Most of the people I teach are usually really amazing! They’re nice and kind, I like to talk to them, and they give good feedback usually. But some people really get on my nerves.
I have a temper. I always had a “short fuse”. I’m not the most patient person in the world and some people just get to me and I can’t help it! As a teacher I can’t go off on a client. They pay good money to come to a pilates class and they don’t need the teacher to yell at them. And I really tried today. Actually, I think I did pretty well answering her but she still went to complain...
I work at an “equipment pilates” studio, meaning that we have a wunda chair and reformers. But we also have foam rollers and fitballs. In all the studios I’ve been at it’s acceptable to teach half a class on the mat. For today I planed half an hour on fitball and half an hour on the reformer. I always make an effort to plan ahead and create a good class.
This woman was in my third class of the day. Everyone before this class had a really great time on the fitball and didn’t even care that we weren’t on the chair. The minute we started the class on the fitball she made a face and said “are we gonna be here the whole class?”.Calmly, I said “no, we will be on the reformers in the second half of the class”. Her response was “I paid for equipment Pilates”.
Well, lady, no one has ever stated that in “equipment pilates” you can’t be on the mat. Her attitude was so annoying. She didn’t even give it a shot! And by the way, it was a really good class! It was a really challenging class and everyone loved it except for her.
So I told her to give it a try but if she doesn’t want to she’s welcome to join the other class that was at the same time with a different teacher. I thought it was a fine response. And I was calm, too. But I wasn’t going to change my class for her. The other people in the class said that they want to stay on the fitball, so obviously why should one person ruin for the rest?
She ended up doing the class and working really nicely and I thought it was fine, but after the class she went to my boss and told her I was rude and wouldn’t change my class for her. My boss talked to be after and said that next time I should just put her on the wunda chair and tell her to do 3 exercises and then tell me when she’s done and I should keep teaching the rest of the class. I think that’s even worse. I don’t think she gets any attention that way and both her, I lost my concentration so the other people in the class don’t get to have my full attention. It’s a lose-lose-lose situation. How is that better than just telling her to stop whining and do the class as I planned it?
I don’t know. Am I wrong?
I just think that people should be more openminded, and not be so stubborn. Yes, I know it’s a fitball, but why don’t you give it a shot? I believe that she ended up having fun but was too pissed off about the principle of it to admit it. I was pissed off at her as well. Obviously still am...
I know that working with people is challenging. And there’s always going to be someone that’s unhappy. I just have to figure out how to make people happy without losing my integrity. I’m still new at dealing with clients and I guess I still have a lot to learn.
