rock shoes polish the rock too, especially when wielded by noobs.
the hip belay was standard for years, and although I've never caught a leader fall with one myself there are plenty of stories of catches of huge falls. look on supertopo. Teaching beginners how to hip belay though, not really sure about that. especially with the rope running under the armpits.
my suggestion is to climb somewhere else, I try and stay away from those spots because there are often hords of guided clients tring the shit out of everything.