Yes Bingo, I would say the worst is people who don't show up. I am semi professional, and have only experienced this once or twice, but it is infuriating to travel to the studio only to find...no-one. Obviously you can't get paid if there is no-one there so all your expenses are your own. We try to have a policy at our studio that if someone doesn't give 24hr notice or at least telephone to cancel, we still ask for the money, which is very difficult to get out of people, but we try to enforce it to teach them of our time wasted.
The best bits are the achievments. To see someone arrive with two left feet and some time later to be able to get around the dance floor, is very satisfying. I always say to my pupils, especially adult beginners ( cos it does seem to take longer to sink in )that I wish i had taken a video of them at the start because then they could see there own progress, which in most cases is quite amazing.
One other hard part is looking the part, I don't know if anyone else here has the same problem...............i try to look my best when out, even shopping,just in-case !....but my luck is I bump into people when I've just left work ( I am a lab tech)which I find most embarassing.
Teaching is a lot of fun, you need plenty of patience also. Some things that may come easy to you, or you think is easy, might not be to someone else and sometimes is quite hard to accept. Like last night I don't know many times i taught the closed telemark ( and this is the 3rd week )to one couple the lady just wouldn't or couldn't use her right foot...the left one kept moving instead. so it's extra satisfying when eventually it klicks.......but we might be back to square one next week. But thats the way it goes.
I haven't any children myslf, but the kids on a sat morning are great and the younger they are the quicker they pick steps up. i try to teach them correct footwork from the start, even if they don't do it, I say it. Hopefully the connection between brain and foot doesn't take too long. Some do some don't. I have girls of 6 years old some understand toe and heel and I have girls of 10 and 11 who just can't make the connection ...I'll get there
So Bingo..............what do you think?

Julie x