Start Thinking... Office Hours.

Tomorrow's Big Thirsty is about office hours. (Not to mention a post from a new correspondent is also on the topic.)

Here are a few select RYS clips about office hours from past posts. Please to, as we used to say, in the goon old days, now I realize this is a time before some of you were born, no that's stupid, but you get my drift right, you feel me, to enjoy:

From Tina from Topeka:
The last class that I felt compelled to go to office hours was also a science class. And I was struggling. I came prepared with specific questions and reference materials (my notes and the textbook, specifically). The professor, in all his wisdom, simply told me that I needed to "study harder." Then he rattled on about his sleep apnea and his wife's cancer before offering to drive me home. I politely declined, but I'm pretty sure that I could have slept with him for an A in the class.

From Dr. Schadenfrau:
I’ve learned office hours have two purposes: health crises and meaning of life crises. I get health…always health. Does my pallor and Jabba the Hut physique infer I’m that much closer to the great beyond? I don’t know. Why anyone would discuss their maladies with a middle-aged woman who’s covered in cat hair and spouts post-modern critical theory remains a mystery to me. Yet, they come. They sit. They talk. While their mouths move up and down, I try to, as my therapist suggested, think pleasant thoughts…like being abducted by aliens and anally probed with a Roto-Rooter.

The story of Penelope:
Last week after coming to my office hours (where she always is 5 minutes early, waiting), she reappeared 40 minutes later for some more feedback. "I want you to tell me if this is better now," she said, handing me the draft that showed a variety of handwritten corrections. I explained to Penelope that what we had talked about the first time - earlier that hour - was something she needed to think about, put into effect, and spend a couple of days on. "Oh, I just sat out in the hallway and did the changes right now. I knew you'd want to see me as soon as you could." Well, I didn't, and I tried to explain that, but she took the criticism badly and stormed out.