It was a little nerve-wrecking experience for me earlier this morning when I attended to an undergraduate student in the Department Office. The Year One freshie walked in and enquired about some modules thingy and as usual, it was one of those straight forward, simple case of letting her know that her request is not approved by the Department. She tried explaining her situation and while doing that, I noticed that her eyes turn watery...and before I could ask if she's alright, she was sobbing away!! Whoa. Naturally, I was caught offguard and didn't really know what to do...I didn't have any tissue with me and while I ran to my colleagues to get one, I calmly told her to cool down (even though I was in a flurry inside!). So, I handed her a tissue and had to coax her by explaining things to her in a more assuring tone...but that didn't stop the tears. In a flash, my supervisor came out and spoke to her (using the same kind of tone as I did before) and even though we got our message across to her, she still seemed pretty sad and disappointed. But all in all, we settled the issue and she left.
I must admit that I don't really know how to handle girls when they cry...it's darn scary man. Looking back, it's quite funny how my colleague saw the scenario and quickly alerted my supervisor cos she thought something terrible happened. And after all that, they jokingly teased me, saying I must have bullied the student and made her cry >__<
Ironically, an extremely opposite scenario occured shortly after the above incident. 2 new students came to the office to enquire about stuff and this time round, they looked pretty chirpy and in good mood. Their smiles and gawky politeness seemed to hint an interest in me (hahah...I wished!) I'm exaggerating but that's just to illustrate how big a difference is, when it comes to the 2 scenarios *lol*
Well...interesting things happen...all within a day of the first week of school. I wonder what more to come...
