Annoyed and Done asks “There’s this guy in a couple of my classes, I know for a fact he’s in his 4th year. During every class he makes rude and immature comments, to the point where I don’t want to go to class. Is there anything I can do, or maybe helpful hints on how to ignore his disruptions?”
Hi Annoyed and Done,
It is hard dealing with difficult people. It can be even harder when this person is disturbing your learning environment. The most important thing to remember is that you should not let this person deter you from going to class. You paid an exuberant amount of money to have a seat in that room so don’t let anyone snatch that chair from under you!
There are a few things you can do to hopefully make this situation better. You could try dealing with the person directly, but that’s not likely to do anything. A prick is a prick is a prick and sometimes there’s nothing you can do about it! But what you can’t do, a professor might be able to! If this guy is causing problems with the class, you should gather some students from your class who feel the same way and talk to your prof about it. Professors can be very powerful with dealing with issues like these!
But, there’s always a chance that not even that will work. And if that’s the case, you’re just going to have to try your best to ignore him or try another tactic. Try turning his immaturity into a game! Keep a tally of how many times he does something inappropriate during a class in the top of your notebook. Do this every class and make a game of it. If he acts terribly a certain number of times (maybe set the starting goal at 5 times in a class), treat yourself after you’re out of the lecture! Go get a milkshake that evening, treat yourself to a bubble bath, watch an extra episode on Netflix! You set the rules and you set the rewards. Incentivising this behaviour might help!
Xoxo, Becky
