Part 34 – The Rise and Fall of ‘Conversations with Kert’

I arrived home fresh from my trip to New Zealand, clear that I had made the right decision about being part of the website project.

In my next phone call to Kert I told him that it was just too big a job for me…

He said – in his booming voice .. “Heather!!  You are looking at this as a mountain!  It doesn’t have to be that big!! Start with just one small thing!!!!!  You are afraid to start – you can do this!!  There is a reason why I want you to do it.  Now just get some f…..king thing up there!!!  I will talk to you next week!!”.

I was shaking when I got off the phone.  Doug was waiting to hear how I went.  I told him it looked like I was still doing it.  Doug said to me “You know you don’t have to do everything Kert tells you!”  I said “Oh, I think I do!!”.

The next day I rang a company to talk about the website and what I needed.  I told them about the podcasts plus the payment options.  They were very enthusiastic and said they would be able to do it.  It would cost me about $700 and then an ongoing maintenance cost.

“Okay” I said to them.  “I will do it!”  So while they got to work on it I thought about what else was needed.  I managed to find some good call recording software and during my next phone call with Kert I tried it out.  We arranged a time.   He said he would talk about a particular topic and the first podcast would run for about 20 minutes.

I was going to start saving all of these so I had content when the website finally launched.

So…. the first session…. I rang at the agreed time – he answered – I started to exchange pleasantries as we had on each occasion……he stopped me….. his voice was not only booming, it was aggressive…..

“Heather – we need to be professional about this.  I don’t want to hear about the weather etc.  We must go straight to the interview.  I am a very busy person and I can’t have my time wasted!!!  Do you realise how many things I have to attend to???  I am running my farm and business, I have to talk to people from all over the world – I have my videos, my courses – and also my books to write… I don’t have time to waste…….  I give you these 20 minutes and you want to talk about the weather???????”

Oh no!!  Psycho Kert had popped up!!!!

“Okay” I managed to say when I could get a word in.  ‘I will start again……Good morning Kert…. What are you going to talk about today?”  He said “Yes! That’s better!  I didn’t mean to sound harsh – but this is a teaching for you!  Now too much time has been spent on this so we will leave it until next time”.

“Okay” I said.  He replied “Are we all good?  Once again I did not mean to sound harsh”.  “No that’s fine” I replied…….

I sat there after for a long time. I was shaking and I think I had tears in my eyes.  I was just so stunned by the reaction.  My brain was trying to make sense of it.  I knew what he could be like – I had seen this happen – but now this strange behaviour was aimed directly at me…..  I had done all I was asked to do – even after I had tried to pull out.

………………

Suddenly I was eight years old, sitting in the classroom of the crazy teacher we had that year……..my friend and I were such good little girls.  We were so quiet – we sat at the very front of the class – and she constantly picked on us…….my friend was picked on for spelling, I was picked on for maths.

We had always been at the top of the class – but that year we both spiralled downwards….it was 1964 – in all other ways – a great year!!! In fact – that year  The Beatles came to Australia!!!!  At my young age, I loved The Beatles – in fact listening to their music gave me great comfort throughout that year of verbal and physical abuse from an unhinged teacher.

The teacher’s name was Mrs Davies – etched in my memory forever!!  There were many incidents over the year, but one stands out… the whole class was quietly working on maths equations – she walked up and down the aisles….. suddenly I was hauled out of my seat – she held me and belted and belted me – finally she pushed me back into the seat.  “Look what you’ve done!” she screamed.  She pushed my head to look at the page.  I couldn’t see what I had done – so she told me.  “Look where your multiplication sign is!!!!  you have put it on the line!!!!!!  it should be above the line!!!!!”……”

Oooohhh – above the line!!!!  Here was psycho Mrs Davies!!

When these incidents occurred, the next day I would say I was sick.  I don’t think I told my parents – I was so ashamed.  But in talking about it later, my mother said, “Yes you would say you were sick and would lie in bed staring at the ceiling all day”.  And I remember that – bed felt safe….. I was actually in shock.

It’s a shame my mother never thought to ask me about it…..  She did tell me that at the end of the year Mrs Davies was asked to leave as she had pushed a boy’s head into a brick wall!!!!!

…………………

Now…. back to 2011!!

I had spent money on this project –  and I was about to spend more – because there was something else very important that I needed to have covered if this project was ever going to get off the ground.

Because Kert was sharing his teaching and videos to the website – and I was collecting money, we needed to have a legal agreement.  I wanted it all to be done properly – all above board – and to protect his copyright.

I found a solicitor who specialised in internet law and described what I needed.  I gave her a link to the draft website so she could work on a legal agreement…  I mainly didn’t want any trouble with copyright!!!  She came up with a contract which would need to be signed by both of us.  It cost me around $800.

I contacted Kert’s office and one of the assistants answered. I asked would it be okay to send this through in English – yes, that would be fine.  I had already sent an email explaining it all.

After that I heard nothing. I emailed to ask whether he was happy with the contract.  His assistant replied that he would discuss it all with me when I visited for the next courses.  At that time, he was busy preparing for the one year students.  This was the end of June in 2011.  I would arrive at the beginning of September….

I didn’t know whether to be relieved or worried……. as it turned out – the suggestion of a contract changed everything…….

COMING UP – ALARM BELLS!!!

IF YOU ARE NEW TO THIS STORY, PLEASE START AT THE BEGINNING HERE – Part 1 – An Introduction

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