“Are you too damn stupid to understand basic instructions? Staying home with that baby turned your brain to mush? You're slower than a pig!”
I'd barely clipped the line while backing into the parking space, and the instructor was already slamming the passenger armrest, calling me a “brainless sow.”
The car went dead silent. The students in the back seat ducked their heads, not daring to say a word.
I sat frozen for two seconds, then reached for a tissue and wiped the spit off my face.
“Instructor, this is my first time behind the wheel, and I signed up for one-on-one training. Could you maybe……”
“Could I maybe what?” He cut me off：
“Weren't you the one begging and whining to train with me? Dumb, useless waste of space. You wanna learn, learn. You don't, get lost!”
The other students told me the instructor had a nasty temper. They said I should just bear with it, maybe bring him a little gift, and things would smooth over.
But the filth coming out of his mouth was too much. I wasn't going to take it.
——
My son was four months old. I had two months of maternity leave left, and I'd paid $5,000 for a one-on-one VIP driving course so I could make the most of them.
The school had promised me walk-in priority. I could show up anytime and always go first.
On my very first day of driving skills test practice, because I'd ignored the instructor's hints about a cash gift,
he suddenly called me a stinking milk cow, said being near me made him want to throw up.
I glanced at the time. Less than an hour before my son would wake up hungry.
I didn't argue. I didn't make a scene. I simply requested a female instructor.
The dispatcher reassigned me to a new instructor, Thelma Gray.
She was sitting in the shade, iced coffee in one hand, cigarette pinched between the fingers of the other,
pointing at the row of students baking under the midsummer sun, telling me to get in line behind them.
I said politely：
“I signed up for one-on-one training.”
She looked me up and down, set the coffee aside, and stood：
“Oh, so you're the one. Dudley Chavez said he lost a two-thousand-dollar cash gift in the car while he was coaching you. You didn't happen to see it?”
Dudley Chavez. The instructor who'd called me a stinking, reeking milk cow.
I understood the play immediately.
Dudley hadn't gotten what he wanted out of me, so now she was running the same con.
A bone-deep weariness settled over me. I couldn't wrap my head around it.
I had paid $5,000 for one-on-one lessons. I'd been here over an hour and hadn't so much as touched a steering wheel.
None of them cared about doing their jobs. All they cared about was squeezing me for money.
I clenched my fists until my knuckles went white.
I said：“I didn't see any cash gift. I paid five thousand dollars in tuition. I'm here to learn to drive.”
“I have an infant waiting for me at home. Can I please just get a car and run through the course a couple of times?”
The other students sucked in a sharp breath.
They had each paid $800. I had paid $5,000 for one-on-one VIP training.
I thought my request was clear enough. I thought she, as a woman, might show some understanding.
Instead Thelma threw her head back and screamed at me：
“I've got all these people waiting to practice! Where am I supposed to find time for your precious one-on-one?!”
“If you need to run home and nurse your kid, why bother learning to drive at all?”
My mind went blank for a second. Heat flooded my face.
The whole reason I'd paid $5,000 was so I could walk in anytime and still have time for my son.
Now I was at the mercy of these instructors, jumping through hoops just to get what I'd already paid for.
Years in business had taught me one thing: the people at the top are easy to deal with. It's the gatekeepers who bleed you dry.
I didn't say another word. I said “Fine,” turned around, and walked away.
Thelma's shrill voice chased after me：
“I've seen her type a million times. Thirty years old and just now having a baby? Bet she spent her twenties sleeping around, then snagged some pushover to settle down with so she could play house.”
“Disgusting tramp. Got money for a VIP course but can't cough up a gift for Instructor Chavez?”
Every word dripped with rage and contempt, and underneath all of it, jealousy.
A few students piped up, groveling, telling her not to let it ruin her mood.
