Okay, I havn't begun yet...

[Icktoose]

...but I'm already dreading it. After the holidays, I am going to start giving trumpet lessons again. I've got several ambitious students signed up already, and I'm excited about that. But. There is one student who makes me want to pull my hair out and strangle myself with it.

See, he has a crush.... He calls my relatives' homes at ungodly hours of the night trying to get my phone number (I'm unlisted), he harrasses my friends trying to get information about me, he becomes obsessed with things that he has related to me (Phantom of the Opera, for example), and he collects my old discarded things, such as old homework papers, or music that I have played. Two years ago, he somehow got my mailing address, and he sent me several letters a week rambling about his personal family life that is none of my business, and he sometimes drew creepy pictures for me.

In more recent happenings, he has rewritten the lyrics of the Phantom of the Opera song in which he professes his love for me and asks me to be his girlfriend forever.

And, now, one hour a week I will have to sit in a little room with him. Alone. Sure, I'll be paid $20, but that just makes me feel like a prostitute. Ugh.

It's all very funny in retrospect, but it's very unenjoyable.

[Lepus]

I would consider dropping him as a student or at least making arrangements to have someone else in the room or nearby when you are giving him lessons. He sounds a bit unhinged when it comes to you.

You have other students lined up, correct? I don't know, I just don't get a good feeling about this guy. Is he even really interested in the trumpet or just in you?

My initial feeling is to not have him as a student and to direct him to another teacher.

Congrats on giving lessons though! Teaching someone new skills is so rewarding. You will have a blast.

[Quixote]

I agree with Lep. Drop him as a student. He is crossing a lot of boundaries.

[miss_s]

Yeah, this sounds creepy to me too. Safer (and more comfortable) to send him to someone else.

[Icktoose]

Woo! I just got news that there is a new trumpet teacher in the area! He's in the next town over, but that's doable.

See, I didn't want to take this boy on in the first place, but my niceness complex wouldn't allow me to turn him down. He actually is interested in playing the trumpet. He took it up a few years ago when he met me and isn't such a bad musician, but his personality and social skills are obviously a bit lacking. images/smiley_icons/icon_confused.gif I felt obligated to take him on, though, because my school's trumpet section is weak, and my assistant director gave me puppy-dog eyes. I cannot turn down an elderly man with cute curly hair and an innocent ignorance to certain things. "Lindsey, Billy is a good kid, he just needs help and attention. He listens to you." This man doesn't seem to grasp the fact that Billy finally hit puberty over the summer (he's fifteen), and his lack of social skills is not exactly complemented by his hormones.

But I no longer have to worry since there is another teacher. I can tell Billy that he is beyond my teaching level, or something. PHEW!

Now I can look forward to making the cute little eleven yearold boys blush, and teaching them fun breathing exercises that look silly. images/smiley_icons/icon_biggrin.gif

[Lepus]

Thank the little baby Jesus you don't have to teach him. That situation was really creeping me out.

[Crushy]

It had serial killer written all over it. Sorry Ick, but my momma raised me to watch out for shite like that....you can never be too careful with unstable peeps...

[Icktoose]

*shudder* That has never actually crossed my mind....