Take the bitter with the sweet.

I've had many sessions in the past. They have been so many different situations, some were: pleasant, confusing, inspiring, plain, or just simply unusual. Today I saw another that is not the top of my list but it had me thinking. This student I worked with in particular had a very..bold personality. 

It seemed like a casual day, I was trying to reassure my body that it indeed time to wake up. The student stood by the door as if inspiration could be found on the blank wall. I offered to take him, I was unaware that this specific session would be one to remember. It started fairly dull, I asked what specifically he wanted help with, "anything, maybe grammar, look at my conclusion." As common practice I asked if we read it aloud. ( A bit about me, I stutter when I read aloud. My mind reads faster than I can speak.Most students don't say anything.) He looked up at me irritably and snootily questioned, "Are you sure you're qualified for this?"  The statement was completely serious, no humor behind it. That was the first hint that this session was going to be rough.

Through different parts of the session he tried to challenge me with knowledge, as if it were to make clear he was dominant. It was maddening. I played it cool, let it roll off my back and continued on. I noticed there was a massive tone change half way through when it talks about biology. I mentioned that the tone change is obvious in the way he used the biology vocabulary. "That's as basic as you can get. If I were to be any simpler in how I said it, I may as well say it's magic." All writers have freedom with their piece, I couldn't believe I had to repeat that if he want's to keep it he can. This is just my advice.

 I thought it ceased when I mentioned a significant amount of points in the paper that could be improved. He said I helped him and that I was not a waste of his time. At the end of the session he gave this clearly snotty grin and started inquiring me how I felt about some technical term for a comma. I don't remember what it was so I asked for a reminder. Suddenly I was in a small debate. 

This is one in about two hundred type of session. I discussed the session with Clint and I can see that it may have just been his personality. I can understand that, if it weren't he possibly wouldn't have even come in or say it wasn't a waste of his time. Even though I'm getting past this session, part of me feels like he'll be discussing my session as a "failure" to others. 
I won't let the session effect my future sessions or my attitude toward helping other students in the future, it will however stay aware in case something similar happens again.