Imagine going to a music school and having a schedule that really works well for you and has worked well for you for multiple years.

What would you do if a classmate had a scheduling conflict and wanted to switch class times with you?

Would you agree to switch class times or would you insist on keeping your current schedule?

In this story, one teenage boy is in this situation, and he does not want to change his schedule.

Should he do it anyway?

Let’s read the whole story to decide.

AITA for refusing to swap my piano lesson time with another girl?

So I (18 M) have been going to a music school for 11 years now.

For 6 years (ever since I switched schools and had to start commuting there) I’ve had the piano lesson (PL for this post) at the same time – Wednesday 19:00 to 19:45 and before that I’ve had ensemble class (EC).

I had a different teacher for EC before, but for the last 2 years (the old one retired) I go to the EC of the same teacher I have for PL.

It is important to note that both of those ECs were at the same time – 18:15 to 19:00.

Meet Emma.

At the EC there is this one girl (17 F – let’s call her Emma) – she also happens to be my classmate, so we have the same timetable at school.

Our teacher is in my town only on Tuesday and Wednesday and Emma had her PL on Tuesday right after school if she took the bus.

This year, she suddenly needs to have the PL after EC.

I live in the same town where the music school is, but I live at the other end so if I take some shortcuts through fields and forests I can get there in 20 minutes (those shortcuts are unusable in winter tho) so it usually takes around 30 minutes.

Emma lives in neighboring town and it takes her around an hour to go on foot, but her mother ALWAYS picks her up, so it takes her like 4 minutes by car.

Emma’s family has a scheduling conflict.

This year, her brother has some kind of sports class in some other town, so after the EC ends, she has to wait for 20 minutes for her mother to pick her brother up and then her.

For some reason, both Emma and her mother can’t deal with this.

She’s a stay-at-home mom and has no problem picking her up both of those days so she gets to the music school and back in 10 minutes.

For me, it takes an hour.

He is not about to switch class times.

Long story short, I refused to switch with her for my own comfort.

We agreed with our music teacher that I’ll have the PL at the same time like always last year and I am not willing to switch with her.

When her mother found out, she started freaking out and went straight to our teacher. They are friends so suddenly there are 3 people pushing me to switch even though it makes zero sense to me.

I told her I’d rather quit but the teacher needs me there because I’m basically carrying the EC.

So tell me, am I a jerk?

He shouldn’t have to rearrange his schedule to accommodate another student. It’s not that big of a deal for Emma to wait 20 minutes for her mom to pick her up.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

This person encourages him not to give in.

No means no.

Here’s another suggestion on how to explain the situation.

Maybe his parents should complain.

It’s okay to ask, but it’s also okay to say no.

If you liked that story, read this one about grandparents who set up a college fund for their grandkid because his parents won’t, but then his parents want to use the money to cover sibling’s medical expenses.