A student from hell

[Prostar]

Dang! Why can't I get a student like that?

Situations like that just make me smile. My martial arts students used to tell me that the smile would unnerve them. I retired from teaching martial arts after 35 years. OK, 35 and out, I'm a wimp. I just can't close a fist like I used to. Now I teach SCUBA and enjoy the daylights out of it. Makes me smile.

[DCBC]

My condolences Peter, but although they are in the minority, there always seems to be another a**hole out there. We have all been in the position where we wear the mantle of a professional who represents more than just ourselves. Regardless of this guy's size, violence tends to solve little when it comes to the actual confrontation of a paying customer. You are obviously a gentleman and a professional.

Wayne

[budgy]

We all meet Mr or MS impossible now and again. These confrontational situation invariably result in a no win situation for all concerned. It always takes a lot of soul searching and there's usually a lot of denial, but sometimes I realise Mr Impossible is me.

Whenever I express anger agression frustration and hostility it alienates me. It can lead to violent confrontation, but the thought of it has never stopped me, or ever stopped me doing it again. When I think of it rationally, as an action or reaction even as a last resort, its dumb.

After these incidents I put up the shutters, shrug my shoulders and reassure myself there was no other option. Sometimes I often think I should of been nastier and more offensive. Yet rationally I guess all of us really wish, we were smart enough to avoid or defuse these situations and be more successful turning these incidents around.

[agwatts]

Congrats on keeping your cool and giving the student an alternative. These types of people. if certified, usually get someone hurt either themselves or a fellow diver.
It's the other 99% of our students that make teaching our passion.

[Bronson]

Wow. Thanks for the post and all the replies. I am a new OWSI doing this as a hobby with a senior exec position to pay my bills. I am not sure how i would handle this situation but applaud you for how you handled it. I deal with egos like this in my "day job" so used to it there. As for dive teaching, my 1st reaction would have been to deal with him on the 1st outburst with an offer to refund his entire fee less expenses incurred for equipment and dives done. And ended it there. Not sure that would fly with your dive shop owner though. I will have to be on the look out for this in the future.

Thanks.

[JerseyMike]

I thought I'd share something that happened a few days ago. I had a scuba student who'd started his course back home and just wanted to do his dives with me. A young guy, maybe mid-twenties, very pushy. But (and this should have been the first warning) he wanted to do them NOW, and when I pointed out some logistical issues that affected timing he said very bluntly "I've paid my money and I want the dives to MY convenience".

OK. That day I did 4 dives with students and one full confined water session with others. I was pretty tired at the end of that day.

The following morning it was time for this guy's last two dives (with other students). On the first dive (which was the third in his course) he didn't distinguish himself in several areas, and I held over to his final dive one key skill (CESA) that he had been unable to perform. On the boat I explained to him that I had abandoned the skill on that dive, but that it was no great issue and I would brief him thoroughly before the next dive. "OK, do it now". I explained that I'd rather leave it till we got to the dock in ten minutes, because the boat was moving and picking up other divers so any controlled briefing would have been difficult, and (I didn't tell him this) because there were other issues I wanted to discuss with him but hadn't worked out how best to do it. I was in fact uncertain whether I would be able to certify him after just one more dive.

He then erupted in a tremendous temper tantrum, saying he wanted the instruction he'd paid for, that he was a highly qualified aeronautical engineer and I was just a dive instructor, and he'd never been spoken to that way before. He then threatened to hit me and was moved away by another crew member.

Back at the dive center he started shouting at me that I was a ********g idiot and I had better watch out for myself. He wasn't going to be spoken to that way by a dive instructor in Belize. And again shouted that he was a highly qualified engineer. And demanded a real instructor.

I simply arranged for another instructor to take over (at my expense) and left the premises. I haven't even asked how the last dive went or whether he was certified - as San Pedro didn't move I imagine he was.

I have had the occasional problem in the past with people who thought very highly of themselves and regarded my staff as insects, but never before have I come across someone who regarded a professional teacher as menial and to be despised because there was a money relationship. But in this case I can think of no other explanation, nor can the other staff who witnessed this spectacle. For the record, I believe my academic scientific qualifications were higher than his, though of course he didn't know that.

As I suggested above, a dive instructor is a professional in every sense of that word. And even with PADI (whose standards I regard as pretty lax), you purchase the right to instruction provided as the instructor feels is most appropriate, and to timing that the instructor can physically manage. You do not purchase any right to certification, and the instructor determines the course structure and content, you don't.

I am going to have to amend my pre-course contract to that effect.

Wow! I admire your patience. This student would have gotten a serious beating from me. Good self-control

[abnfrog]

i would say you are a very professional instructor i would'nt have been so acomidating in the first place ,luckily i havent had to deal with any that bad in 25 years of teaching , (i guess the special forces tattoo, stops that kind of intimidation,,lol) but kudos to you my friend