annoying students

Remember those students in college who took up class time asking inane questions?  Well, two of them find their way into my real estate class today.

One, a middle-aged woman,  sits in the front row where she is sure to be noticed.  She has a strong accent, Russian if I had to guess.   She sits without THE book, New York Real Estate for Salespersons.  The class is taught to this book.  The state exam comes directly from this book.  The school exam is also derived from this book.  You absolutely need this book.  The instructor asks if she’s forgotten her book.  “No,” she responds, “I don’t have one.”  When he suggests she buy one, she replies, “No thank-you.”

This same woman asks a question the instructor has just completed answering.  You’d think she would be paying at least some attention.  She isn’t.  Later in the class she wants to know this:  Is it okay to be a secretary working for one broker and a salesperson working for another broker?  This is totally off-topic from what we are discussing.

The other is a twenty-something woman, sitting in the last row.  She is dressed in  black and has an aren't-I-cool-look about her. She keeps interrupting the class with detailed questions pertaining exclusively to her interests.  It’s a beautiful Sunday and no one wants the class to go on longer than it has to.  She is impervious to the class’s impatience.  She asks questions like this one:  “When I do my taxes, can I deduct for the cost of my driver if I use him to take me and my client on calls?”  I doubt she even has a driver. And even if she does, I’m pretty certain this is something that won't be on our test.

Still, these ridiculous questions do add some humor to an otherwise dull class on License Law and Regulation.