He
is a nice, smiley guy who is passionate about teaching music. He told me during
our interview that his dream had always been to have his own music school, and
that his only regret was that it took him so long to do so. He is retired from
the Florida Public School System where he taught elementary school music for 20
years, give or take.
Most
of the negotiations that Mr. De David does in his work involve his students,
and their parents when the students are children. It is quite difficult
sometimes, to find common ground when you are working with kids. Parents are
very protective of their children and a lot of times they want other people to
accommodate to their needs, especially with extracurricular activities they see
as a hobby. Gabriel tells me that the most difficult situation to negotiate is
when there are 2 or more kids from the same family who want to take lessons of
different instruments during the same time slot, since this implies
coordinating the schedule for the children and the teachers. Usually what he
would do is ask the customer what day works better for them and then
accommodate the schedule with the available hours his teachers have. However,
it not always works.
Whenever
there is a situation where an agreement cannot be reached, he uses objective
criteria. Industry standards of how most music schools work around this area
helps him make his customers understand that there is a reason behind the
apparent madness, and that he is not being unreasonable, but merely looking out
for the good operation of his school. He also told me that being upfront from
the beginning about the school policy has helped him avoid any ugly
confrontations. Thinking about the customer service he wants to offer at his
school is the method he uses to separate people from the problem and always
keep his cool. Nevertheless if an agreement cannot be reached after further
negotiation, the school’s Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement is to
offer the customer the opportunity to find another school that meets his needs
better.
He
also told me his students sometimes use dirty tricks to try and cancel a
lesson, by faking to be ill (which is the only excusable reason to reschedule a
lesson). If it is a one-time occurrence, he will let it slide because there is
no way he can actually confirm if the student is sick or not. However, if he
finds a pattern from a student, he told me he would talk to the student and
confront him about this repetitive behavior he has noticed.
