Youssef
Contributor
You’re paying for the course aren’t you? A tip is a tip just like in any other industry. If you want to you can but it’s by no means mandatory. Otherwise it wouldn’t be a tip.
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I've always agreed with you on all of that. Of course, if all the instructors simply refused to work for peanuts (and DMs for PERKS), things would have to change. Maybe a Union? I they continue to work for peanuts or free it's their own damn fault. One instructor where I worked said at times he'd rather still be a DM and collect $300 for two weekends work rather than like $550 and all the paperwork and other extras that go along with being an instructor.What that's saying is that they are not paying their instructors what they should and are making them work for peanuts.
It's BULLCRAP!
It's why the puppy mills have to keep churning out instructors. Once they get out there and work for some of these cut rate, unethical, immoral, and greedy shops they don't stay around.
The agencies don't help at all because their customer is the shop. They don't care how the shop makes money, as long as they get their cut from cert fees and materials sales.
Ask the shop how much of your course fee goes to the instructor.
If they tell you, it's probably going to shock you how little they think of the professional who trained you to survive and have fun in an alien environment that is normally hostile to human life.
Primary reason I never taught for a shop. Always stayed independent. I paid the shop a fee for pool use, but I kept 90-95% of the tuition fee.