The dude stole my student after all!
By The Horse
@TheHorse (206124)
Walnut Creek, California
January 23, 2022 11:16am CST
A few weeks ago I mentioned a minor victory over a fellow teacher who is something of a student thief. His name is Peter.
He had "talked up" an older fella who had a trial piano lesson with me, trying to impress him with his knowledge of rock 'n roll. When our trial lesson was over, Peter asked said student how the lesson had gone. I could tell he was hoping the lesson went poorly.
Actually, the lesson went well, and the guy was really excited about our next meeting.
This past Wednesday, I saw my student heading into a guitar (not piano) lesson with...you guessed it...Peter. When the student saw me he said, "Thanks for that great piano lesson...let's do it again!"
But Peter must have convinced him that guitar is a better rock 'n roll instrument than piano. I didn't care that much, as I'm pretty booked up, but I did make a mental note of it.
Yesterday I chilled in the break room with a really nice drum teacher named Alan. We were actually discussing my hat, and how I often wear it even though we're not supposed to wear hats. He said something like, "Well, they're not going to fire you for that. They need us teachers badly. Heck, even that guy Peter is still here!"
I realized he was talking about the student thief, so I asked Alan what Peter had done. To cut to the chase, Peter has a history of sexually harassing women at Guitar Center, and of being overly aggressive in recruiting students.
I didn't press for details, as I didn't want to "feed the bad wolf." But I was happy to learn that I was not the only one who had noticed Peter's aggressiveness.
Alan and I moved on to a discussion of how cool most of the teachers were, and how most of us "shared" students when we thought it was in the students' best interest. As an example, if one of my beginning piano students gets to the level of Bach's Minuet in G, I'd pass that student on to Lou, who is our best and most advanced piano player/teacher.
Are you pretty good at letting things go? I've had pain-in-the-neck (and sometimes just plain incompetent) co-workers before. But I try not to let them bother me.
15 people like this
14 responses
@mildredtabitha (16048)
• Nairobi, Kenya
23 Jan 22
Peter should see this post so he can stop stealing students
5 people like this
@mildredtabitha (16048)
• Nairobi, Kenya
23 Jan 22
@TheHorse But people do change. Unfortunately, it doesn't happen overnight
3 people like this
@TheHorse (206124)
• Walnut Creek, California
23 Jan 22
@mildredtabitha This fella is in his sixties. My hunch is that he's set in his ways.
3 people like this
@BarBaraPrz (45542)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
23 Jan 22
Why, that dirty, rotten scoundrel!
I hope the next woman he harrasses would charge him.
3 people like this
@BarBaraPrz (45542)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
23 Jan 22
@TheHorse What if enough people complain about him?
3 people like this
@TheHorse (206124)
• Walnut Creek, California
23 Jan 22
@BarBaraPrz That is a good question.
3 people like this
@xander6464 (40884)
• Wapello, Iowa
23 Jan 22
Guitar Center is taking kind of a big risk. If he is sexually harassing women, they might be a little protected legally because he's an independent contractor but it could still be expensive, especially if he goes way overboard and doubly especially if the victim is underage.
And they have zero protection against all the bad publicity that it would generate.
2 people like this
@TheHorse (206124)
• Walnut Creek, California
23 Jan 22
Maybe I'll hear more about the story. And maybe I won't. Alan said it was fellow employee, and therefore an adult or two. But if he's a chronic student thief, you'd think he'd realize that he's not liked by others. Maybe he needs the money more than the rest of us do. I will keep my ear to the wind.
2 people like this
@TheHorse (206124)
• Walnut Creek, California
23 Jan 22
@xander6464 i think he's basically a really aggressive dude from some kind of "humble" beginnings. He IS a good guitar player, though.
2 people like this
@TheHorse (206124)
• Walnut Creek, California
23 Jan 22
@xander6464 Which "that"?
2 people like this
@MALUSE (69413)
• Germany
23 Jan 22
When I started teaching at secondary grammar schools, the average number of pupils per class was 38. Once I even had 42 pupils! I would have been very happy if somene had stolen some pupils from me!
The numbers declined when women had acccss to the pill and fewer children were born.
2 people like this
@TheHorse (206124)
• Walnut Creek, California
23 Jan 22
@MALUSE Horse Jr. is reaching puberty now But he's more interested in Minecraft than blossoming nipples, it seems. I have some 13-year-old guitar students, but my college students are older, and my preschool students are younger.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (157629)
• United States
24 Jan 22
I often can "let it go" at least for the moment. I am always fairly well pleased though when natural consequences develop.
1 person likes this
@RasmaSandra (73569)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
24 Jan 22
All I can say is that Peter sounds like eventually will get himself into a real mess, Anyway no sense in dwelling on such people, You know you're a great teacher and you know your students like you and you can be proud about that,
2 people like this
@LindaOHio (156718)
• United States
24 Jan 22
No. I don't let things go at all. Case in point --all the way back to 1963. It involved a student in junior high and then high school. I just contacted him via the Alumni site to get closure on something that happened between us. The details aren't important to you, I'm sure. I think I'd give Peter a good solid kick in the behind. Just kidding.
1 person likes this
@DocAndersen (54407)
• United States
24 Jan 22
i suspect he (peter) will get his due eventually
2 people like this
@TheHorse (206124)
• Walnut Creek, California
25 Jan 22
@DocAndersen But, like all of our muses, Karma sometimes sleeps.
@DocAndersen (54407)
• United States
25 Jan 22
@TheHorse A friend of mine used to say. "karma isn't a B word, Karma is a cruel word."
1 person likes this
