WHAT YOU SEE MAY NOT BE WHAT YOU GET
As some of you may have probably noticed, I've changed the font colour from yellow to this current weird colour that fits no proper description (brownish-peach? brownish-yellow? Orangey-brown?). The main reason being, I've always thought that the former yellow crashes a tad too magnificent with the background black, and the glare in contrast is sometimes bad enough to inflict upon my eyes some discomfort. Perhaps it's just me; my eyes have always been a little on the sensitive side. But then again, maybe not.
Anyway, I'm actively looking for a secondary school student tuition assignment. Currently having 2 primary school little girls and though entertaining, diligent, and eager to learn as they are, I have half a mind to go on to greener pastures (who doesn't?). A secondary school student gives a higher per hour pay, and the tuition workload is only 2hours/week. Currently, with the 2 little girls that I've been tutoring for the past approximately 4 months, the overall pay per hour is about $8/hour lesser than what tutoring a secondary student would offer, and the tuition workload is 5hours/week.
*mumbles grumbles*
If I were to take up a secondary school student, and give up the current 2 primary school girls, benefits are that I would be able to devote more time to my own studies, and not forgetting, the higher $$$ receivable.
So, I called up some tuition agencies/coordinators found in The Straits Times, Classified for some "match-making" services. This brings to mind a certain unpleasant which I so unfortunately encountered during my previous "tuition-hunting".
It was a normal Saturday afternoon and I was on my way out. Putting on some earrings, my cellphone rang, and an unfamiliar number showed on the screen. It turned out to be one of the tuition agencies which I've approached a few weeks earlier.
"I've got a tuition assignment for you. A secondary school student. Is Potong Pasir an agreeable location for you?"
"Yes, I'm absolutely fine with it."
"Ok. You're studying, aren't you?"
"Yes."
"Ok. Tell you what. Listen here. I'll give you a personal demography. Tell them that you're a graduate from the university, and are currently a FULL-TIME TUITION TEACHER, and that you've been tutoring full-time for a couple of years now."
"Huh?" I've always been a bit slow on the uptake. "Sorry, but I think you're mistaken. I'm still studying. Year 1. Majoring in Chemistry."
"Ya I know." She clicked her tongue and rumbled away superciliously. "But this is what I want you to tell them - that you've already graduated, and are giving tuition full-time."
"Huh... Oh..." I was arrantly and utterly flabbergasted.
"Ok? You understand what I'm saying?"
"Uh-huh..."
"I'll call you back in a moment's time. I need to check with with them what timeslots are ideal for them."
We put down the phone. I was struck-dumbed. For a moment, I thought I was hearing things, or that I've unintentionally misinterpreted what she has just said. I played back the conversation in my head. Yes, there's no way that it could have been misinterpreted. She has made her point so pristine clear.
I was disgusted. Tongue-tied.
A customer is giving you money for your service, and trusts you to get a reputable, qualified, full-time tutor for his/her beloved kid. And here you are, conspiring and scheming with a tutor - who is only an undergraduate - to cheat and hoodwink them?
GOSH.
And if you think that I'm going to conspire and work under such a pretentious, cheating, scheming, and lowlife agency which stabs its own customers in their back; you're gravely mistaken.
If you can treat your own customers - who keep your business alive and going - with such disdain and dishonesty, then how about me; an one-time tutor who was just once under your "match-making service"?
And becauseI'm too noble to lie lying is bad and undersirable, I never picked up any of her calls after that.
If I'm ever getting a tutor for any of my kids in future, I'll ask to see the tutor's qualification and certificates. Yes. Most certainly.
It's one thing to be trusting, but it's absolutely another to be a naive apparatchik.
It's always good to question, and be inquisitive.
After all, sometimes, what you see on the surface may not be what you get.
As some of you may have probably noticed, I've changed the font colour from yellow to this current weird colour that fits no proper description (brownish-peach? brownish-yellow? Orangey-brown?). The main reason being, I've always thought that the former yellow crashes a tad too magnificent with the background black, and the glare in contrast is sometimes bad enough to inflict upon my eyes some discomfort. Perhaps it's just me; my eyes have always been a little on the sensitive side. But then again, maybe not.
Anyway, I'm actively looking for a secondary school student tuition assignment. Currently having 2 primary school little girls and though entertaining, diligent, and eager to learn as they are, I have half a mind to go on to greener pastures (who doesn't?). A secondary school student gives a higher per hour pay, and the tuition workload is only 2hours/week. Currently, with the 2 little girls that I've been tutoring for the past approximately 4 months, the overall pay per hour is about $8/hour lesser than what tutoring a secondary student would offer, and the tuition workload is 5hours/week.
*mumbles grumbles*
If I were to take up a secondary school student, and give up the current 2 primary school girls, benefits are that I would be able to devote more time to my own studies, and not forgetting, the higher $$$ receivable.
So, I called up some tuition agencies/coordinators found in The Straits Times, Classified for some "match-making" services. This brings to mind a certain unpleasant which I so unfortunately encountered during my previous "tuition-hunting".
It was a normal Saturday afternoon and I was on my way out. Putting on some earrings, my cellphone rang, and an unfamiliar number showed on the screen. It turned out to be one of the tuition agencies which I've approached a few weeks earlier.
"I've got a tuition assignment for you. A secondary school student. Is Potong Pasir an agreeable location for you?"
"Yes, I'm absolutely fine with it."
"Ok. You're studying, aren't you?"
"Yes."
"Ok. Tell you what. Listen here. I'll give you a personal demography. Tell them that you're a graduate from the university, and are currently a FULL-TIME TUITION TEACHER, and that you've been tutoring full-time for a couple of years now."
"Huh?" I've always been a bit slow on the uptake. "Sorry, but I think you're mistaken. I'm still studying. Year 1. Majoring in Chemistry."
"Ya I know." She clicked her tongue and rumbled away superciliously. "But this is what I want you to tell them - that you've already graduated, and are giving tuition full-time."
"Huh... Oh..." I was arrantly and utterly flabbergasted.
"Ok? You understand what I'm saying?"
"Uh-huh..."
"I'll call you back in a moment's time. I need to check with with them what timeslots are ideal for them."
We put down the phone. I was struck-dumbed. For a moment, I thought I was hearing things, or that I've unintentionally misinterpreted what she has just said. I played back the conversation in my head. Yes, there's no way that it could have been misinterpreted. She has made her point so pristine clear.
I was disgusted. Tongue-tied.
A customer is giving you money for your service, and trusts you to get a reputable, qualified, full-time tutor for his/her beloved kid. And here you are, conspiring and scheming with a tutor - who is only an undergraduate - to cheat and hoodwink them?
GOSH.
And if you think that I'm going to conspire and work under such a pretentious, cheating, scheming, and lowlife agency which stabs its own customers in their back; you're gravely mistaken.
If you can treat your own customers - who keep your business alive and going - with such disdain and dishonesty, then how about me; an one-time tutor who was just once under your "match-making service"?
And because
If I'm ever getting a tutor for any of my kids in future, I'll ask to see the tutor's qualification and certificates. Yes. Most certainly.
It's one thing to be trusting, but it's absolutely another to be a naive apparatchik.
It's always good to question, and be inquisitive.
After all, sometimes, what you see on the surface may not be what you get.
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