Work experience kids - insurance

[lonni]

Had some work experience kids in this week, aged 15, from a local school.

They were bored shitless, i let them take shots, edit them etc, but they thought commercial photography "was like fashion and stuff".

So the little turds wrecked my primary set of lighting, 2 elinchrom flash heads, some modifiers and cables. Not sure how it happened, i think they were stuffing about and knocked stuff over, but the dammage was too much for that, i was gone 5 minutes!

Some of the products we were shooting also dissapered, bongs and hippy jewelery.

The insurance company wont pay cause they are not employees, they dont cover volunteer work, which is what they classify work experience kids as. No worries i though to my self, the school has an insurance policy for the work experience kids for situations like this.

They were happy to listen and were going to pay for damages, till they got quotes, now are trying to wriggle out of it.

The only way i can get money back woth the insurance company is to go to the cops and say it was criminal damage and theft.

I dont want to have to pay for it my self, no one else will, and i dont realy want to take the kids to the cops and for the first time in my life i am appologising to a customer, i look so unprofessional.

This is the 10th set of work experience kids i have had from this school and i wont be doing it agian.

Moral of the story read the fine print and kids are little turds.

[Jim Bryant]

How true!!!!!! Send a letter for demand of payment and explaining the incident to each turds parents. Hopefully they aren't shits too.

[lonni]

Yeah i was thinking this, problem is one of the kids parents is a poli and has some swing in the community. I live in a town where its who you know not what you know that gets you places and i have only recently become a local - even though ive been living here for 25 years. The others parent is a bit scary, like i wouldnt want to be cought in a dark alley with him, even in teh middle of the day, cause he would probably have his bikie gang with him.

I am going to push the school a bit more though, their insurance policy says they will pay so they should. I dont care if they are a school and i will be taking money from the kids education as the pricipal said, they signed a contract, im holding them to it.

If they had not made me look unprofessional i wouldnt care so much. My insurance company said i can claim for loss of incoem and loss of goodwill, which jas teh school running scared.

Oh did i mention one of the turds gave me the flu? Not a cold but the actual flu.

[Jim Bryant]

Originally Posted by lonni

Yeah i was thinking this, problem is one of the kids parents is a poli and has some swing in the community. I live in a town where its who you know not what you know that gets you places and i have only recently become a local - even though ive been living here for 25 years. The others parent is a bit scary, like i wouldnt want to be cought in a dark alley with him, even in teh middle of the day, cause he would probably have his bikie gang with him.

I am going to push the school a bit more though, their insurance policy says they will pay so they should. I dont care if they are a school and i will be taking money from the kids education as the pricipal said, they signed a contract, im holding them to it.

If they had not made me look unprofessional i wouldnt care so much. My insurance company said i can claim for loss of incoem and loss of goodwill, which jas teh school running scared.

Oh did i mention one of the turds gave me the flu? Not a cold but the actual flu.

"I feel your pain!"

I've told the local school's commercial photography program instructor (who's a good friend of mine) when asked about accepting student interns, I said yes, so as long as the program's director and individual students sign a contract stating that all damages will be paid by school and parents. This is before the internship starts. He said it was a very good idea and promised only to send his very best and responsible students.

That was three years ago. He wanted the internships, but the school district didn't want to sign any contracts holding the school liable. No contract...no interns...period!

[bhursey]

Originally Posted by Jim Bryant

"I feel your pain!"

I've told the local school's commercial photography program instructor (who's a good friend of mine) when asked about accepting student interns, I said yes, so as long as the program's director and individual students sign a contract stating that all damages will be paid by school and parents. This is before the internship starts. He said it was a very good idea and promised only to send his very best and responsible students.

That was three years ago. He wanted the internships, but the school district didn't want to sign any contracts holding the school liable. No contract...no interns...period!

In work study when I went to high school I was an actual part time employee of the place I worked. They would let us go to work half way though the school day like at 1pm and we would work tell 5pm or 6pm.

So if we broke something we had to pay for it out of our pay check.

[jdepould]

I'd just file the police report. Regardless of their status as volunteers or whatever, they stole stuff. Based on that, it's not a huge leap to start wondering if they broke the gear on purpose.

[lonni]

I have had 10 sets of work experience kids and not a single problem, now i will not take on another.

work experience here is prety much a holiday for the teachers, the whole grade gets to do a week in real work, with real duties and real hours, we are supposed to show them what the real world is like and rip the rose coloured glasses from their faces before they have to choose senior level class subjects that will determine their path in life. I found it helpfull as a kid, which is why i do the program.

The school has a policy specifically for work experience kids, it is supposed to be for situations like this.

[kingpatzer]

If you have a studio you have a lawyer on retainer, right? Have him or her draft a letter to the school. They'll pay up as soon as they realize that you're not playing games.

[happyme]

Why would you let Kids use your stuff. when you know that they were imamture and un aware of how to use it. The insurance might claim this question against you.

[lonni]

Lawyer on retainer? Nope this is Australia, in the country even, i pay my lawyer in beer, well not realy we just pay as we go type of thing. Anyway i already called and got advice, he reckons stand firm and they will pay, they are just seeing if i will back down, they apparently do it all the time. He doesnt want to get involved and waste my money as any idiot can see the fine print. As he put it "just smile and pout those pretty little lips of yours long enough and they will roll over like a dead dingo" - like i said beer.

Originally Posted by happyme

Why would you let Kids use your stuff. when you know that they were imamture and un aware of how to use it. The insurance might claim this question against you.

Its how they learn, its the whole point of work experience, and they were supervised for most of the time, ecept the 5 mins they took to wreck my stuff. Any way at 15 and with a teachers personal assurance i trusted them that far.

All kids are immature, but if you keep treating them that way how can they step up and act mature? Any way every single kid i have had come through thought it would be more fun, doent mean they are immature it just means they dont have any experience.

And yes im a bleeding heart and feed stray animals and hand over my lunch to bums.