Our last day of class was quite memorable. Every time Dr. Essid visited us I had this strange feeling. It's a mix of inspiration, admiration and intimidation. I feel that Dr. Essid generates all of those feelings like an aura. He seems to me a model figure: successful, knowledgeable, friendly, serious and demanding. What was most memorable among all the things he told us was the assurance that once we started working for the writing center, they would be looking out for us. For many people protection from employer is a vague issue. The pressure and problem generated by clients are taken for granted and employees would rather keep quiet than bring it up to their boss for fear of disapproval. It seems like it's not the case with Dr. Essid. According to him, a professor was being really harsh to a writing consultant that he knew. The consultant came to him crying, and he went to see the faculty member. He stated that the writing consultant in question was in fact brilliant and the professor was being rude as well as unrealistic. His ultimatum was that that professor would never again receive a writing consultant from the writing center. I was really amazed to learn that Dr. Essid took such action. It was a very bold move, and normally faculty members would not risk the relationship between them just to protect student's feelings. It didn't seem like Dr. Essid cared at all. He just did what he thought was right. His confidence as well as the value he placed in us made me feel very secure working under him.
That is not to say we would be able to "slack off" on him. Far from it. I guess it has been made clear that he is a serious "badass" and that he expects no joke in the job. The stories of how he fired some unethical writing consultants, as well as the fiery determination that he told them with made me feel quite intimidated. In the long run it's exactly the kind of experience you want to get from a campus job: dedication to your responsibilities, time-management skills and proper work ethics. I had no doubts when he told us that this job would give us an edge in the corporate world.
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ReplyDeleteI also thought that his promise of watching out for us was very reassuring. It is nice to know that there will be someone there to make sure that we are in the right place and having the right sort of experience. I think that it's nice that they put so much effort into training us and then they make sure that we can appropriately carry out those skillz! Also, how sexy was his shirt?
It's good to know that you are thinking the same. Something I never understand is the story about that writing consultant who would watch youtube video during the session. Assuming that the guy knew who was boss, then he must have been way over his head. Right now I would freak out if I imagine myself missing a session.
ReplyDeleteAnd good eye on the shirt! But for me that bald head is the most charismatic thing about him.