Teaching Them A Lesson

Elementary/Primary School, Tutor | Learning | July 4, 2016

(I provide tuition services to both kids and adults. I mainly teach English as a second language, but I also teach art. One of the customers, who hired me to teach her kid both art and English, wants me to come three times a week and is far away from where I live. I have my trusty Vespa, but it becomes a problem if I drive 25 KM only to find out no one’s home. Every time don’t get notification that a client cancelled, I just go, and all of my clients know this. Around the end of the school year, this happens four times in a row. Each time after I call them for explanation they are somewhere else and apologise, saying they are sure they will be home next time. Rinse and repeat three more times. Obviously, after the last time (I should have done it after the first but eh…) I text the mother, telling her that due to the fact that she failed to cancel again and that I lost fuel going there and back, I will not arrive unless she confirms she will be there. I also send an email, to which she simply emails back “OK.” The day of the class approaches; I call her to confirm. No one’s picking up. I call her son; he’s also not picking up. The day of the class I do the same thing, about three hours before class, then two hours before, then one hour. No one picks up so I text them both that since they’re not responding and not confirming, I’m not going to come. No one calls back each time, either. At the exact hour the class was to start, I get a call from the mother.)

Mother: “Where the h*** are you?!”

Me: “I called and texted you, I even confirmed in email, that because of your neglect as far as cancelling classes goes and the fact that I lost more in fuel than you pay me per hour anyway, I won’t arrive unless you confirm the lesson.”

Mother: “I have no email!”

Me: “You replied to it.”

Mother: “That wasn’t me!”

Me: “Let me just check… [email address], is this you?”

Mother: “Yes, but I didn’t get it?”

Me: “You replied to it.”

Mother: “…”

Me: “…”

Mother: “So when can you be here?”

Me: “I can’t, not today. I have three hours to the next lesson and getting to you now, conducting the class and coming back, I won’t make the next appointment.”

Mother: “Cancel it! I’m paying you to do this!”

Me: “The appointment is in a school, with a group. Even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t be able to on such short notice, not to mention I don’t want to, because that would be very, very rude.”

Mother: “I’m paying you!”

Me: “I’m sorry, but you’re not paying enough for me to deal with this. I don’t think I will be coming over anymore; you’ll have to find another tutor for your son.”

Mother: “But I’m PAYING YOU!”

Me: “Goodbye.”

(I blocked her incoming calls.)

This story is part of our Tutors roundup!