The annoying classmates

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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Hi Everyone,

I am in my 9th week of A and P and ready to pull my hair out! :banghead: It is my fault for not speaking up sooner, but I have a hard time speaking up, so I just grin and bare it. Please give me some advice on what you would do. The first person is the girl that sits next to me. She is 37 and she texts on that cell phone all the time (even during tests). She plays the drum with her pen on the desk craks her gum and chews it like a cow. She happily does homework for students that pay her!!! C'mon...she's suppose to be an adult! Then I have the high school sweethearts:redbeathe that sit behind me and talk the whole time and click their pens the whole 2 hours! There is not a closer seat to sit in, so the only thing I could do is tell the instructor. I hate the idea of looking like a tattle-tale. I'm 41 and paying out of pocket for my classes, so I really can't afford to retake them. Thanks for any suggestions.

It's not the fact that you're fidgety that's the problem -- it's the fact that you think that you have the right to distract others (by making noise with your pen) with your fidgeting that is the issue. You can fidget until your fingers fall off for all I care -- just find a quiet way of doing it, please, out of consideration (common courtesy) for those around you.

I can kind of see your point. Noise distracts you.

However, for some people, noise is not a distraction. Like me. But for some of those people 'movement' IS a distraction.

Then what do you do.

I think my point is that we are adults. We need to learn to deal with everyone else's behavior because you can't really insist anyone behave in a certain way plus we all have different things we consider inappropriate.

Me personally, I find questions that you could get the answer to yourself (which is most of them) as being inappropriate. Of course, who am I to tell someone to shut up and behave?

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Specializes in Cardio-Pulmonary; Med-Surg; Private Duty.
I can kind of see your point. Noise distracts you.

However, for some people, noise is not a distraction. Like me. But for some of those people 'movement' IS a distraction.

Then what do you do.

That's where you find a compromise.... doing jumping jacks would be an "over the top" movement, but playing with a fidget toy is something discreet enough that it's not going to be in someone's face. My lecture classroom has swivel-type office chairs, and I will often turn my chair left and right a few inches during lecture (particularly if I need to pee!), which I don't think bothers anyone in the room. However, if I were doing full 360-degree spin-o-rama type turns, THAT would be a distraction.

I think my point is that we are adults. We need to learn to deal with everyone else's behavior because you can't really insist anyone behave in a certain way plus we all have different things we consider inappropriate.

It's just common courtesy, really. When you know that you're doing something that annoys someone else (or lots of someone elses) and when it's something that you don't HAVE to do (like breathe! LOL), then you find something different to do. Twirling your pen quietly is not out of line in class, but tapping it on the desk, if there are people that are annoyed by the tapping, is unnecessary. You could twirl instead of tap, or you could tap on your thigh or forearm (where it wouldn't make noise), or you could twiddle your thumbs, or something else. It's all about that happy medium, finding a workable compromise.

Me personally, I find questions that you could get the answer to yourself (which is most of them) as being inappropriate. Of course, who am I to tell someone to shut up and behave?

Oh, I am SO with you on this one! Don't even get me started! The problem folks in our class have gotten so bad that the instructor is going to start having unannounced pop-quizzes before lecture, in an attempt to get people to read the chapter before they come to class (like they should be doing anyway, without the need to be bribed into doing it!). I'm right there with you on this.

I think you and I just got off on a wrong foot on this... you stated that you "rarely make noise" and if that's the case, then this whole argument isn't really about you/your actions in most cases. Just as it's not appropriate for me to expect you to sit stock-still during a lecture (and I never would expect that of anyone), it's also not appropriate for you to expect me to have to listen to someone tap-tap-tap all through lecture just because you are a fidgety person. We can co-exist as long as we take each others' needs into consideration. Peace?

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I think you and I just got off on a wrong foot on this... you stated that you "rarely make noise" and if that's the case, then this whole argument isn't really about you/your actions in most cases. Just as it's not appropriate for me to expect you to sit stock-still during a lecture (and I never would expect that of anyone), it's also not appropriate for you to expect me to have to listen to someone tap-tap-tap all through lecture just because you are a fidgety person. We can co-exist as long as we take each others' needs into consideration. Peace?

