This morning I discovered just how much respect my new position is worth on the open market when a student ended our brief phone conversation with the words "Bye, bitch."
It wasn't even a particularly angry conversation, just the usual blather about a departmental policy. I had even suggested two different legitimate ways for the student to bypass that policy, but that would have required a little bit of work on the student's part, so instead he opted for insult. Does he think I won't remember his name?
I work very hard to accomodate the needs of our students and in some respects I'm a bit of a pushover, but occasionally I have to draw a line in the sand and say "thus far and no further--unless you want to take the long way around and by the way, here's a handy map of the route." If this makes me a bitch, then I guess I just don't understand the meaning of the word.
The worst thing about it was that I couldn't think of anything to say in response--I was so stunned that I just sat there with my mouth open until the phone line went dead. In fact, I'm still stunned. Is this the price I have to pay for moving to the Big Office in the Corner? Or is this the new default mode for telephone conversation? Either way, I'm speechless.
3 comments:
Bev, if it makes you feel any better, something similar happened to me on Friday. I think that there are a few people like that. We need to keep focused on the ones that don't call us b*tch. Often that's harder, at least for me.
Cheer up--if he wants to extend the insulting to physical violence, he knows just where to find you.
. . . or perhaps that's not so cheering.
Bev, clearly what's needed in these situations is a good comeback. But I can't think of one in English. Yiddish (or Yinglish) abounds in acceptable deprecatory epithets for males. They're rather stale by now, but perhaps you could practice chirping back, "No problem, schmuck!"
loving your blog,
Carol
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