotates using a paddle rack or a board. I've also played fixed-partner leagues, which have been fun too, but those are usually just one game and you're done.

What I'm wondering about is the format itself.

I kind of like the idea of best-of-three. Especially with a new partner, a new court, or even switching from indoor to outdoor, I find the first game is almost a calibration game. You're figuring each other out. Then the second game feels like the "real" game. My thought was that if one team wins the first two, great, you're done and rotate off. But if it's one game each, you'd play a third as the tiebreaker.

I know the obvious downside is time. More people would be waiting to get on the courts, and I completely understand why that matters.

I guess my question is... are there open plays anywhere that actually run like this? Or is one game and rotate basically the accepted standard because it's the fairest way to get everyone on the court?

Customer wants a free oil change. Problem is, they already used their free oil change last visit. To stay in the program they have to do the paid service in between. Looking at the history, they've been doing this exact thing every 6 months since they bought the car 6 years ago, and somehow it's still an argument every single time.

Then I had another one today who somehow got two free oil changes in a row. No idea if the advisor was new, got bullied into it, clicked the wrong thing, whatever. But now they're in front of me expecting another free one.

"But they gave it to me last time."

Yeah... and?

So I told them, if that's what happened, then the person last time didn't do their job properly. Why would I intentionally do my job wrong because somebody else already did?

They kept pushing. "Can't you just do it?"

In my head I'm thinking, I don't understand. Would you want me showing up at your work telling you to ignore your company's policies and do your job wrong so your boss can talk to you about it later?

Obviously I didn't actually say that part. I wanted to. But I didn't.

They still didn't get just their free oil change though, so I guess I still win.