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<blockquote data-quote="Marguerite" data-source="post: 134946" data-attributes="member: 1991"><p>Oh dreamer, I just hate it when people presume on you like that and then really mess you around because they're not organised.</p><p></p><p>I remember easy child's dance teacher - her husband was a control freak who decided to move them from the nice home they were renting, to live in a tent attached to a sort of greenhouse frame covered in plastic, on the block where they were planning to build. They had no amenities at all, I don't know how they got away with it legally. She had to keep all the props and dance costumes in the tent (the dance students paid for the costumes but weren't allowed to keep them) and a number of times thieves and vandals broke in (just by slashing the polythene). </p><p>To wash, they would use the free (cold water only, out in the open) shower at the beach. They had to shower with swimsuits on. No fun in winter, because the house took longer to build than expected. (Our winter - temperatures not lower than about 55 F, but still not pleasant). And no telephone - they used the public phone at the beach to make calls, but there was no way to contact them.</p><p></p><p>This teacher arranged to take her niece and her stepdaughter as well as easy child to a holiday dance school. I'd reluctantly said no, because I had an urgent appointment at a hospital on the other side of Sydney, they needed me for tests by 9 am and the pathology was to be flown by helicopter to Newcastle. I was just one of about ten people who were being tested that morning as part of a research project; easy child going to dance school was very low on our agenda.</p><p>Then the dance teacher said, "Let easy child do the dance school; you can drop her off with us at 7 am, we'll take her to dance school and bring her home again."</p><p>So I paid the (large amount for dance school fees) and agreed.</p><p></p><p>husband was driving me to the hospital - I was not permitted to drive myself, I needed to be resting in the car.</p><p>We arrived at teacher's 'tent' at 6.45 am, knowing it could take two hours to drive to the hospital.</p><p>Teacher wasn't there. The car was not there. easy child suggested we try the beach - after all, we were a few minutes early.</p><p></p><p>We met them as they were walking down to the beach to shower. Then the teacher dropped her bombshell - her control-freak husband had decided to drive himself to work and taken the car. With o phone she hadn't been able to call us, she said. And now she had no way to get to the dance school, which was to be held at a campsite at the end of a very long bush road. And she had to go, because she was one of the teachers. COULD WE PLEASE DRIVE THEM THERE?</p><p></p><p>We were both unimpressed. This teacher knew I had to get to the other side of Sydney by 9 am, the dance school wasn't due to start until 9 am and this woman was expecting us to put everything on hold so we'd take them. I asked why she hadn't rung us; she was just about to, she said, when they had their shower.</p><p></p><p>husband snarled, "No time for a shower. We hadn't planned on this. This is unacceptable. Yes, we'll drive you, because too many other people will be inconvenienced if we don't, but we leave NOW."</p><p>"Without my shower?" squeaked this woman, but husband insisted. </p><p>"It's badly out of our way. We're going to be really late just driving you to the conference centre, we should have left an hour ago if you wanted us to do this."</p><p>She seemed she was going to argue, so I quickly pointed out, "Bring your towels and stuff, you can get a HOT shower at the conference centre."</p><p>She still took another twenty minutes packing her stuff; we were livid. And husband's estimate was right - the trip to the function centre was on a dirt road and despite him driving like a maniac (the passengers looked green) the round trip still took us an hour.</p><p></p><p>Amazingly, the city traffic was good - we must have been between peak hour jams, because I was only 45 minutes late. They were still annoyed with me because they had to delay the helicopter, and a lot of people were mucked around. Luckily I had been able to ring and let them know, otherwise there would have been even more inconvenience.</p><p></p><p>What got me about this teacher - she always seemed so helpful, but although she expected her students' parents to put themselves out for the kids, she never gave an inch when she was the one inconvenienced. I remember one night where her husband turned up at her classes to tell her to shut up shop early, he had a work function on and she had to come too. She left the kids standing outside a darkened hall, 45 minutes before the parents were to collect them. And of course, no phone call to let us know. Luckily we'd set up a "phone home" system for easy child with our service provider, she could ring home from a public phone with charges reversed, using a PIN. </p><p>So the kids were only alone for the fifteen minutes it took us to get to them. husband went, while I rang the other parents.</p><p></p><p>Yes, our kids quit that dance school. I heard some years later that the dance teacher had got a divorce (and cheered for her), but she was herself a big part of the problem in her own expectations.