No hard feelings from me. :D

I just like to engage people. Some here find that annoying and me being inconsiderate, I tend to ignore them. :D

I will admit that I used to be the person always going off on tangents in class. Not so much for attention but because the material was always easy and boring and I couldn't understand why everyone else just couldn't get it. I mean, you aren't supposed to learn IN class. You are supposed to go over what you were supposed to learn on your own time. :D Now, I just sit there silently and continue my vindictive mission of destroying the 'curves' our profs like to give. ;)

ETA: My favorite profs always drop a pop quiz on the first day of class. :D As an example to the less studious of students.

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Specializes in Cardio-Pulmonary; Med-Surg; Private Duty.
Now, I just sit there silently and continue my vindictive mission of destroying the 'curves' our profs like to give. ;)

If my instructor graded this class on a curve, I'd need to check under my vehicle before getting in it each time! Lots of my high school classes used the old bell curve grading system, and as such my high school days were "heck" on earth! Fortunately, my current class is strictly a percentage system, so my life is safe (at least for now!). :D

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Specializes in CTICU.

Good lord, I *hate* the pen clicker! She used to sit behind me, so I moved seats.

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I can soooo relate!!

The 25 y/o that sits next to me in Micro(my nightmare class) sits and plays the drums with her pen, shakes and swivels in her seat(drinking Starbucks the whole time) and yaks on and on about the current loser she's sleeping with!!

I finally had enough and yanked the pen from her hand and she looked like she

had never seen me before! She blurted out something like, "oh, ok, just tell me

to stop doing that!"

Tell her to stop? A 25 y/o with 2 kids????

I'm 55 so I have some up on you but that's still no excuse to have to put up

with such nonsense and, like you, I'm paying out of pocket.

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Thanks for sharing all of your stories! At least I know I am not alone (ha-ha). Hopefully it will get better, or I will have to speak up or take away his pen and give him a pencil! :chuckle

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I can probably top all of your stories.

When I took biology at a community college, about 20 years ago, I had a classmate who chewed tobacco and sat next to a sink so he could spit in it every few minutes, all hour long.

:barf01:

More than one person complained, and he stopped.

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Specializes in Ante-Intra-Postpartum, Post Gyne.

As far as the annoying sounds, you can ask the politely to stop telling them it is distracting. If the talking does not stop you can tell your teacher that they are interrupting his class. As far as the woman texting during class and doing peoples homework for pay...um...she could get kicked out of school for this; you need to say something! Its not about you being a "tattle tale" its about her breaking the rules. I had students before that other classmates saw were cheating but would not "tattle"...this infuriated me because we were all basically competing to get into nursing school and here I was being honest and busting my orifice and they were cheating and going to have just as much of a chance to get is as me...if it was me, I would tell; people that cheat should not be allowed in nursing school, if they are willing to lie for a test, what would they be willing to lie about if they made a mistake with a patient?

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I can probably top all of your stories.

When I took biology at a community college, about 20 years ago, I had a classmate who chewed tobacco and sat next to a sink so he could spit in it every few minutes, all hour long.

:barf01:

More than one person complained, and he stopped.

You could chew tobacco in class???

Nice...

On point though...

if they are willing to lie for a test, what would they be willing to lie about if they made a mistake with a patient?

Nurses lie all the time. It's called covering for a nurse or doctor, NOT reporting a med error, not reporting any error, jumping on the backs of people that DO report other nurses. It's a reality in nursing.

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That does take the cake!!! How the heck did he get away with that? My lunch would have ended up in his lap and he would have gotten the point REALLY quick (YAK)!!! By the way...I loved the little vomiting icon!

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You could chew tobacco in class???

Nice...

On point though...

As recently as 1980 or so, some colleges had ashtrays in the armrests.

I graduated from high school in 1981 and got a job in an office because I didn't want to go to college right away - a decision I have never regretted, BTW. Some departments allowed people to smoke at their desks; we weren't because of computer equipment (I was a keypunch operator, a job title that doesn't exist any more) but could smoke on breaks, in the break room down the hall.

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