(Our teacher has written a question on the board and a fellow student is trying to answer it.)

Student: *finishes writing answer*

Teacher: “x<34?”

Student: “No, it’s lesser than four times—”

Teacher: “But you have put a three in there after less than.”

Student: “Isn’t that how you write it?”

Teacher: “No. Less than is just the arrow.”

Student: “That’s how I’ve always written it.”

Other Student: “Sir, less than 3 is a love heart in text language.”

Teacher: “Oh, I see. Please, no one do that in exams. I beg of you.”

(My graduate program has several international students, and many are taking English classes to improve their English. In our large common office, it is typical for them to ask the domestic students for help with their English homework. Most days I am glad to help, but sometimes I get busy.)

International Student: “Can you help me? What is the difference between ‘think of’ and ‘think about’?”

Me: *distracted* “I’d love to help, but I have an important deadline in a few hours, so I don’t have time to think of any examples right now. Is it okay if I think about it and get back to you later?”

(Everyone stares at me.)

Officemates: “Did you… Did you do that on purpose?”

Me: “What?” *replays response in my head* “…oh. Nope.”

(This is directly after art class. Everyone is cleaning tables. My friend is known for not listening during art, and talking a lot.)

Friend: *knocks over pencil can while wiping table and talking* “Dang it!”

Teacher: “[Friend], do you know why you knocked that over?”

Friend: “Um…”

Teacher: “It’s because you aren’t focusing on the task. You talk too much and it needs to stop.”

Friend: “I knocked over a pencil can!”

Teacher: “If I hear you talk one more time, I’m going to write you up. Is that clear?”

Friend: “Yes, ma’am.”

(Bear in mind this was while we were cleaning off tables, not during class. Everyone else in the room was talking, including me, and he got in trouble for knocking a pencil can over. Needless to say, the next day he talked as much as possible.)

I’m four months pregnant with my son. Though I’m not very far along, I’m showing quite a bit, and it’s become difficult to sit in the normal desks of the lecture hall. One day, I get tired of squeezing into them and just sit in the handicapped desks (which have been unoccupied all semester). It happens that, on this day, we start having a guest lecturer, since our professor had to get surgery mid-semester.

The lecturer stops me after class and berates me for sitting in a handicapped spot. I explain that I don’t fit into the other desks, and that it’s the only spot that can fit me. She proceeds to tell me that she doesn’t care, that I should just sit in the normal desks.

Next class, I sit at a normal desk in the front row sideways (since that’s literally the only way I fit). After class, the lecturer once again berates me and tells me to sit properly. I once again, tell her that I’m pregnant and there’s nothing I can really do. She then proceeds to tell me to lose weight, or my baby will end up being a “fat roll.”

Upset, I email my professor, asking for advice on what to do. I don’t get a response. However, I return to class for the next lesson and sit in the handicapped spot, unwilling to be uncomfortable for a two-hour lecture. When the lecture is over and the lecturer is berating me again, and a man in a suit comes up behind her and asks her to join him in the hallway.

Turned out, my original professor was very unimpressed by this behavior, and sent a anti-discrimination representative to observe her behavior. After her proving my claims correct, the man informed her that her behavior could land her in a whole lot of trouble with the code of conduct, and get her fired. She said nothing to me for the rest of the time she lectured us. Thankfully, she was the only professor to ever care or comment that I was pregnant.

(I am hanging out with some friends between classes. One of my friends has her two-month-old son with her, and I’m holding him. Another friend joins us, bringing along one of their classmates that the rest of us haven’t met before. We’re chatting, and someone asks the classmate what their major is.)

Classmate: “I’m an engineering major.”

Friend #1: “Me, too!”

(They go around the group, talking about their majors, and then they get to me.)

Classmate: “What are you doing, [My Name]?”

Me: “Oh, I’m nursing.”

(The classmate gets a weird look on his face, and he glances at the baby in my arms.)

Me: “Major! I’m a nursing major! This is [Friend]’s baby!”