master disappointment...

I was asked by my director to do an aqua master class up at one of the big twentyfour hour fitness clubs in Portland today. One in a 3 part series, it was designed for sharing ideas with other aqua instuctors and for introducing land instructors to aqua in hopes of encouraging them to do the upcoming training. Although I was promised pay for the 90 minute class, I had to cancel one of my own local classes to make time for it and it was a 65 mile one way drive.

I got there with 14 minutes to spare and told the front desk I was there to teach the master class.  Having never taught at this particular club before I had previously asked my director if there was anything special I needed to know. She told me the padlock code to the 'cabinet' where the boombox was stored but other than that told me there would be plenty of instructors there to help me out. And.... that she would NOT be there today. Nobody at the front desk can tell me the code to the cabinet. I explained to them *again* that I knew the code but had no idea where the actual cabinet was.  Then the assistant manager finally steps up and says "WELL..there is SUPPOSED to be somebody here to help you today"...and I said "then where is this person exactly?" As if this was MY problem? I tell ya, their level of helpfullness was outstanding.

Collectively they finally figure out that the cabinet is in the ladies locker room. And I'm now 5 minutes late to start.  In it I find a boombox with dead batteries and no auxillary cord in which to use a wall plug. So back up to the desk to ask for batteries, and now the assistant manager acts as if I was asking her for $500 in cash or her first born child. 1/2 way through class the CD player craps out anyway (probably a bad laser reader) so I just turned the dang thing off and finished without music.

And all of this for *2* whole instructors who bothered to show up out of the entire Portland market (a dozen or so clubs).