</p><p></p><p>Marg</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Marguerite, post: 134946, member: 1991"] Oh dreamer, I just hate it when people presume on you like that and then really mess you around because they're not organised. I remember easy child's dance teacher - her husband was a control freak who decided to move them from the nice home they were renting, to live in a tent attached to a sort of greenhouse frame covered in plastic, on the block where they were planning to build. They had no amenities at all, I don't know how they got away with it legally. She had to keep all the props and dance costumes in the tent (the dance students paid for the costumes but weren't allowed to keep them) and a number of times thieves and vandals broke in (just by slashing the polythene). To wash, they would use the free (cold water only, out in the open) shower at the beach. They had to shower with swimsuits on. No fun in winter, because the house took longer to build than expected. (Our winter - temperatures not lower than about 55 F, but still not pleasant). And no telephone - they used the public phone at the beach to make calls, but there was no way to contact them. This teacher arranged to take her niece and her stepdaughter as well as easy child to a holiday dance school. I'd reluctantly said no, because I had an urgent appointment at a hospital on the other side of Sydney, they needed me for tests by 9 am and the pathology was to be flown by helicopter to Newcastle. I was just one of about ten people who were being tested that morning as part of a research project; easy child going to dance school was very low on our agenda. Then the dance teacher said, "Let easy child do the dance school; you can drop her off with us at 7 am, we'll take her to dance school and bring her home again." So I paid the (large amount for dance school fees) and agreed. husband was driving me to the hospital - I was not permitted to drive myself, I needed to be resting in the car. We arrived at teacher's 'tent' at 6.45 am, knowing it could take two hours to drive to the hospital. Teacher wasn't there. The car was not there. easy child suggested we try the beach - after all, we were a few minutes early. We met them as they were walking down to the beach to shower. Then the teacher dropped her bombshell - her control-freak husband had decided to drive himself to work and taken the car. With o phone she hadn't been able to call us, she said. And now she had no way to get to the dance school, which was to be held at a campsite at the end of a very long bush road. And she had to go, because she was one of the teachers. COULD WE PLEASE DRIVE THEM THERE? We were both unimpressed. This teacher knew I had to get to the other side of Sydney by 9 am, the dance school wasn't due to start until 9 am and this woman was expecting us to put everything on hold so we'd take them. I asked why she hadn't rung us; she was just about to, she said, when they had their shower. husband snarled, "No time for a shower. We hadn't planned on this. This is unacceptable. Yes, we'll drive you, because too many other people will be inconvenienced if we don't, but we leave NOW." "Without my shower?" squeaked this woman, but husband insisted. "It's badly out of our way. We're going to be really late just driving you to the conference centre, we should have left an hour ago if you wanted us to do this." She seemed she was going to argue, so I quickly pointed out, "Bring your towels and stuff, you can get a HOT shower at the conference centre." She still took another twenty minutes packing her stuff; we were livid. And husband's estimate was right - the trip to the function centre was on a dirt road and despite him driving like a maniac (the passengers looked green) the round trip still took us an hour. Amazingly, the city traffic was good - we must have been between peak hour jams, because I was only 45 minutes late. They were still annoyed with me because they had to delay the helicopter, and a lot of people were mucked around. Luckily I had been able to ring and let them know, otherwise there would have been even more inconvenience. What got me about this teacher - she always seemed so helpful, but although she expected her students' parents to put themselves out for the kids, she never gave an inch when she was the one inconvenienced. I remember one night where her husband turned up at her classes to tell her to shut up shop early, he had a work function on and she had to come too. She left the kids standing outside a darkened hall, 45 minutes before the parents were to collect them. And of course, no phone call to let us know. Luckily we'd set up a "phone home" system for easy child with our service provider, she could ring home from a public phone with charges reversed, using a PIN. So the kids were only alone for the fifteen minutes it took us to get to them. husband went, while I rang the other parents. Yes, our kids quit that dance school. I heard some years later that the dance teacher had got a divorce (and cheered for her), but she was herself a big part of the problem in her own expectations. Marg [/QUOTE]
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