Getting Vote Kicked by PuGs...

These are both "Snippets from the Ghosts of PuG's Past" - neither are too terribly recent, just figured they were good enough stories to include.  
 
Flashpoint: Hard Mode 55 Flashpoint - Hammer Station

Character: Level 55 Mercenary (DPS)

This was the first of the only two times I was kicked from a Group Finder Flashpoint...

I ran this flashpoint from the group finder not too long after I had hit 55. I had already run Terror From Beyond and Scum & Villainy so I had a few pieces of 69 gear, plus all of my Campaign/Dread Guard from Pre 2.0, so I wasn't geared terribly, and I generally know how to play my class. (Still had my 61/63 barrels for my main and offhand at the time, and had nowhere near 100% accuracy.)

All is going well, when we make it to the Bonus Boss. The tank tells us how he wants to do it, and everyone agrees. So he pulls the boss and me and the sniper (same guild as the tank and the healer... I was the odd man out) in the group both start unloading. The tank was actually doing a decent job of holding aggro, and I only pulled off of him once, very early in the fight, which is understandable. However, the boss enraged, and we wiped. So we regroup, the tank tells the group that the "dps has to pick it up" and pull a second time.... The boss enraged again with around 8% remaining and wiped us. At this point, everyone is starting to get a little agitated.... We regroup and pull him a THIRD time, and he enrages yet again.

At which point I get the message: "Player X (the tank) has initiated a vote kick for player Apostrophe. REASON: Needs to learn to play his class."

Since the other 3 people in the Flashpoint were all from the same guild, I was doomed at that point. Accepted my vote kick and sat on Fleet for a minute feeling generally crappy about the whole thing.

Me: (wondering to myself) "Is my DPS really that bad? I know I am not geared yet, but I have cleared that Flashpoint before without a problem... Was I getting carried?"

So I decided to upload my Combat Log to TORParse and see how bad it really was.

1,800 DPS

Pew pew pew pew!!!

Now, 1,800 dps isn't a chart topper in the gear I am currently in on my mercenary, (now I pull between 2300-2400ish, and I still don't have my 69 mainhand barrel) but at the time? It was actually pretty decent. It also put me in the top 10 DPS Merc's on the TORParse.com statistics at the time. It also meant, that the sniper that was with us (guildie of the other two players, remember) was likely pulling LESS than 1,000 dps or so. Which is pretty darned sad.

At least I knew, that I wasn't getting carried, and I was doing my part to pull my weight. And suddenly I didn't feel so badly about getting booted from the group.

Flashpoint: Hard Mode 55 Flashpoint - Hammer Station

Character: Level 55 Mercenary (DPS)

This was the second of the only two times I was ever kicked from a Group Finder Flashpoint.

I was once again on my mercenary, and got lucky with a pretty fast queue pop. The tank was an Assassin, appeared to be adequately geared in mostly Basic Coms (66) and Black Market Elite Coms (69) gear. My mercenary at the time, was full Arkanian with Partisan PvP relics/implants/ear.

Anyway, we get in the flashpoint and the tank immediately puts a guard on the Operative healer. I don't think much of it, as they were both in the same guild. And we went on our merry little way.

A few trash pulls in, it becomes apparent that I am going to have to keep Chaff Flare (my threat reducer) on cooldown, because I am pulling every mob off the tank. I figure it's not that big of a deal, since holding on trash CAN tend to be a little more difficult than holding a single mob at times, so I don't make a huge stink out of not having a guard. I wasn't dying, and was usually killing the mobs before they made it to me, and the healer wasn't working all that extra hard. Until... I see in the group chat:

Tank: "Apostrophe... Please stop taunting off of me. Thanks."

Me: "I am not taunting off of you, but... OK."

We continue through the flashpoint, I pulled aggro a couple times on the mining droid boss, but no one said anything about it. HOWEVER.... we get to the Bonus Boss, and things got weird. The tank pulls the boss, I set myself up from range by where the healer was. (Our other DPS was a marauder, geared a little lesser than myself.) I pulled aggro on the bonus boss almost the entire fight. I would pull, the tank would taunt, once the 6s of his taunt expired, I'd have the boss again... I'd even hold off a little on my dps to give the tank the chance to build up some threat to get ahead of me, then I would unleash again (bonus boss has an enrage remember?) But yet, anytime I would get a crit on Tracer Missile followed by a proc'd Unload? The boss was once again mine. We manage to kill the boss, but the healer had to work pretty hard to keep me alive since I kept eating the boss's frontal.... Then I see in the group chat:

Tank: "APOSTROPHE STOP F&$KING TAUNTING OFF OF ME!!!"

Me: "You do realize I am a mercenary right? Maybe you should give me a guard since I keep pulling off of you?"

Tank: "Guards are for healers so they don't pull aggro. STOP TAUNTING."

Me: "I am a mercenary.... I cannot taunt. Maybe you should learn how to tank."

Then I get the notification that: "Player X (the tank) has initiated a vote kick for player Apostrophe. REASON: Won't stop taunting."

The healer (in the same guild as the tank) votes to kick me, and the other dps who hadn't said a word the entire time, also votes to kick me.

I just put them all on my ignore list (and switched over to my Assassin tank also, and put them on my ignore list) and went about living my life, chuckling a little bit over how funny people can be.

Maybe Hammer Station is just cursed for me? (Especially the Bonus Boss...)