All-Star Was I Wrong??

[ctwings]

With all the talk about privates, today I had a parent get upset with me for the first time. I coach teams. classes, privates AND work the front office. I have been asking my boss to please find someone to cover the front office when I am on the floor but he has yet to do so.

So today I was teaching my private and i was pulled to the front to help out new parents for about 5 minutes. I had another coach work with my private for those five minutes and even kept her over for 10 minutes. When I was talking to her mother when we were done, I told the mother how sorry I was for being pulled out for those five minutes and she was very upset.

I told her that I do understand how much privates are and that I want every second to be worth it. That's why I had another coach work with her, instead of making her take a long break and I kept her over to make up for that time. But this was not enough for her, so I said that I will do the next private for free.

So my question is.....was I in the wrong???

 

[lakerfantlc]

NO you are not wrong...and you shouldnt give a free lesson either..we are all human and life happens...and if this parent can't see that life happens and cut you some slack....they will be no big loss...IMO

 

[AllHeartxo3]

No way. You can't help that you have so many rolls to play at one time. You even made up for the time you lost and had another coach help her as well. The mom just overreacted.

 

[canttouchthis]

Imo no you weren't. The mother took it to far.

 

[cupieqt]

I am the director so I often get pulled away from privates and I handle it exactly the way you described how you handled yours (except I give that lesson for free not the next). The moms are always fine with it. Maybe she was having a bad day?

 

[Zinger_bebe]

Not at all!

 

[CharlieCheers]

I wouldn't say so. She probably wants the best for her cp and will do anything to get that, even if it means being rude for no reason. Sorry this happened to you!

 

[AndyT_T]

Hecks nah! You went above and beyond to make things better for her.
She needs to chilll

 

[lifeoftheparty]

No you weren't wrong. You did the right thing by making up the time which is all I would ask for. The next free class was very generous of you but in my opinion not necessary.

 

[ctwings]

Thanks everyone.....I just wanted to make sure that I was not going crazy

 

[mom24girls]

If you just had someone cover I would say you should have done more because they have you as their private coach for a reason and maybe the kid doesn't work as well with other coaches but you also gave an extra 10 minutes which was enough. My concern now would be that now this mom knows if you ever get called out again even for a minute she can complain and get something for free. Maybe the gym could write something up for privates and have the parents sign ahead of time explaining how it will be handled if it happens during a private so that you don't have parents complaining just to get free lessons.

 

[garretttt]

what exactly did the parent say to you?

 

[proudpapa]

Just keep doing what you are doing, you handled it well and should not feel guilty about it.

 

[Cheeranamo]

I am going to disagree with the majority, I think looking from an athlete perspective it would have been a wrong thing to do. When I have privates it takes me a few minutes to warm up individually to the coach and become in synch, even if it was my regular coach. So having a new coach come in during a short private would totally throw me off for a good few-5 min which, depending on the time could actually be a lot. Then when the other coach would decide to come back I would have to get readjusted and also explain what happened with the other coach, another few minutes taken off the time. I understand new parents needed directions but you were being payed to provide a time commited service to one athlete and one athlete only, not the other parents. It is a sticky situation but in my opinion you should have had the coach who took over the private either help the new parents to the best of their ability or had him/her tell the new parents you were in a private and could help them when you were done or would call them ( if they couldnt wait) to address whatever issue when the private was finished. This would have shown the new parents that you are dedicated to your private lessons and could ultimately be a plus and book you more private lessons.

 

[ufomom]

For what it's worth, I suspect the mom will be way nicer at the next visit. She may have had temporary insanity. While she was sitting there watching her $1 per minute tick by while you helped those other people, she was probably getting really mad. And when she talked with you, she brought all that fury to the table even though you did all the right things...the extra 10 minutes and free private. (The other coach helping would not have appeased me either. ) BUT while all that anger was building, she did not know she was going to get the time at the end or even the free private, so her emotions probably did not get a chance to catch up with how appropriately you were handling it. Give her a chance to make nice. I bet she will.