Would you teach on credit?

ray giraffe

Would you teach someone on credit?

I am giving grinds (€30 each) and I have been asked to teach - except they have no money till they get paid in a week's time.

I'm thinking of just limiting to 1 grind on credit - the person is a stranger to me but sounds ok.

What would you do?

Rosita

I probably would do so if the person seemed okay. I think if the person is looking for grinds in the first place it suggests they are fairly alright with some ambition towards getting more. They have little to gain from getting one grind, failing to pay, and having the entire arrangement fall through after that.

I don't think it's the kind of stunt someone can chance with teacher after teacher and hope to get their grinds that way which presumably would be the ultimate upshot of such a tactic.

Obviously there is a certain risk involved but other than the €30, what else is there to lose other than a bit of your own time? Alternatively with the goodwill engendered you could gain quite a number of grinds from the person. So in assessing the risk the potential benefits seem to outweight the risk significantly.

ray giraffe

Rosita wrote: »

I probably would do so if the person seemed okay. I think if the person is looking for grinds in the first place it suggests they are fairly alright with some ambition towards getting more. They have little to gain from getting one grind, failing to pay, and having the entire arrangement fall through after that.

I don't think it's the kind of stunt someone can chance with teacher after teacher and hope to get their grinds that way which presumably would be the ultimate upshot of such a tactic.

Obviously there is a certain risk involved but other than the €30, what else is there to lose other than a bit of your own time? Alternatively with the goodwill engendered you could gain quite a number of grinds from the person. So in assessing the risk the potential benefits seem to outweight the risk significantly.

Thanks Rosita, I agree. But would you give 2 or 3 grinds to one person on credit?

The Big Red Button

Might be no harm to write up an invoice for each grind, and get them to sign it too, so you'd have some proof if they refused to pay?

To be honest it might be a bit of a dangerous precedent to set if it's going to be a long-term arrangement. If you allow it now you should make it clear that it's a once off - just say you have bills to pay or whatever and you'll need the money paid immediately in future.

rainbowtrout

ray giraffe wrote: »

Thanks Rosita, I agree. But would you give 2 or 3 grinds to one person on credit?

No, personally I wouldn't. If you were getting any other service you would have to pay for it, why should grinds be any different? The person might only need 2 or 3 grinds (eg. college repeat) and you might never see them again.

I give grinds and the odd time a student might forget the money but I know I'm going to get it the following week, but I wouldn't start a precedent of giving grinds with no money up front.


If this guy is getting paid next week, don't start the grinds until next week or at the very least don't do more than one grind until you get paid. Otherwise you might find you'll always be getting paid in arrears. It's not really ideal.

Rosita

rainbowtrout wrote: »

No, personally I wouldn't. If you were getting any other service you would have to pay for it, why should grinds be any different?

The question of payment is not up for grabs at all as far as I can see, only deferred payment. In fact, payment after the goods are delivered would be the quite normal many services, especially in the current environment. And indeed the average teacher in a school in paid in arrears.

The question here is obviously the reliability of that payment and I would be inclined to agree with you that anything more than one class is getting into a trickier area.

professore

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me.