The drawbacks of youth in teaching

I had to call a piano teacher today to talk to her about a current student of hers that will become my student in August.  It's a good situation for the student - the teacher felt she couldn't really advance her beyond what she's already done, so she told the student (A) to look for another teacher with XYZ qualifications.  I apparently fit the bill, I told A I'd take her (after her interview last month), and it's all good.  In any case, when I called the teacher, I started out by telling her my intent for calling:  to ask her about A in general, what she does well, what she struggles with, if the family has ever given her problems (in general or financially), and if there was anything in particular I should know about regarding lessons with A before I started with her.  The teacher hesitated and said "well, she played for you, right?  What did you think of her playing?"

This is one of the reasons I really hate communicating with people on the phone.  On the phone, my voice betrays the fact that I am 32 years old.  Actually, sometimes I think my voice makes me sound younger.  In any case, when people hear me, I think they start making assumptions that maybe I'm not as qualified/capable as I'm made out to be (on paper and/or from word of mouth).  This teacher's questions of "what did you think of her playing?" is a perfect example.  Through the way she said it, I could literally hear her saying "you don't sound like you'd know your elbow from your fist, so I'm not going to just spill the beans to someone who I don't think knows anything."  It's frustrating, it's demeaning, and it makes me feel like not bothering with being professional.  In all honesty, I wanted to say something like "if you'd been teaching her correctly for the past 3+ years, maybe those problems wouldn't exist!!!", but I didn't. 

Taking a deep breath (and calling upon my biggest reserves of patience), I told the teacher that she played well, sightread beautifully, knew her music theory, lacked a lot of basic music history knowledge, and had an absolutely rock-solid wrist (instead of a flexible one) in both hands.  I could hear the lady literally exhaling on the other end, and then "yes!  I agree completely."  Jeez, lady, could you make me feel any more cruddy?  I may not be as old or experienced as you, but I was damn well trained properly to see and hear what's going on everywhere when someone plays piano!

Next time I call a teacher to discuss a student, I think I'll just start out with "I noticed XYZ with this student - was that ever an issue you saw too?"  Or maybe just ask if they owe him/her money.  That might be the safest path.