Just Got To Vent

[Hound dog]

I'm enjoying school. I'm in my element and I just eat this stuff up. The students in class are an open friendly bunch of people, we're fairly easy going and can laugh at ourselves and find humor in simple things.

We have 3 male students......all over 30. All nice guys who fit in pretty well.

Or so I thought.

There is one, M. Think good ol' southern boy (about 35ish). He can pour on the politeness so thick you can cut it with a knife. And that's ok. He's a student who "quit" a nursing school in ky because he wanted to go to our school due to it's outstandiing reputation. I know this because he's only said it at least 100 times or more since orientation.

He's loud. He has a comment about everything.....and has interrupted the instructor countless times.....and if she wasn't so nice she'd have tromped on him by now.

So yesterday we broke up into groups to practice terminology. No biggie, it's just practice, instructor knows we don't know squat as a whole but figured those who do can help those who are lost. Instructor gives us a huge sheet with tons of terms on it and we were to figure out what they were.

Terminology is something I've always been good at, plus I've had it many times before for different classes. Still, I don't remember everything, and when you don't use something consistantly you forget things.

So I get M in my group, along with a nurses aide, and several others with no background at all. We took turns trying to figure out the terms. If someone couldn't get their term, then someone else would attempt to help them, if not give them the right answer if they knew it.

OMG this guy nit picked every single part of the word of each term. He nearly went ballistic over thrombus (blood clot) then thrombocyte (blood cell) because how could thrombus meen "clot" and "blood" at the same time. Ok I can see where that could confuse someone. (but this guy has already had terminology once and that's not a hard one to remember if you've had either biology or anatomy)

He wound up stomping off to fetch the instructor who told him we were right. sigh

Oh, and all this was done loudy while he kept saying how he didn't know everything but he'd had terminology before and blah blah.......you get the idea.

This continued. He got the word nephroplasty. He got it wrong. No one else knew the answer. So since I did, I told them it was a surgical repair of the kidney. I know this because of having terminology AND because I'd had the darn procedure done!

Next thing I know he's in my face and loudly going "EXCUSE ME, EXCUSE ME, EXCUUUUSE ME?"

Sooooo, being a mother of 2 difficult children, I simply stare at him like he's and idiot until he backs down. While wondering what the heck was his problem since we'd being doing the same all along.....with him piping in his 2 cents every chance he got......along with everyone else.

From then on I just ignored his comments and spoke calmly over him. But it really irked me. Someone that age acting like a child.

So today was clinical and I was really hoping he'd be in the morning group so I wouldn't have to deal with his ever so polite rudeness. But just my luck he's got afternoon clinical. And to top it off no one wanted to work with him or one of the other guys .........so yeah.

Soooooo. difficult child mom experience paid off. I decided I'm more mature and professional than him and I can rise above it. He did much better for the clinical......but then I dunno if it was because the other guy was there or not. (other guy is a cna/emt and now is doing the nursing.)

But having once been a difficult child myself I had more than one internal chuckle over M during clinical. For someone who dropped a program (evidentally fairly far in the way he talks) he sure hasn't a clue as to what he's doing. Nope. Nada. We were practicing moving patients correctly......and yeah, he did it wrong even after being shown the right way several times.

So I've got a feeling M didn't "drop out" of that program, he flunked out....or maybe left before they could kick him out.

It will be interesting to see how long M lasts, if he graduates. Maybe he'll mellow after a bit.......but he's already stressing to the hilt over very minor things. And tomorrow we all face the dreaded Mrs B who has a rep of being the meanest teacher on campus and the strictest. If nothing else.......ought to be interesting to see how she handles his remarks. LOL Ok, so I'm baaaaaaaaaad.

Well. Getting that out felt better. I can complain to you guys and no one's the wiser. lol

 

[KTMom91]

Sounds like M is going to be interesting to watch...from a distance. Hope his "politely rude" self ends up somewhere else, far, far away from you.

 

[mrscatinthehat]

OOf. Glad that you could utilize the difficult child mom skills to work around this guy. I hope your instructors don't group grade on anything.

hugs

 

[flutterby]

difficult child. You can take him.

 

[klmno]

It sounds like you figured this out already, but he's one who'll either catch on and change quickly or he'll doom himself. It's hard working or going to school around people like that.

 

[crazymama30]

Don't know how clinicals work there, but here they are done at the hospital with the teacher and the staff at the hospital helping. That guy would get eaten alive by certain nurses and CNA's! I have seen that type come through the program and it is interesting.

Isn't it fun to give someone enough rope to hang themselves, or however that saying goes? You give him heck, he needs it.

 

[DammitJanet]

I hate know-it-alls. The are jerks. This will bite him in the rear.

Hello, most of us have been through enough medical procedures to know medical lingo! Or at least fake our way through it...lol.

 

[Mattsmom277]

Argh! I feel your pain. I remember being so frustrated at times when I returned to school. I was a minimum of 10 years older than most students. I remember one "early graduate" who started at age 16. That would lead one to believe she was a terrific learner and intelligent to accelerate to post secondary at her age. I swear after a week I figured the school accelerated her to get her out of the building. Not nice to say or think but I didn't change my thought over the time she was there. Indeed, she was kicked out 2nd year. She "knew" everything. Yet she was wrong more often than not. I remember tutoring for extra money 2nd year. I'd do one on one, but approaching exams I'd be asked to tutor group study sessions to prepare anybody struggling. She didn't sign up. Because she was on academic probation, she was ordered to attend in the hopes she could pass her exams. She pushed and pushed and I had to finally speak up out of respect for the others who HAD signed up that really wanted the help to do well on their exams. I told her if she was there to pass her exams she'd shut up and listen and LEARN. If she was there because the deans office forced her becuase she's failing all of her subjects, she could shut up and listen and LEARN. I then told her if she was there to mess everybody elses studying up to promote her level of failure to the others, that she could shut up and listen. Or not listen. To learn. Or not to learn. I then told her the common denominator in her choices was shut up!
Not a very classy moment on my behalf but I was thanked by the others afterward. They all passed their courses that semester and she was not back following the break
Sounds like you are more skilled at diplomacy than I am. I admire that. I wish I had more tolerance.
I'm glad that you are enjoying your classes!!

 

[Hound dog]

Well, I'm not sure how skilled at diplomacy I am..............Cuz if M had said one more "Excuuuuse me" to me I'd have ripped him a new one. I was biting my tongue as it was.

BUT evidently M got the message loud and clear. He is Mr Polite now and we even had a very nice dicussion on his freaking out over every minor thing and how he was shooting himself in the foot by doing so.

I'm a little surprised. But pleasantly so. No one wants someone in the class who just rubs you the wrong way all the way around.

We seem to be getting along just fine now. He even sat next to me in another class today.

So I'm guessing being a difficult child Mom has paid off. lol Back when I was younger that would've intimidated me......and I'd have obsessed over it something awful. Now I look 'em in the eye with that Momma Look that causes people to shake in their shoes.......and pretty much let it roll off my back.

Maybe he's one of those people who's got to test your mettle before he can treat you as an equal........who knows? I still don't know if he's gonna freak himself right out of the class......but at least I can stand to be in the same room with him now. Which is good when you spend up to 8 hrs a day together.