Man! I read an article from a pitmaster in Texas who said he only trims the hard fat and leaves most of the cap alone, like a half inch or more, and his whole point was that fat cap is insulation, not flavor. It keeps the heat from hammering the flat while the point keeps cooking through the stall. That butcher is right, you're basically stripping the brisket's jacket off before winter lol. I've seen guys do full trim jobs for competition and those briskets look pretty but they wrap them early and baby them the whole time. For backyard cooks you want that fat left on, you can always scrape it off the slices if someone doesn't like it. Try leaving a half inch next time and see if that point stops drying out on you.

Wait, did she really say the rotation is final like it's a court order? That is wild. I feel for you because salsa is already hard enough without your partner yelling countdowns in a made up language. Honestly the instructor should have stepped in because part of her job is making sure people can actually follow along, not just throwing you in and hoping for the best. If it happens again next week you might just have to smile and nod and follow his lead based on his body, which is a real skill but not what you paid for. That center has a rep for weird pairings though, so you are not alone.