After poignantly clarifying that I was helping him out of the goodness of my heart and this was highly unusual, I went over his paper with him. The paper turned out to be a disaster. He was also not a native English speaker and this only added to the problems in the paper. I told him there was no way that we were going to be able to fix everything, but I went over the first paragraph and helped him find some patterns of mistakes he was making. There was no time to go over content, so this was one of those "oh shit, you forced me into a fix-it shop" situations.
When we finished up I showed him the website for making appointments and the hours posted on the door. He left happy and I was glad to help, but seriously frustrated with the situation. This is the kind of "being taken advantage of" that Singly and Boucher are talking about in this weeks reading. I ended up being 20 minutes late to my class because I didn't have enough time to finish the work I had set out to do in the "closed" center.
Phil was in my class that night and I told him about what happened. He said he would have just told the guy too bad, come back tomorrow. Maybe that's what I should have done. I want to help, but I've got to have limits too. I really did feel taken advantage of and it sucked. I just don't want this to ruin all the good sessions. (grunt)
Hmmm...this is something I definitely still struggle with too, Ryan. We do have to have limits, though I still find myself frequently breaking my own rules. One suggestion about using the Center after the doors are technically closed for the day: if you turn the lights off in the main area and stay towards the back, the Center looks closed, and students are less likely to force themselves in. You can still hang out on the other side of the Center by Joy's desk (that side functions on a different set of lights). It's not as cozy as the couch, I admit.
ReplyDeleteI think it's absolutely fine to put yourself first when you're off the clock--after all, you devote so much of your time to the Center and students as is, and that should be enough. Of course your attitude in letting students down is crucial--you can be nice and firm about it without a "too bad, so sad" kind of approach.
Let me know if you find the answer to this issue. I could benefit from it!
Enjoy your weekend!
mk
Hey Ryan,
ReplyDeleteIt almost sounds like this guy was playing dumb, like maybe he was a little "too" familiar with the layout of the place. Like maybe he knew what he was doing. Because of our recent class discussions (and that staff meeting) I've been thinking a lot about being professionally advantageous to people VS. being taken undue advantage of. It seems like such a fine line, even during regularly scheduled operating hours. :o) That might be an interesting paper topic.
P.S. Yeah, I'm kind of stalking your blog. Don't feel too special, though, I'm kind of stalking everyone else's blog, too.
;o)
--Rachael
Don't worry Ryan, you're a nice guy. After having the same thing happen over and over again, you will become a little more callused, nature will take its course, and you'll soon find it easy to slam the door on someone's face.
ReplyDelete