The mature polite way to say NO!!!!

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For our Psych final i spent 5 hours creating a 1/2 inch thick study guide, with typed notes, copied pages from the book, etc. Worked very hard on this. I made one copy of these extra for the lady i sit by in class because she is a hard worker, and in exchange, every subject we have she makes a sheet with the key words and definitions on them, or drugs and their uses. We're both helping each other, and i have no problem with it. The instructor reviewed in class what was on the exam and this is where i got my notes from.

The PROBLEM is that i was taking my 30 minute lunch in clinical by myself in the corner of the cafeteria to read over my notes, and the lazy ding-dong in my class, he had the nerve to come up to me and ask "omg hey are those PSYCH NOTES? You oughta make me a copy!"

He was serious, too. Heck no i'm not making him a copy. The information i have was provided by the instructor, in the SAME class he was sitting in, only i chose to write it all down while he threw his pencil down, said she's going too fast, and proceded to nap for 15 minutes while she finished the review.

A little background on Lazy Smurf:

HE's the SAME one that tried copying people's notes LAST year, whining that the schoolwork was "just too much" (works 8 hours a week, no kids, etc, uh help me find his stressors here...). The same one that's always looking for a free rides, the one that i'd swear copied someone's A and P exam answers last year, etc. I would describe his attitude as "the world owes me everything".

So now i'm trying to find a reasonable way to say "get off your *** and type your own d*** notes". (He's asked me twice for a copy, and luckily we've gotten interrupted by someone and the subject was dropped.) Reason why i cannot just say THAT is because i'm assigned with this person for a whole month of clinical in January, and would prefer that to go as smooth as possible, and being the wicked ***** of the west will not help matters any. :confused:

Specializes in MS Home Health.

I would say, sorry I use shorthand you would not understand which in my case is true. I do use it.

renerian:rotfl:

I have a few really not nice answers, I will PM them, and BTW, thank you so much for the other night

I definately wouldn't help lazy smurf. Think about it. Providing he actually completes the program and passes his licensure, do you really want to work with (or subject others to) a nurse like him? He sounds like he would make an awful coworker. I can just imagine him talking others into checking on his patients, pushing his responsibilities onto others, and cadjoling others into covering for him while he runs off for a 30 min break to do god knows what.

For the first three semesters of nursing school, I was the only person doing the work on "group" projects. Yes, I am a grades nut... I work hard to get the best grade possible. When I am working in a group where no one takes the project seriously or does their research or prepare their part of the project, I get mad and go home and do the whole thing myself. A few of my classmates got used to this and did NOTHING at all after the first semester. And, I always ended up being stuck with them for group assignments, papers, presentations, etc. Three of my instructors started telling me in second semester that these slackers were dragging me down with them. My grades were fabulous, because I made sure that they were, but I was exhausted because of it - pulling at least one all nighter a week and getting maybe three hours of sleep a night during the rest of the week. At the end of third semester we had a HUGE patho paper - I mean HUGE. My fellow group members had slacked off all semester and not done any of their individual submissions (which have no set due dates but a certain number have to be done by the end of the practicum placement) and now had no time for the patho paper. I ended up doing it, from start to finish, by myself in a weekend. One of the group members had the nerve to phone and ask my why "WE" received a B on the paper instead of an A!!!!! That was the end of helping people out for me... I quit doing it. That was about two weeks before the end of the semester. This individual had been phoning me ten to twenty times a day for help for the entirety of nursing school. I quit answering the phone after that day.

My instructors applauded my decision to use caller ID and not answer the phone for this individual anymore. They noticed an improvement in my work, appearance (no more bags under the eyes), and attitude. With only two weeks left in the semester, her work was so bad without my help that she was placed on academic probation for the next semester. They also pointed out that I would not be able to answer her questions for her on the licensure exam. I was doing her a favour by not helping her anymore. She had to knuckle down and learn how to do her own work. By not helping her, I did her a favour.

I made sure that I already had my partner picked out for fourth semester assignments (she had also dealt with the same issues and like me, wanted to maintain her hard-earned 4.0 GPA). We had finished the patho paper for fourth semester before our Christmas break was even over. We have worked together ever since on just about everything.

Share with the people who reciprocate. It's okay to do the majority of the work when you know your partner is going through something (death of a family member, health problem, etc)., because you know they would do the same for you - it is NOT okay to do all of the work all of the time with no end in sight.

Do yourself and lazy smurf a favour - don't share your notes. You won't be helping him, and you certainly won't be helping yourself.

Specializes in Everything but psych!.

I liked the "smile" answer for the notes. I have to remember that next time someone asks for something I don't want to tell them. Another method to answer when you really don't want to is to answer it with a question: "Why do you want them?" When they answer you, say, "What would it mean to you if I said yes?" When they answer, then, "What would it mean to you if I said no?" If they don't get tired of answering your questions by now, keep bulding questions from their answer. It also works well when people ask nosey quetions that they really have no business asking. Try it sometime. (I learned this from a psychologist.)

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