Snappiness

I deal with a lot of students at work. In their different ways they're all very polite. I get snapped at about once in every five shifts. It's usually someone who's got their mind on other things. I remember what it was like to be 18 and absolutely panicked about your work. The snap rate increases in the summer when we have students training on a very high pressure course. I did the same course myself so I know how tense they're feeling. We all have snappy moments. I was horrible to someone last weekend. I wanted to sit quietly for 5 minutes in the cathedral so I went in a quarter of an hour before service. One of the ladies handing out service booklets asked me if I was staying for the service and when I said no she told me I couldn't stay. I said 'No problem. Quite alright' in my best eye avoiding snappy tone. I wish I hadn't done that. So we're all snappy.

I think solitary PhD students like me aren't really used to negative work related snappiness. I spend all day alone at my desk. When I start work for real I'll have to deal with brusque bosses, impatient customers and all that sort of thing. I wonder if sometimes the students who snap at me forget that I'm a person. They probably think I'm like a mushroom that sprouted out of the university. We meet so many people in our daily lives that it's sometimes hard to maintain the right level of empathy for all of them.