OMG! This made me laugh... here's a similar story... I took all 3 of my kids to Shawnee almost 2 years ago. They were 9, 7 and 4 (with autism). I too DD out of the daycare and bought a private lesson for her (the 4 year old) and he was AWESOME!!!!! Took her on the lift, kept her longer than the 1 hour.... and she even called him by the wrong name the whole time as the front desk had given me a different name and I had told her the instructor's name before we met him (autistic thing; she's bad at names and very rigid at times).
I had no cash in my pocket! All I had with me was a credit card. No ATM, no nothing. I went everywhere - to the cafeteria to ask if they could run my card through a higher amount if I bought something, to the front desk where lessons were sold - etc etc. No one, but no one at Shawnee was willing to run my credit card and give me $20. Even when I explained I wanted it to tip an instructor... I was irritated and embarrassed at the same time... I didn't have one of those credit/debit cards either... Sure I could have gone back to the car for my wallet, but it was a major hike and I had already left the boys alone in the cafeteria for too long drinking hot chocolate already. I finally gave up. I had every intention of sending $$ back to the guy, but it just never happened.
I still feel badly, even writing this. If anyone ever deserved a tip for great service, it was him.