Let me preface this by saying that I actually really adore my students this year. Many of them are incredibly clever; when I asked them what their favorite books were, for instance, most of them had smart, erudite answers as to what they enjoyed and why.
That said.
There are many ways to bother an English tutor. My personal least favorite is the ones who show up, say "Oh, I'm fifteen minutes early." And then walk in and sit down like they own the place.
Excuse me, Princess. This is my lunch. I get three lunches in a five-day week. I guard them jealously.
When shooed away, they hover -- and look in four times in the ten minutes before I break down and let them in to ask "Are you done yet?"
And then spend the entire tutoring session none-too-subtly hinting, every time I try to compliment them on their grasp of the material, "So we can speed through this?" I mean, I generally let them fly and be free if they've gotten through my planned material. I plan for twenty minutes and questions. But if they push for it ...
You probably guessed that all the dialogue came from one specific student. On the same day back in Week 2 -- I wrote it down at the time because I found it so egregious. But yeah. It's a generalized problem.
So I'm amusing myself now, as I have been doing since Wednesday of Week 2, by composing a worksheet of vindictive busy work. So I can hand it to the ones who really push me to be done early.
Some elements I should probably remove are the passive-aggressive ones:
"Write a complete thesis explaining why tutors should be treated with respect."
And the aggressive-aggressive ones:
"Write a complete thesis taking a position on the statement, 'I, the completer of this sheet, am an aggressive, irritating little sleazeball with no understanding of respect, personal space, or basic sociable behavior.'"
Yeah, that probably has to go.
Um ... don't write about your job on your blogs under any identifiable name, kids.
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