10 March 2006

I Like Tutoring, But...

Currently I am tutoring a junior in Visual Basic. And while this is not my first time in the role of teaching, there are two things that always get to me:

1. Incompetence
2. Body odour

#1 really can't be helped. Obviously the reason why they joined a peer tutoring programme is because they couldn't understand the lectures. But there are certain times when I feel I could just implode because my tutee did not see such an obvious error. Or sometimes they keep making the same mistakes even after I reminded them. I have managed to keep my patience so far, and it has really taught me to respect my teachers more.

But #2 is something which really bugs me. Everytime my tutee comes he will be all sweaty and smell like salted fish, and that is just sickening. We usually have our tuition in the air-conditioned labs but even the cold air con can't mask the odour. I don't like commenting about other people's hygiene, but I do wish he would pick up a deodorant next time he goes shopping.

The extreme opposite is true for my first tutee. He is an Arabian (from Yemen) so he would always smell of strong perfume. Almost all Arabians I meet in college use such strong fragrance it almost makes me nauseous. Dad says it's to hide their body odour since they don't bath often. But in this humid tropical country, how can we afford not to?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think they're just used to dousing themselves in the perfume. The thing that gets to me is the strong musky smell that makes you feel like dying right there and then. OYou can either be outright about it and tell him that he needs to take a bath OR you can just carry a hanky and cover your nose from time to time and pray that he gets the hint OR just carry on and put up with it..heheh seriously a lose lose situation.

Zemien said...

oh Kelly, this is the 21st century! No image-conscious man will be caught dead keeping a checkered-pattern blue hanky in his pocket, which he then uses occasionally to store the entire contents of his nasal passage!

If you consider yourself a metrosexual but is still using a hanky, please leave a message and I will apologize with all my (insincere) heart.

Anonymous said...

Desperate times call for desperate measures!Since you're so concious about your image (sigh~..boys these days) substitute it with a tissue then..you can pretend you have the cold...or IF you're lucky, he might get the hint.

Zemien said...

Ahaha... yes I will!

I already have a pack of tissues with me everyday.

The last time I remember using hankies was back in primary school. I found them inconvenient and unhygienic. But of course, they are more environmentally friendly than those little sheets of paper.