There aren’t a lot of things that really irritate me.
Having things that affect me rescheduled without a reason, and especially last minute are near the top of the list of those that do.
I can be very flexible and easy-going when it comes to scheduling things in the first place, and I can even be flexible if things have to change–in the right circumstances.
Last Thursday afternoon, I got a message from Boss that said he can’t teach my lesson Monday at 6, but could I do that evening at 6 instead?
That’s it. ‘I can’t teach at 6’.
I had to turn down the last minute reschedule, but that leaves me with a lot of questions about what is going on with my lesson tonight (or rather not going on). Not a single explanation has been offered for why the lesson has been cancelled, or further information about the rest of the evening’s classes (usually there is a group class Monday night as well).
So I am stuck wondering–is it only my lesson? Was it bumped to accommodate someone else? Is the studio completely closed? Are the group lessons cancelled too? Is this likely to become a regular occurrence?
If I didn’t know Boss better, the easiest presumption would be that he doesn’t want to teach at 6 on Monday. Since I do know better, I know its probably something unavoidable, but at least a basic general explanation like ‘the studio will be closed’ or ‘I will be out of town’ or ‘I have an outside appointment I can’t reschedule’ would go a long way toward me feeling less hostile and as though my time and schedule is not important. Even the added ‘Sorry for the inconvenience’ seems pretty insincere when there is no explanation as to why I am being inconvenienced, or if I am the only person.
He also offered no information on whether there will be practice time available tonight, or if the group classes will happen, both of which I am assuming are cancelled. My plan tonight is to go through the videos from the silver test at home and put together interesting points from them.
Perhaps it is just me who finds this sort of last minute cancellation and assumption that I will be willing to reorganize my plans (in a very short time frame) to accommodate without any reason why really annoying.
Basically, Boss has inconvenienced me, but has not given any reason why I should rearrange my life to accommodate scheduling issues in his. Its just assumed I will, regardless.
Usually when this happens (and it is not the first time!), I ask all the relevant questions (is there practice, is there group classes, is it just my lesson?), to try and get an idea why this is necessary, but in recent months I have decided to no longer bother. Why should I have to drag information from someone to make their life easier to know how much I have to rearrange my schedule (usually I am at the studio for up to 3 hours on Monday. Boss’s message covered one of those).
Perhaps I am just less flexible these days, but I do feel that even a general explanation for a cancellation is at least courteous. Looking at some of the other cancellations I have had from other professionals lately, there is always something like “the Dr is unfortunately sick”, “the Dr has to travel”, “the hospital re-arranged clinic time”, “we had to accommodate a higher (meaning sicker) priority patient”. Perhaps that is just a North American sense of entitlement I am used to.
Regardless, it still remains one of my biggest (and I don’t have many!) pet-peeves when it is expected for me to change my schedule last minute for no reason.
Guess I tend to plan things for a reason.
Beyond Cancer Ballroom Dancer 