October 14, 2003
So.., I started tutoring this new kid, Shane, last Saturday or so. I left my calculator at his house that day, on accident, but decided to just pick it up Sunday, since I was planning on seeing him the next day anyway. They called to cancel the next morning, while I was still sleeping, and didn't leave a number, so I couldn't contact them back, and he still had my calculator. No biggie, I lived without and went to his house on Wednesday to pick it up and figure out what was going on for Saturday, and if they still wanted me to tutor again. His father was there, but not his mum or himself, and the father had no clue. However, he was a nice guy and found my calculator for me, I got their phone number, and left. As I was leaving, I noticed my calculator wouldn't turn on, so I checked the batteries, which I had replaced prior to going to his house. The batteries were gone, replaced with some Walgreens batteries instead, so I assumed they were dead, and he had jacked my batteries, blech. Now, forward to tonight, as I'm getting home around 00:10 or so. My mom wakes up and asks me if my calculator is broken, since I told her about the batteries thing earlier the day before. I say it shouldn't be, since the batteries are just dead. She says that she thinks it's probably dead, else, why would he have replaced the batteries? I, thinking she's crazy since it's obvious he just wanted the batteries for another appliance or something and simply swapped the batteries, go downstairs and grab the batteries out of my brother's calculator. I put them in mine, and.., it won't turn on. I put the batteries that were in my calc and put them in my brother's and..., it turns on. ... ... So yeah, I tutored on Saturday, got a new set of AAA batteries, and lost a $100 calculator. Woohoo.
Well..., after calling my student's house again, I reached his father this time. The father had not heard about the situation, so I explained it to him. He immediately responded with something along the lines of, "I don't believe we are responsible". The short of it? Basically, he insinuated at least once that he thought I might be jacking them. Said I should get it checked by someone, maybe see if it could be repaired. Said that if it could be repaired, I should do so, but not expect them to pay much of the fee, if anything at all. He also brought up the issue that they did not ask me to leave the calculator there, so somehow that partially absolved them of guilt. I had no response to that at the time, but now I've thought about it more, and have formulated one. Yeah, I left it there, but his son used it, so regardless of the situation in which it was left there, your son either used something that was implied as lent to him, or used something that was forgotten. In the first case, it's a reasonable situation. In the second, he seems a bit less in the right. It's kinda like finding a wallet with receipts and stuff in it, and rooting through it for fun, even after you've found the appropriate ID.
Beyond that, his son gave the story that he used the calculator for a bit, then apparently it said the batteries were low. So he switched 'em, and then didn't use the calculator since then. They also bought their son an identical calculator over the weekend, but I don't have much of a time-frame on any of this. Anyhow, the batteries on my calculator had been replaced the morning of the tutoring, so there's no way those batteries were dying. A dead watch battery should not cause the calculator to not be able to turn on, but I will test that theory tomorrow hopefully. So, either their son has lied, or, I dunno.
In any event, I hope this crap will be resolved before the weekend. It's not that I need a calculator badly, but having one is a huge convenience when doing physics and most anything involving lots of numbers. Blech, such crap.
Well..., after calling my student's house again, I reached his father this time. The father had not heard about the situation, so I explained it to him. He immediately responded with something along the lines of, "I don't believe we are responsible". The short of it? Basically, he insinuated at least once that he thought I might be jacking them. Said I should get it checked by someone, maybe see if it could be repaired. Said that if it could be repaired, I should do so, but not expect them to pay much of the fee, if anything at all. He also brought up the issue that they did not ask me to leave the calculator there, so somehow that partially absolved them of guilt. I had no response to that at the time, but now I've thought about it more, and have formulated one. Yeah, I left it there, but his son used it, so regardless of the situation in which it was left there, your son either used something that was implied as lent to him, or used something that was forgotten. In the first case, it's a reasonable situation. In the second, he seems a bit less in the right. It's kinda like finding a wallet with receipts and stuff in it, and rooting through it for fun, even after you've found the appropriate ID.
Beyond that, his son gave the story that he used the calculator for a bit, then apparently it said the batteries were low. So he switched 'em, and then didn't use the calculator since then. They also bought their son an identical calculator over the weekend, but I don't have much of a time-frame on any of this. Anyhow, the batteries on my calculator had been replaced the morning of the tutoring, so there's no way those batteries were dying. A dead watch battery should not cause the calculator to not be able to turn on, but I will test that theory tomorrow hopefully. So, either their son has lied, or, I dunno.
In any event, I hope this crap will be resolved before the weekend. It's not that I need a calculator badly, but having one is a huge convenience when doing physics and most anything involving lots of numbers. Blech, such crap.
# posted by Yann : 01:18
