Good Ridance of Bad Rubbish
Today I got rid of one of my students. Though it may sound not
the wisest thing to do being a freelancer, but it finally pissed
me off.
One of my students sent me an sms this morning telling she
cannot make it to the class today. I said it was okay but
she still should pay for it because I am prepared for the
lesson. She said she won’t and asked to place that lesson
to another day. I refused. I have to eat and pay my bills.
After exchanging a few more sms, she said she’d go to
another teacher. I wished her good luck.
It propably runs in Lithuanian blood not tor espect other
people’s time and effort. Freelancing is still viewed upon
as if being a sort of disease in the society, or a humanitarian
aid. I say it’s high time we stopped that.
First snow today.
December 4th, 2007 at 6:52 am
I’ve never done it, but my plan for freelancing is to offer students a discount if they pay 10 lessons in advance (4000 yen per hour instead of the usual 5000) and agree to a sensible cancellation policy like at least half a day in advance. Could it work?
TEFLtastic blog
December 4th, 2007 at 12:53 pm
Alex,
you shouldn’t offer discounts for paying. If one student cannot afford it, another will. Why should you bother? I think that my service is worth a certain sum and it does not matter if they pay well anyway. I take money a month in advance (I give a receipt).
Also, imagine, a student cancells the lesson he/she is supposed to come with the money for the next month. They can say ‘I will not pay for that cancelled lesson” and that’s it, agreed about it or not, unless you sign a contract, then they have no choice.
I might sound harsh but it’s high time we stopped viewing teaching as charity. Supply and demand, supply and demand.