Bring a cookie

Minor gripe time. I've been teaching samba again the last couple weeks, for a couple different groups. One group I've been teaching for free... 'cause they're a new group, just starting out, and I want to invest in getting it going. But it turns out to have involved quite a lot of teaching time and basic drum skills. The other was supposed to be a paid beginners' class for another group, yesterday, but two of the 6 people just walked away without paying. It is, indeed, sliding scale, but it's a little weird for them to slide it all the way to zero without at least saying something to me, or offering to trade me something, I dunno, a chicken or a cookie or some labor time or something. Anything.

I'm not even that expert, and usually I DO teach people for free. But it's one thing when I'VE chosen to do it for free. It's not cool for the students to make that decision for me. It's also a bit not-cool when you'd only been planning to lead and you end up doing some heavy-duty teaching... and when people start expecting you to do that, for free, time after time.

It's a big intense output of effort to teach; staying ON and FOCUSED; and hours of prep time before (the way I do it, anyway. Though, I notice, when groups don't pay me I tend to stop prepping for them...). I really enjoy it, but it often leaves me dead tired at the end of a session. And it's time that I'm not putting toward biology writing (which pays me between $50 and $100 an hour) - and I DESPERATELY need income right now. I am flat, flat broke, counting every penny. The four students who paid yesterday are paying my food bill for the first half of the week. The two students who didn't pay mean I'll be eating rice and beans for the second half.

But mostly it's the disrespect that it implies... the feeling of being taken for granted. The sensation of pouring out everything I've got for two hours, everything I've learned. I'm a good teacher, especially for beginners. Teaching is, in fact, my profession (I'm a biology teacher, and I'm very good at it). When I teach samba, I'm sharing everything I've got from four years' struggle and five trips to Brazil, thousands of dollars of private lessons, $30,000 of life savings sunk into this adventure, leaving me flat broke and struggling.

And at the end of 2 hours, people just walk away. Hey folks, if you can't afford the $12, at least bring me a cookie.