This week I have had the following interactions with demons, I mean students. The fact that it is only Tuesday makes me want to cry:
1. One student told me I wanted them to fail because I would not accept a late assignment.
2. One student told me that an assignment was late because they fell in a hole and crashed their car on the way to the emergency room. This one tickled me enough that I told them if they could provide me with documentation to support it I would accept their late assignment.
3. A student asked me to email them all the weekly assignment for the third week in a row, after being told “No” for the first two weeks because they are all listed in the syllabus and the assignments themselves can all be printed off of blackboard.
4. During the week I taught about work etiquette I had a student email me with “Hey You, First of all you didn’t edit my resume right. I need to you to do it again so I can use it.”
I am finding it harder to resist being snarky in my responses, or slapping myself in the head and screaming “No, no, no” when they talk to me.
For #4, I would fire an e-mail right back saying, "Thanks for providing me with a real-life example of a rude, inappropriate e-mail that I can use next time I teach work etiquette."
ReplyDeleteFML, I am a little snarky in my replies sometimes. Yes, it occassionally gets me a "sarcastic meanie" rating on the site that cannot be named.
ReplyDeleteBut I just can't help it. And I only do it when really and truly provoked. Also, I am never snarky in front of a crowd. This is not because I am ashamed or trying to cover it up (I have tenure and am hopelessly unashamed). It's because usually, the crowd gets the joke made on the hapless snowflake and laughs at it even while the snowflake kind of stares stupidly forward and tries to get it. And that IS just plain mean to do to someone.
So I save my only occassional snark for e-mail or office hours.
It can be fun.