Inappropriate customer

[tursiops]

I froze, to be honest. I plan to talk to the instructor tomorrow, though

Please do. Assume it will happen again, and have your response planned out.
it is like a diving equipment failure; your goal is to turn an emergency into an annoyance, by thinking through your options in advance and deploying your best option in the moment. Good luck.

 

[kastuk]

If he physically touched you in any way that makes you feel violated, that constitutes an assault and you need to take action.
If the instructor doesn't take any action then you need to go up the ladder until someone takes you seriously all the way up to the certifying agency if necessary. I know of an instructor that was banned from PADI and had his instructor status revoked because of an inappropriate relationship with a female DM. They don't mess around.
I depends how strongly you feel about it, but I wouldn't let any of this

I will bring it up tomorrow - I don't think they can do anything about it as he has left the country but at least they might have advice on how to deal with this and other bad situations in the future. I'm sure they would also not want their divemaster to be uncomfortable or feel violated

 

[tursiops]

I don't think they can do anything about it as he has left the country

This is why Goal One is to deal with it in the moment. As soon as it happens stop everything and speak to the diver and to the instructor. If the instructor does nothing, QUIT. It is unlikely the instructor can continue the class without you. You risk not working for that shop any more; this is when you escalate to PADI and let them deal with the shop and the instructor.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

She can threaten without doing it. He is a bully; don't cave immediately, it emboldens the bully.
The important thing is to confront him in the moment.
If the instructor doesn't respond to a complaint, quit on the spot, in the middle of the Rescue class.
Report the diver and the instructor to PADI.

No you do not threaten anybody.
She may not want to confront him in the moment, things could escalate. The last thing she needs is a confrontation. This isn't NYC where females carry pepper spray and are trained to knee creeps in the balls.
The instructor needs to deal with this individual not the DM.
He needs to be dismissed and told never to come back.

 

[kastuk]

I'm not an instructor nor divemaster, but your shop should have some guidelines. This is 100% inappropriate. I know why you didn't speak up at the time, but next time be loud and say no. Embarrass him and make it known you know what he did. At that moment he's dismissed from the class. It should NEVER be tolerated. Right now, I would hope the shop would back you, fire him as a customer and support you. Good luck.

Thank you. I will try to say something out loud next time, and when I'm out of training I would hope I will have more confidence to say something. At least then I have more freedom to choose my own customers, for the most part.

 

[kastuk]

Honestly this is going to be one of those posters who has one post, never to be seen again..

What a weird response to a serious thread

 

[tursiops]

What a weird response to a serious thread

Understandable, though. SB gets a lot of one-time posters who sign up to complain about something and trash a shop or agency or diveboat or whatever, then never post again, on anything. But you have already posted multiple times in this thread; you are real, as is the issue.

 

[lexvil]

While “older” is a matter of perspective, go after his ego.

 

[kastuk]

While “older” is a matter of perspective, go after his ego.

Definitely true, I meant to say "much older than me"

 

[kastuk]

Understandable, though. SB gets a lot of one-time posters who sign up to complain about something and trash a shop or agency or diveboat or whatever, qnenthen never post again, on anything. But you have already posted multiple times in this thread; you are real, as is the issue.

Ah ok, I didn't know. I have been a lurker until today