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For the record, I don't work in retail. I teach. That said, the crap my students (at a junior college and a technical college) try to pull on me is identical to the crap they try to pull on everyone else. It wouldn't surprise me at all if my little collection of entitlement whores, idiots, mongrels, mouth breathers, and whiners were in many cases one and the same with your collection of same.
Anyway, this one is recent, and one of my favorites from teaching OR my years in retail. This happened less than two weeks ago.
New quarters starts. I show up on the first day, ready for another round of classes. As I'm preparing for my first one, the student dean leans out of her office and asks me to step in a close the door.
Now, I'm a touch worried. I'm new at this school, so I'm trying to be very careful and not piss off the administration. So, door closed, the dean asks, "What can you tell me about <student>? (At this point, <student> will be referred to by the appropriate name Dickweed Mommasboy.)
I sigh deeply. Dickweed Mommasboy had been enrolled in two of my classes the last quarter--English composition and speech. In speech, by the middle of the quarter, he dropped after giving all of 0 speeches. He flatly refused to give a speech in a speech class. In the composition class, he showed up maybe 5 times over the course of the quarter--21 classes. He failed so spectacularly that he left scorch marks on my gradebook. This I relate to my dean.
The dean says, "Well, his mother called. She said that when Dickweed told you a friend of his had died in an accident, you said, 'People die every day. Suck it up.' After that, he was uncomfortable coming to your class."
Now, I'm a nice guy. I like most of my students. I work with them. If something bad happens to them, I work with them to help them pass. One of my students, for instance, had her mother die during the quarter. She made up the work (no late penalties for turning stuff in weeks after because of what happened) and passed. Another student had a baby. She got an incomplete (baby was born right before the end of the quarter) and made up the work and passed. In fact, my own mother-in-law died during the quarter after a protracted illness. I was (and am) pretty sensitive to this sort of thing and will always work something out to help a student through a tough incident.
My response to the dean was, "No, I told him to take the time he needed and then make up the work when he could." Then I remembered--we fill out grade reports four times every quarter--week 3, week 5, week 8, and at the end. Dickweed was listed as a problem student--inattentive, uncooperative, and not attending--from the start. I had adequately covered my butt with those grade reports. I mentioned this--that Dickweed was a problem from day 1 in both classes.
The dean said, "Yeah, I didn't think that sounded like you."
My dean rocks. That student? Not so much. The best part is that he's currently enrolled in a class taught by a friend. After two weeks, he's shown up to that class once. Mommy might have to call again
Anyway, this one is recent, and one of my favorites from teaching OR my years in retail. This happened less than two weeks ago.
New quarters starts. I show up on the first day, ready for another round of classes. As I'm preparing for my first one, the student dean leans out of her office and asks me to step in a close the door.
Now, I'm a touch worried. I'm new at this school, so I'm trying to be very careful and not piss off the administration. So, door closed, the dean asks, "What can you tell me about <student>? (At this point, <student> will be referred to by the appropriate name Dickweed Mommasboy.)
I sigh deeply. Dickweed Mommasboy had been enrolled in two of my classes the last quarter--English composition and speech. In speech, by the middle of the quarter, he dropped after giving all of 0 speeches. He flatly refused to give a speech in a speech class. In the composition class, he showed up maybe 5 times over the course of the quarter--21 classes. He failed so spectacularly that he left scorch marks on my gradebook. This I relate to my dean.
The dean says, "Well, his mother called. She said that when Dickweed told you a friend of his had died in an accident, you said, 'People die every day. Suck it up.' After that, he was uncomfortable coming to your class."
Now, I'm a nice guy. I like most of my students. I work with them. If something bad happens to them, I work with them to help them pass. One of my students, for instance, had her mother die during the quarter. She made up the work (no late penalties for turning stuff in weeks after because of what happened) and passed. Another student had a baby. She got an incomplete (baby was born right before the end of the quarter) and made up the work and passed. In fact, my own mother-in-law died during the quarter after a protracted illness. I was (and am) pretty sensitive to this sort of thing and will always work something out to help a student through a tough incident.
My response to the dean was, "No, I told him to take the time he needed and then make up the work when he could." Then I remembered--we fill out grade reports four times every quarter--week 3, week 5, week 8, and at the end. Dickweed was listed as a problem student--inattentive, uncooperative, and not attending--from the start. I had adequately covered my butt with those grade reports. I mentioned this--that Dickweed was a problem from day 1 in both classes.
The dean said, "Yeah, I didn't think that sounded like you."
My dean rocks. That student? Not so much. The best part is that he's currently enrolled in a class taught by a friend. After two weeks, he's shown up to that class once. Mommy might have to call again
). They want to make sure you don't make some one think, "<so and so> University must be pretty crappy if thisis the kind of person they give a diploma to."
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