Students! Or, rather, this one student in particular! Bah! We were already about half-way through the semester before she realized just how lost she was in class, and then, rather than coming to my office hours, or even sending a polite e-mail regarding her potentially legitimate conflict with my office hours, she just sent this brief note demanding two hours of my time on a random day of the week that was convenient for her. When I finally negotiated a shorter meeting that actually fit into my schedule she was late. Then she missed nearly all of the review I held for her class and showed up in my office later that day (again outside of office hours) and basically asked me to repeat the whole thing I'd done that morning but that she couldn't be troubled to attend. She repeatedly sets up meetings with me and fails to show up and continues to try to 'book' time with me, as if expecting me to commit undivided attention for her and turn away other students!

Now before I get the lecture about saying no and providing boundaries, I am working to do that with this student. When I say she repeatedly misses meetings with me, one was set up by the prof of the class so she could take an exam she had missed, and since the second time she's missed a meeting with me I have insisted that she just come to office hours. But that's when she ends up trying to monopolize my time. Bah! Like Carrie, I have so many students whom I genuinely enjoy, and most of the time I really like teaching...but these few really annoying students are ruining the batch!