really?? today?

There's a large, vast list of things I could write about right now. So many things that would be good to say. Maybe even funny- or possibly insightful, but as I sit here and think back on my Tuesday March 3, the one thing that comes to mind first is my horrific experience in the math lab today.

The Math Lab?? Are you kidding?? I love that place! I'm so disappointed.

Okay, so the truth? 65% of the reason I'm back at UVU this semester is to pass math 1050. Not that I've tried before, and not that I think I can't do it at any other campus, but ONLY because the math lab exists. (ok- so maybe I lied about the 65%, maybe only 50%)

The math lab is such a cool place. Every time I go in, I sit there and think about the pages I'm going to fill in an incredible book one day. Every person in there, INCLUDING the tutors is a one-of-a-kind character. I've been pondering and making mental notes on some specific regulars to blog about at some point, and I'm serious about the book one day..

So, I've made my point right? I love the math lab. I spend hours there. It's so great, you can sit and do your homework amongst super weird and whacked out uvu students, AND when you get stumped you simply raise the green flag and instant assistance is at your side. I have to admit, during the hours upon hours I've spent in the math lab, I've often been secretly self-conscious and curious to know if the tutors ever feel like ripping their hair out by the ridiculous question students (myself included) ask. On several brave attempts I've been able to ask select tutors about this concern, their reply is always pleasing, "well... maybe a little, but I am getting paid, and.. obviously I love math..."

TODAY- ok first of all, a group of three really negative people sat on my table and complained about their math teacher for a good 20-30 minutes. Not only was their language more colorful than I would have liked, but I couldn't even concentrate on my synthetic division- I love synthetic division. Enough said.

next, a group of 5-8 tutors sat around their table COMPLAINING about pet-peeves from students. Ok, pet-peeves are ok in my book, but seriously- they sat there mostly just making fun of students who ask for help and have NO IDEA how to do the problem they've asked for help on. Just a side note, exactly who's getting paid $15 an hour to HELP students. As far as I know, they aren't getting paid to cheer us on and tell us we're doing great at what we already know. That's why I'm there- if I knew how to do it, I wouldn't.. and THEY wouldn't be getting that high price of $15/hour!

Lastly, as I sat in the slightly different math lab today, I put my cute little green flag up. The first tutor that walked up to me turned around to his fellow 'tutorers' and said, "who wants to help this girl, I'm going to help someone else."
Ouch.
First question of the day and I already feel like an idiot. So the next tutor walks up and I have to say, after a short 2-3 minutes, math was no longer an issue. The issue was me trying my hardest not to cry in the math lab. Seriously- yes, maybe I do cry a bit more often than the average person, but I've never been close to crying in a place as public as the mathlab! He was SO mean. I have never been treated more like an idiot in my life. (maybe a couple other times, but we won't name them.) I was seriously ready to walk out in the middle of his shpill on how I should know how to do it and that I'm being dumb. Excuse me? Did he just call me dumb? I don't need to go on and on about this, so here's my

conclusion:
Wow. I never thought the math lab would let me down. What a tragedy. I can't believe someone treated me that terribly in front of a whole room of peers. wow. So I guess the math labs new motto is - "don't come if you need help, only if you need cheerleaders."