sounds like a controller problem to me nate.
Well, maybe. We do have a lot of trainee controllers.
The Skyhawk in front of us couldn't seem to follow directions so badly that they had to bounce him over to the other runway just to deal with him, and a Skylane inbound told to remain West of I-25 didn't and was scolded for that too. He blasted past all three of us, close in, and the controller gave him a five mile base for that stunt. Ha.
It was kinda a cluster---- all afternoon. My buddy was appreciating the radio workout and his landings were quite respectable. He pulled off a bunch of squeakers. (Bastard! Ha. I bet him a Coke he couldn't put his short field in the center of the TDZ markers and that rattled him enough he missed 'em. I already owed him a Coke from a previous flight bet so we ended up even for the day.)
I asked if I could help out once on the radios and he said go for it, when the controller called traffic we didn't see but we had two others ahead on downwind in sight. Also once when the controller said, "Say position" right as we were lifting off on a T&G. That was kinda funny. (Come to think of it, yeah. Had to be a trainee. He got his strips out of order. Haha.)
I did laugh that my "IFR brain" kept kicking in and announcing "100 feet to go" to him without even thinking about it. He joked later, "I could tell you've been working on your Instrument..."
I didn't have the heart to tell him I was also watching the heading wander back and forth, the airspeed up and down 10, and other stuff all with quick glances from the right seat.
Kinda fun to notice your own tolerances have dropped significantly by taking a ride with someone who's never done it yet. He's talking about doing it this year. It'll be fun to see what he says.
He likes utilizing the right seater to read checklists to him so that was fun too.
We were in a 180 HP Skyhawk with dual 530s so I played with comparing the TIS to the mess out the window and the maps a bit on the second one with his permission. Nice to play with the gadgets while you're not busy flying the plane.
Always fun to go flying with someone else and play "dumb passenger available to assist if you ask and watch for traffic". You always learn something about them or about yourself.