Replying to Politics in the industry.

Now you guys have all grown accustom to me going on some needless rants and going overboard, BUT I wanted to bring this topic to a discussion board where it might get some light shined on it.

In the past few years of delving down deeper into the ski industry, I've began to notice a lot of back room deals going on. Favoritism could be a word used maybe. But all of these "Reps" for companies act like theyre the coolest thing since sliced bread (I hate to name names, so I'll use initials instead to disclose their identity, D.P.) as youre trying to negotiate a deal for season with these sleaze bags. I'm not sure on the culture of "the elitist" but there are a lot of trendy people in this industry that follow that elitism moto.

for an example:(note this is just one of many encounters with the politics in skiing I have come across) an elitist rep for a known company gave me a bottom of the barrel jacket one day, just a jacket. I had nothing to go with it and I was moving back to Massachusetts. So I needed cash, nothing an elitist would know about, and I turned around and raffled said jacket off to help with my travel back home. Was it wrong, yeah probably, but was it the best choice I had at the time, youre damn right.

I think people in this industry jump to conclusions without even hearing someone's side or trying to understand why they took those actions before just writing them off.

I dont know if many people in this industry have experienced these politics in this industry as I have. But I'd like to get your take on this topic.