beautiful . solitude

Dear Mrs. Shih,

 
I left a message on your work machine earlier but one of girls in class informed me that it might be a better idea to email you instead ... so here I am!
 
I'm writing to let you know that I had encountered a really crappy incident with Carol Lu, whom I had been attempting to assist for the Summer Chinese Camp.  I am not sure of whether or not you were aware of our arrangements, but what had happened was that Ms. Lu contacted me out of the blues sometimes last week and asked to see if I could help her out with her classes since she was not assigned any assistant teachers for her location.  I agreed to going to class with her up to 3x a week if my work schedule permits, and she offered to pick me up from my home and drive me back afterwards since I do not have my own car.  She also asked to see if I could lend her my laptop, which I couldn't, but I offered to help her rent one if the campus does not offer computer/internet access.  She also needed assistance with downloading materials from Dr. Yeh's moodle.
 
We met up on this past Monday, just a day before classes started, to set up the classroom and meet the administrators.  Everything seemed to be okay, and we made arrangements for me to go again on Wednesday, which is today.  Ms. Lu actually lives along midway of the distance between my house and the school, and to save time, I asked if my father could drive me to the Wal-Mart near her house and she can pick me up from there instead of going out of her way to SW where I live before heading off to Spring.  We agreed to meet on Wednesday a little before 7 AM.
 
Ms. Lu shot me an email Tuesday evening stating that the students were arriving much earlier than expected, and that we should meet at Wal-Mart before 6:20 AM instead of 7 AM.  She also called me shortly after she sent the email, and told me over the phone that I should meet her at Wal-Mart between 6:20-6:30 AM.  The time was a little different from her email, but since I was given this information over the phone, I stuck by it. 
 
My father and I arrived promptly at the parking lot of Wal-Mart at 6:20 AM.  Ms. Lu was nowhere to be seen, and I waited a few minutes before calling her.  She did not pick up.  A few moments later, I received a call from my mother.
 
My mother stated that Ms. Lu had called our house, demanding where I was, how come I had been late, and was basically yelling at my mother.  Ms. Lu told my mother that she had waited at Wal-Mart for "a long time" but I never showed up.  When my mother offered to give her my cellphone number (which she already has), she responded to my mother by saying "I dont have the time to call her" only to change her answer to "fine give it to me" within seconds.  And then she hung up on my mother after saying "Tell Teresa to get to the school on her own."
 
I asked my father to turn around and go home. 
 
I have heard a couple of rumors regarding Ms. Lu's attitude before, but I have always taken such gossip with a grain of salt before giving people a chance.  I have spent my own personal time and resources in helping Ms. Lu with her class, and am enraged that she has shown me and my family with complete disrespect.  It will be very difficult for me to continue with the internship program as planned, since I was assigned to work at Ms. Lu's school.  My managers are also getting upset with my constant schedule changes and off-day requests.  I understand that I will most likely not be able to get the tuition reimbursement if I opt out of the program right now, but I really do not have any other choice at this moment.  I do, however, request that I be paid the compensation for the day that helped out at Claughton Middle School, because I cannot stand the idea of having helped out this kind of a person out of my own generosity. 
 
I am very sorry for the long email, but I hope we can get this sorted out without causing you too many problems.  You have always been super nice to me, and I really don't mean to put you in a difficult situation, but my experience with Ms. Lu is something that I cannot overlook, and I apologize again.
 
I can be reached at xxx-xxx-xxxx if you need to call me for anything.
 
Thanks for listening,

Teri