Editor’s Note: This article is part of our series of highlighted exemplar recognitions. See our introduction post for all the details, or view all the posts in this series. This article was written by Vermont Area Rep Rick Salamin.

Ben Klein is a Level 2 Judge from South Burlington, Vermont. His recognitions came from Chris Richter, Sean Catanese, and Shawn Doherty, who wanted to relay the following message from a player at Grand Prix Las Vegas:

I was recently in attendance at GP Las Vegas with my wife, Jessica. I just wanted to take a moment to recognize one particular judge at the event who I thought went above and beyond in providing excellent service. As a quadriplegic, I do not have finger dexterity and need assistance from my wife in order to physically play magic. Additionally, this also requires fixed seating at events for ease of accessibility. Over the course of the extended weekend (as I played in side events on both Thursday and Friday), Benjamin Klein was always there to help me with whatever I needed. Sometimes during side events, I was in a section where he was not even part of the assigned judging staff. When a problem arose, he somehow managed to turn up and assist me with whatever the problem was. I even jokingly asked him how he ended up assigned to the events in which I was participating, and his answer was that he was just glad to assist if he had time, even if it was not his event. Long story short, multiple times during the weekend, he went out of his way to provide excellent customer service to me (and my wife), which served to exponentially increase my (our) overall enjoyment of the event. Benjamin was professional, courteous, polite and competent as a both judge and a facilitator. It is judges like Benjamin that represent the judging community well and provide an excellent play experience for all involved. I really appreciated the assistance, even when that was not technically his responsibility, and the personal attention that he was able to give me. I hope my message reaches Benjamin and that he is recognized for his amazing contribution and commitment to the judging community.

Here’s what Rick Salamin had to say about this recommendation:

Being a veteran Judge, as Ben is, means that many Judges already know who you are and what to expect of you. In turn this can make being exemplary difficult if being exemplary really is your norm. Ben in his many years in the program has always cared about the players in his events and will do what he can to ensure they are enjoying the event. This is no less true for his recognition this wave. While Ben didn’t think twice about helping make a disabled players day better at Grand Prix Las Vegas his actions truly touched the player. The player, and his family, made sure that the story was shared which resulted in Sean Catanese, Chris Richter, and our own Shawn Doherty recognizing his efforts.

Thanks Ben for caring about our players in ways that we hope everyone will.