You see them all in this job. Teachers. It's part of my own inspiration to enter the profession.
The teacher who reads all the pre-visit advice and documentation, communicates and is well-organised, just like their group, is a rarer specimen than you might think or expect. When one of these teachers enters our office hope returns. Equally faith-restoring is the teacher who makes a point of coming back at the end of the day to thank us, or just let us know how they got on, or the class that sends you a thank you card.
The challenge, and I guess the glass-half-full side of me argues, the fun side of the job is in the remainder.
The teacher who thinks it's fine to let their students help themselves to rental gear before it's been paid for.
The teacher who phones and asks me personally to check the snow conditions so they can work out how wet the kids will get.
The teacher who doesn't see the problem with asking for lessons for 50 kids without having booked them (or the teacher who turns up with 50 kids without having booked at all!).
The Ee-Yoor teacher who tells us on a closed day that he's ready to kill himself, the bored students are bugging him so much.
The teacher who refuses to communicate any way other than text message, despite that being the only method of communication we currently do not have available to us.
The teacher who sends in a booking form with no school name or contact details, just a contact name. We are, of course, all full qualified mindreaders in Schools & Groups.
A local school teacher has advised me on several occasions that all teachers are idiots, morons. It's hard to disagree based on my experiences the past 2 winters.
But the good'ns are still out there and make the other 800 odd that I'll have dealt with this season fade to grey. I like to think I have it in me to be one of the good'ns when I move to the other side of the desk.
