Confessions of a GTA: Part 11

As one of the more strapped for cash GTAs I teach a lot of classes in my department. This includes some outside my speciality meaning I have taught pretty much every year of the undergraduates and as detailed last week, some of the MScs. This is great as I have a broad spectrum of topics and an even broader spectrum of students. Thus the chance I am stuck with people who think I am an idiot is decreased by pure safety in numbers.

However, there has been one unexpected consequence: lots of people now know who I am. I walk down a corridor and several people will say ‘hi’ or smile. This was nice at first. As an undergraduate I may have made several catastrophic errors in relationship judgement which led to much of my year hating my guts (but that is a whole other series of confessions). Thus, I learnt how to get from A to B using the least used routes in the department and had lunchtime and break havens that only one or two others knew about. And actually I was ok with that, as being an introvert, lack of people time is good time.

So at the start of last term it was quite a novelty for people in the department being pleased to see me. If I had lunch with a friend or walking down a corridor with a colleague, several people would acknowledge me creating a nice sense of ego. Sadly this did not last.

I mean there are some days nobody wants to be seen. When your just back from the worst January session at the gym ever, red in the face and sweaty is not a great time to be greeted by everyone in sight. Nor do I want to chat to one of the keener students when coming in at 8.30am with the worst hangover ever. Also the nearest toilet to my office is pretty much half a mile away so having to stop to talk to people on the way (particularly in emergencies) is not always much fun. I admit I have started to regress to back stairs routes and odd mealtimes. Though this is no guarantee of escape as one terrible morning I was caught by a group of first years on the tube who all wanted to make polite and yet conspicuously awkward conversation with me for over half an hour……..

So my confession for this week is greet your GTAs with care. If they look like they are bursting for the loo or at white in the face having come out of their supervisor’s office maybe just a smile will do….