Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2011 1:27 p.m.

but I'm an ACT-TOR.

so just a little random rant:

The "Hollywood industry" is such a weird world. I may not be on the inside, but through K, I'm close enough to have a feel for the reality of it all. I may not be a celebrity, but I've hung out with enough to know that, not only are they, yes, just normal people, but also that they are normal people who have some not-so-normal facets to their lives. And the whole allure of "celebrity-ness" left long ago. If anything, I prefer to avoid interacting with people of fame (ok, not everyone, but most). I don't know; I just don't care, I guess. Either I deal with you as I would a stranger, or I don't deal with you. I'm not good at the game of making exceptions for "exceptional" people. I tried once, but I don't care anymore.

Where did this rant come from? Well, so not only do I teach Algebra online, but I occasionally, if it's for the right person, will do some private tutoring. K set me up to tutor the daughter of the producers of his show. I didn't ask to do this; he just kind of suggested it to them without talking to me first. But whatever, I do it because we're a team and I care about his job and want his bosses to like me, of course. And actually, their daughter is cool. I really enjoy teaching her. And she's been learning a lot. And she's in first grade and super cute, and well behaved, and so not the type of family that you would ever think was rich or snobby.

HOWEVER, several weeks ago, K also somehow mentioned to the main actor of his show that I'm a math tutor and somehow it was set up that I would start tutoring his daughter too. Again, I didn't really ask for any of this, but fine. If it helps out K in his career somehow, I'll do it. I've now tutored for this girl twice. And to be honest, I dislike it. The girl is fine. A little overactive, but fine. She's a kid. However, the drive time is NOT worth it to me. I'm in the car for longer than I'm tutoring. I probably sound snobby saying that $30 is not worth my time, but it's not. I'd consider for $50, but even then, I'd still probably consider it not worth it.

Oh, you know what's fun? When you work with a kid and your tutoring sessions are set up in a joint effort by the parent's assistant and the kid's nanny...and then to get paid you have to send an invoice to the family's business manager in Hawaii. Seriously - life should not be that complicated.

Now really, this girl isn't that bad. Some of her math skills are fairly low, but that's typical when a tutor is hired. So the first two weeks with her, I worked on these skills. But then last week, the girl's father - the star of K's tv show - sat in the entire tutoring session and would jump in a help the daughter. For anyone who teaches, you know how obnoxious it is when a parent tries to jump in a do the teacher's job. While I appreciate a parent wanting to be involved, it's obvious when a parent knows what they're doing, and when they are just being a hindrance.

This guy was being a hindrance. But how do I tell him that? I teach at an online school so that I DON'T have to deal with parents very often! Then, at the end of the session, the father talked to me for awhile about his expectation for the sessions. They were supposed to be fun, and to be more abstract to increase her creativity and that I wasn't supposed to spend the whole time doing anything that she would find boring (aka working on her needed math skills that she would likely to be a bit frustrating at first). He asked me if there were any good math games I suggested and I said I'd come up with a list for him. Then he said that if she starts to seem like she's distracted or bored, that I should just let her go play instead of making her do math and that he'd still pay me for the full hour.

Oh goody. $30 bucks for driving all the way out there and not even teaching the kid anything because she might not be in the mood to learn??

Arg. But because he's an actor, I should realize that he's unconventional and cater to what I'm being paid for? He can find another tutor...and one that probably lives much closer too, who will do that. But it's not worth it to me.

(I know this is the most pointless entry ever, but blah, it's all bugging me, so I'm writing about it. Plus, writing about it always makes me feel calmer)

So this weekend I wrote a very nice and professional letter to the assistant and nanny (since I don't have the actual parent's contact info) saying that I did not feel as though I would be the appropriate tutor for the girl and resigned.

Then yesterday (though I only listened to it this morning) - the father himself calls me up and leaves a message on my phone about how there may have been a misunderstanding about his expectation and that he just wanted to make sure that she was having fun and asked me to call him back so we can figure out if there's a way to make this work.

Ahhh! Why did he have to call me? A) I hate talking on the phone and it makes me really nervous. B) I understood perfectly what he meant - did he not realize that I am a professional; I don't tell him how to act, he shouldn't tell me how to teach. If he wants a math playmate for his daughter, then hire someone to do that, don't hire a teacher who is trained to actually teach. I'm not just doing whatever I'll get paid for.

I've asked K what to do before calling back. I don't want to in any way affect his career. I don't want to create enemies. But I also really don't want to tutor this kid. And I really think they could find someone who fit their needs better. So why can't they leave me alone about it??

I stress too much about stupid things. This is stupid, and I'm stressing over it. And I can't wait til it all goes away.

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