violins in the street. not quite
yes, i know i was going to post something else before this... but life happened.
i will be putting most of this behind a cut for length, but the summary?
i am slowly pulling out of a depression "relapse", and today was my violin lesson.. and it really, really, did not go well.... such that i may end up in a fight with the school to get a partial refund. which i did not need to be dealing with right now.
plus my finances suck. still, i remain convicted that life will. in fact. get better.
The basic background on the violin thing?
first of all, each lesson is half an hour. i am the 3:30 lesson, his first of the day. he is booked at 4 for a little kid, and apparently booked solid for a couple of hours.
The school (settlement music school) which contracts with the teachers and handles all the business side of things has a deal that you may have up to 3 make up lessons.
you pay for lessons no matter what, even if you cant make it. unless the TEACHER cancels... but if missing is due to work, school or illness. or certain family emergencies, you get a make up lesson. (maximum of three)
so please note.. if i dont show up the teacher still has to be there in half an hour for his next class, and he still gets paid for being there.
the teacher has had to move several classes from tuesday to thursday to suit his schedule.... sometimes i could make that, but sometimes not. i am still owed a makeup lesson for one of those times.
i missed two for work. as i flew out to Louisville on a tuesday before class. and got back tuesday after class the next week. i called in over a week in advance, and told the person i would be out of town on business for a week, and would miss two classes. they apparently put it down as "other reason unspecified" and ... on top of that. ....no one told the teacher.
i found out when he called me to see if i was "still taking classes" i then informed him about the fact that it was work. and i had called in advance! i called settlement and complained. and they said the problem was i had talked to a guy who is only in one day a week.. and they would indeed fix it to reflect the fact that i am owed two make up classes.
i was out sick last week. my bad, no make up lesson owed.
i was called by settlement and told i owed them for the classes i missed, we argued about the fact that one of the classes i "missed" was a class the teacher moved to thursday and i cant be in town on most thursdays.... they fixed that.. and i informed them i would be there today... and would pay for the lessons owed at that time.
so i come in this week. lousy traffic. paid for the classes i missed.. got a slip stating i was owed two make up classes for the two i missed due to work. and one due to the teacher cancelling.
and tuned up... and waited..... and waited..
and the teacher came in at 5 minutes to 4 for the next student....
right, not in time for my class.
the lady at the desk tried to talk to him in the next room..... i could hear most of it.
he said "i was here last week, and she didnt show up... i dont have TIME for her" and a few other things.
he wouldnt even come in to talk to me about scheduling the makeup classes.
did i mention next wek is the last regularly scheduled class i had?
like i said.. i dont need this.
i will be asking the school to refund a lot of those payments i just made. but i am not sure how that will go.
this on top of people owing me money (some of them because they havent gotten money that is owed to THEM yet) the roof having to be fixed (which aint cheap), and my car engine needing work.
i will be putting most of this behind a cut for length, but the summary?
i am slowly pulling out of a depression "relapse", and today was my violin lesson.. and it really, really, did not go well.... such that i may end up in a fight with the school to get a partial refund. which i did not need to be dealing with right now.
plus my finances suck. still, i remain convicted that life will. in fact. get better.
The basic background on the violin thing?
first of all, each lesson is half an hour. i am the 3:30 lesson, his first of the day. he is booked at 4 for a little kid, and apparently booked solid for a couple of hours.
The school (settlement music school) which contracts with the teachers and handles all the business side of things has a deal that you may have up to 3 make up lessons.
you pay for lessons no matter what, even if you cant make it. unless the TEACHER cancels... but if missing is due to work, school or illness. or certain family emergencies, you get a make up lesson. (maximum of three)
so please note.. if i dont show up the teacher still has to be there in half an hour for his next class, and he still gets paid for being there.
the teacher has had to move several classes from tuesday to thursday to suit his schedule.... sometimes i could make that, but sometimes not. i am still owed a makeup lesson for one of those times.
i missed two for work. as i flew out to Louisville on a tuesday before class. and got back tuesday after class the next week. i called in over a week in advance, and told the person i would be out of town on business for a week, and would miss two classes. they apparently put it down as "other reason unspecified" and ... on top of that. ....no one told the teacher.
i found out when he called me to see if i was "still taking classes" i then informed him about the fact that it was work. and i had called in advance! i called settlement and complained. and they said the problem was i had talked to a guy who is only in one day a week.. and they would indeed fix it to reflect the fact that i am owed two make up classes.
i was out sick last week. my bad, no make up lesson owed.
i was called by settlement and told i owed them for the classes i missed, we argued about the fact that one of the classes i "missed" was a class the teacher moved to thursday and i cant be in town on most thursdays.... they fixed that.. and i informed them i would be there today... and would pay for the lessons owed at that time.
so i come in this week. lousy traffic. paid for the classes i missed.. got a slip stating i was owed two make up classes for the two i missed due to work. and one due to the teacher cancelling.
and tuned up... and waited..... and waited..
and the teacher came in at 5 minutes to 4 for the next student....
right, not in time for my class.
the lady at the desk tried to talk to him in the next room..... i could hear most of it.
he said "i was here last week, and she didnt show up... i dont have TIME for her" and a few other things.
he wouldnt even come in to talk to me about scheduling the makeup classes.
did i mention next wek is the last regularly scheduled class i had?
like i said.. i dont need this.
i will be asking the school to refund a lot of those payments i just made. but i am not sure how that will go.
this on top of people owing me money (some of them because they havent gotten money that is owed to THEM yet) the roof having to be fixed (which aint cheap), and my car engine needing work.