reeeeallllly annnnoyyyyiiinnnnggggg

When did college students get the idea that it was their right to randomly complain about stupid stuff?

I have one student in one my classes who is ALWAYS bitching about things. Drives me up the wall. And it's not generally things-of-substance. Real, substantive complaints, I take to heart and consider if it's worth a change. Complaints about things easily fixable ("Hey - could you please write bigger on the board?") are immediately addressed. I am a reasonable person and I want to do what I can to assist my students.

But.

This guy has a problem with EVERYTHING. He never prefaces his complaints with a "could you please" or a "would you consider." No. Everything from him is either a demand or a whine.

He is apparently someone who's been taught that if he gripes enough, people give in to him. And I can kind of see why - he has exactly that kind of voice (I can just IMAGINE what he was like as a four year old).

He was griping today because we "don't get to go outside enough." Well, I'm sorry. It's winter. And even though we live in the south, winter means unpredictable weather. The first six weeks or so of labs are spent indoors, to avoid the problems with unpredictable weather.

One of the things I think this fellow fails to understand is: I generally need to plan labs 2 weeks or more in advance. Especially field trips, as we have to request 2 of the (aging and poorly kept-up) university vans. And I have to be sure my teaching-assistant is university vehicle driving-certified (luckily this year I have the same assistant I had in the fall so I know she is). And so - I can't conjure up a field trip on the spur of the moment, just to suit someone's whim.

(We can't really do "field trips" on campus; there's nothing scientific we can do that we haven't already done. And carpooling is not an option: I have been informed by the Powers that Be if a student gets in a wreck while carpooling to a field trip for my class, it is on my head).

I haven't explained all this to him, because he strikes me - from other conversations we've had - as exactly the sort of person who'd nod sagely while I explained, all the while thinking "cop out!"

He's one of those "entitled people" - the sort of personal-conspiracy-theorists where everything that goes wrong, goes wrong to thwart his happiness and desires.

He's also given to randomly making...well, I guess comments is the best word for it...in class. Things that have little relation to the topic being covered and that tend to stop discussion dead. A few times I've said, "Thank you for your input." but apparently he doesn't get the irony.

(What I'd like to say is, "If this is a blog, what you just said would be considered a spam comment" but I suspect he'd get that even less - or worse, he'd be insulted.)

Once in a while I come across that kind of person - both lacking in filters and consideration for others, yet totally believing in their own entitlement to consideration.

You know how some people talk about having "personal conflicts" with their professors? Well, in this case I'm trying REALLY HARD not to let this get to that point. Heavenly Father give me strength, because this person has a few particular characteristics that push ALL my buttons.