Deadbeat Pupil, Hooray, she's gone! Options

[susiejean]

I have had at least a couple of pupils like yours and I too have the 24 hour cancellation thing, but always feel incredibly guilty if they use illness as an excuse! As teaching is my only income I try to keep as many lessons going through the school holidays as possible. I just can't afford to have 12 weeks unpaid in a year, but I still have many parents who refuse point blank to have their child do anything at all in the hols as "they need the rest" but all I really ask for if possible is that they have lessons for half the hols.

[notmusimum]

Can't understand why pupils or parents bother, they are not getting anything out of it, nil effort and no return. I hate having to cancel lessons and on the rare occassions that I do I would always try to re-arrange. I really don't see why this type of parent/pupil wastes time the teachers and their own.

[hunny_girl]

lol oh dear, not that i teacher, but i left because my teacher fell asleep whilst i was playing!!!!

[Suepea]

lol oh dear, not that i teacher, but i left because my teacher fell asleep whilst i was playing!!!!

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) Surely you weren't that boring! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/closedeyes.gif)

SueHM - it sounds as if it's time to part company. I'm waiting to see if one of mine turns up tomorrow - if she doesn't, that's it. I have let it run on for some time because the family had a very bad time with a bereavement nearly a year ago (pupil's brother), but she was flaky before that and has become more so. I've got a very keen sounding adult ready to take her place.

[lottie]

I had a clarinet pupil who was eating crisps one day when I arrived for her lesson. I asked her to go and brush her teeth and she was gone for ages so I went looking for her... she was sitting on the stairs quite unconcerned and finishing her bag of crisps (which took her over ten minutes of a half-hour lesson).... then she refused to brush her teeth!!! bleauughh

She wasn't talented at all and came from a VERY rich family. She didn't practice very much and her mother used to make a fuss about finding the lesson money out of change in her purse every week (all my other pupils payed by term). Once I turned up to find she'd gone out on her pony. When I turned up to find her away on holiday for two weeks I told her mother I wouldn't be coming back. Luckily the mother agreed that the kid wasn't very motivated and was quite nice about it. In fact, she made me a cup of tea and spent an hour telling me all the family's problems and that wasn't the first time either!! I was so glad to drop that one.

At the time I was young, shy and naive. I wouldn't let someone take advantage of me like that now!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Minstrel]

In fairness to all your other pupils you should enforce your contract. Why should she not turn up and keep getting away with it? How would parents of your other pupils start treating you if they felt that it was ok not to keep turning up and not paying?

I'm afraid that, while I am prepared to be lenient if there is an exception and for a good reason, I still have to pay my mortgage and for all my own kids activities. I don't think for one minute that the bank would be very understanding if I said I couldn't pay this month just because Jo Bloggs had decided not to turn up again!

I love my teaching and would't dream of doing anything else but I realise that if I want to do it properly and do everything else that I want to do I have to run it as a business. Sometimes we can be a bit sqeamish about this but you mustn't.