The Venting Thread

[marshwiggle]

Why do some students send such defensive, angry emails? Calm down. I'm okay with accepting your paper that you "know" you submitted on time and are not sure why it didn't go through, but I'm not okay with you coming at me so angrily. I've had a rough day. Sending emails like that makes me want to refuse to accept the assignment and I have every right to since my policy on late work is very clear. What student thinks an angry email is going to help their case?

Sadly, I think it's a consequence of "outrage culture". There are only victims and oppressors, so if anyone is unhappy, for whatever reason, they must be "victims" of some form of "oppression", and thus have a moral *right to be outraged.

(*Or maybe even responsibility, since "silence is violence".)

[apl68]

Why do some students send such defensive, angry emails? Calm down. I'm okay with accepting your paper that you "know" you submitted on time and are not sure why it didn't go through, but I'm not okay with you coming at me so angrily. I've had a rough day. Sending emails like that makes me want to refuse to accept the assignment and I have every right to since my policy on late work is very clear. What student thinks an angry email is going to help their case?

Sadly, I think it's a consequence of "outrage culture". There are only victims and oppressors, so if anyone is unhappy, for whatever reason, they must be "victims" of some form of "oppression", and thus have a moral *right to be outraged.

(*Or maybe even responsibility, since "silence is violence".)

Well, maybe.  But most angry e-mails seem to stem from somebody who's just having a bad day.  We're still in the pandemic, and people all over are still having a high proportion of bad days.

[Langue_doc]

Why do some students send such defensive, angry emails? Calm down. I'm okay with accepting your paper that you "know" you submitted on time and are not sure why it didn't go through, but I'm not okay with you coming at me so angrily. I've had a rough day. Sending emails like that makes me want to refuse to accept the assignment and I have every right to since my policy on late work is very clear. What student thinks an angry email is going to help their case?

Sadly, I think it's a consequence of "outrage culture". There are only victims and oppressors, so if anyone is unhappy, for whatever reason, they must be "victims" of some form of "oppression", and thus have a moral *right to be outraged.

(*Or maybe even responsibility, since "silence is violence".)

Well, maybe.  But most angry e-mails seem to stem from somebody who's just having a bad day.  We're still in the pandemic, and people all over are still having a high proportion of bad days.

It's a combination of the outrage and entitlement cultures. I used to ignore the tone of these emails in the past but now I add a sentence reminding students to use a professional tone of voice in their emails. I've received angry emails long before the pandemic.

[apl68]

Why do some students send such defensive, angry emails? Calm down. I'm okay with accepting your paper that you "know" you submitted on time and are not sure why it didn't go through, but I'm not okay with you coming at me so angrily. I've had a rough day. Sending emails like that makes me want to refuse to accept the assignment and I have every right to since my policy on late work is very clear. What student thinks an angry email is going to help their case?

Sadly, I think it's a consequence of "outrage culture". There are only victims and oppressors, so if anyone is unhappy, for whatever reason, they must be "victims" of some form of "oppression", and thus have a moral *right to be outraged.

(*Or maybe even responsibility, since "silence is violence".)

Well, maybe.  But most angry e-mails seem to stem from somebody who's just having a bad day.  We're still in the pandemic, and people all over are still having a high proportion of bad days.

It's a combination of the outrage and entitlement cultures. I used to ignore the tone of these emails in the past but now I add a sentence reminding students to use a professional tone of voice in their emails. I've received angry emails long before the pandemic.

I think maybe we're both right.  It's been my observation that people who are prone to a mindset of outrage and entitlement tend to have more (subjective) bad days.  Still, you can have a bad day without feeling outraged or entitled.

[clean]

and entitlement cultures.

They got their trophy for attendance, they paid their tuition and Hence Our salaries, thus We work for THEM, not the state.  And we should actually apologize for even setting a deadline! 

[fishbrains]

Yeah, maybe. But some students have also experienced professors who are total dicks about such things, as if technology (or our use of it) works 100% of the time for all of us. By the time they realize they hadn't submitted their work, they were probably pretty upset--but not really at you.

[mamselle]

Venting in a different way.

When magma builds up, volcanos blow.

That's happening now in La Palma, one of the Canary Islands, and has been for the past four days now.

This fellow's videos are amazingly precise, carefully worded, and engaging.

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1OyzWk-4r4

Several towns have been evacuated, another cone opened recently and it sounds as if the rising magma beneath the main cone is either going to enlarge that one, or force a new one.

Just to put grades, quibbles over website use, and other more petty matters into perspective.

OK, back to the human kind of venting as intended.

M. 

[ergative]

I've been dealing with random nausea all day. I had a new brand of muesli for breakfast, and the symptoms started maybe half an hour to an hour after that. Can't imagine why it would make me sick, though. Absolutive also had it, and it caused him no problems. I had to teach with a garbage can under my desk in case I needed to throw up--fortunately I didn't--but I felt just a little bit off all day. Didn't eat lunch. Briefly felt better in the afternoon and went for a run, but by dinner time I was eating soup one spoonful at a time and letting each one settle.

Now I'm still feeling slightly off, but also starving, because half a serving of soup after no lunch is  ot much of a meal. I'm eating hobnobs with tea, one bite at a time, and feeling very frustrated with the world.

No more of that muesli for me!

[Larimar]

Hope you're feeling better, ergative.

[FishProf]

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!

When I am "Working from Home" why do you both (MrsFishProf and Smolt) ignore the working part?  I am in my office, headphones on, clearly engaged with my computer.  Why can't you get that I am busy?

After a year of Covid remote working/learning, I'd think this would be clear(er) by now.

[alto_stratus]

ergative, ginger ale or ginger tea might help. Did you have anything in the meuslix, like milk that could have gone bad? Aldi recently recalled their meuslix for pesticides. I hope you are feeling better.

[alto_stratus]

Unrelated: I am cranky and depressed. So is everyone else. It is burning me out.

[ergative]

Thanks, Larimer, alto_stratus. Slept well last night and had no difficulty with my coffee this morning, so I'm hoping that whatever caused problems has passed. Now I'm just battling that slightly uneasy feeling that comes from wondering whether you're feeling nauseated but not quite being able to tell if it's real or just anxiety.

Y'know, like when you sniff the milk and can't tell if it's bad or not? Because you don't sniff it unless you already have suspicions, which means everything's going to smell slightly off? Even if it's fine? I remember talking about sources of knowledge and how you can trust what you know when you are already beginning to mistrust it in a college philosophy class, and the milk example has stuck with me ever since.

[Parasaurolophus]

I wrote down that my conference talk was the 23rd. Turns out it was the 22nd, and would have started 17 minutes ago. Sigh.

[Charlotte]

I reluctantly agreed to complete some medical tests to see if my doctor can pinpoint why my heart is having some issues. I already felt like I was being ridiculous because the chances of it being serious are very small.

I go to get the tests done at the hospital and get lectured by the staff in admitting because I'm probably just anxious. But don't go on any of those medications because they have too many negative side effects. Just take this herbal remedy. It helped their cousin a lot.

I feel stupid enough for having mentioned any of this to my doctor, much less having other people weigh in and think I'm overreacting. And really, people who work in admitting shouldn't be diagnosing. That was unprofessional. If they looked at my medical history, they'd see I've been on a heart medication for three years which fixed my issues until a few months ago. But sure, anxiety. Case closed, cancel the tests, order the herbal remedy.