Woman refuses to pay son's piano tutor over 'water breaks'— ends up coughing up a lot more

Parents are often the first contact point between a child and a teacher. A parent’s flippant behavior can result in a strained relationship with the teacher, ultimately disrupting the child’s learning. Similarly, u/howmanyapples42 shared a story from when they were 14 years old and taught piano in a "fairly wealthy area." In one instance, a student's mom gave them sticker shock by disputing their monthly payment for what seemed like an unfair and preposterous reason. Nevertheless, despite this confrontation, the piano teacher had the last laugh.

When they were just 14 years old, they were fully qualified to play the piano in their country, the prodigal piano professional shared. They worked hard for it, and their parents were proud of them. The only problem was that they were too young to join paid orchestras at that time. Additionally, no such orchestras existed near their home. So, they decided to hand out business cards to people in a wealthy neighborhood to make some money by teaching after school. While most teachers in the locality charged €20 ($21) per half-hour, they charged €17 ($18) due to their young age and relatively lesser experience. 

Luckily, some moms caught on to them, and soon they had four to five students—both kids and adults—to whom they taught piano lessons every weeknight. With these tuitions, they were able to make roughly €400 ($436) every week. "I worked from 3 to 7 p.m. and then did my homework on weekends and when I got home," they described in a comment.

The tutor had made it clear to all the parents that one lesson was going to be around an hour long: “50 minutes with a short water break and explanation of homework at the end. A half-hour lesson was 25 minutes with explanation and homework at the end.” The parents paid them 10 lessons in advance and the pianist kept a calendar and updated parents weekly on their child’s learning status. One mom in particular always requested summaries for every ten lessons for each of her three kids, which the tutor happily did.

Then, all of a sudden, this mom told them that she wasn’t going to pay the fee until they "made up for lost time." Puzzled, the tutor asked her what she meant. "She cited the reason that I cut 5 minutes off every 30 minutes and 10 minutes off every hour, so I should teach that extra time before getting more money," they explained. Unbeknownst to the mom, the truth was that her kids, aged between 6 and 11, were spoiled, entitled, and badly behaved students who never completed their homework. As a result, the tutor had to spend an extra few minutes in every class to compensate for their lack of seriousness. On top of that, the mother had spread the word among other parents that could destroy the tutor’s reputation.

The tutor handled the situation with an ingenious clapback. "I decided to tell this mother that from now on, I would set a timer and charge every minute on that timer, showing her when I clicked it on and off. I gave a huge apology. You can imagine her shock at the end of the ten weeks when she saw that the kids' combined 30 hours was actually more like 36 to 37 hours that she had to pay for. She never bothered me about timing ever again and rushed through every homework or exam prep explanation, getting me out the door," the piano teacher wrote.

The pianist’s story invited over 18,000 upvotes. Hundreds of people jumped in to laud the tutor for knowing how to deal with such moms. “You already know how to deal with Karens at age 14? You’re gonna know how to carry yourself just fine,” said u/youburyitidigitup. u/Nurse_rachett commented, “Well done on you. Nothing like young people putting entitled parents and brats in their places!”

“It's always sunny when you have them by the balls and they think they have you over a barrel,” reflected u/emzirek. u/randomcanyon said, “When the people start to quibble about nickels and dimes (or the Euro equivalent), it is time to cut them loose and move on. Misbehavior and entitlement in children is another red flag for having them find another teacher.” u/Thick-Weekend-9827 brooded on how it’s sometimes so difficult to get money out of these rich moms. In response, the piano teacher said, “It was the richest ones who never wanted to pay! Maybe that’s how they stayed rich!”