Directions: 

Number your paper from 1 to 20. 

Rate each of the following statements using this irritation scale:

1.  You’re driving down a two-lane highway at night and every car coming in the opposite direction has its bright lights on.

2.  There’s a student in your class that always wears a baseball cap and you have trouble seeing the student’s eyes, but he never seems to be looking at you.

3.  You’re trying to hear the television, but somebody comes in the room and turns on the stereo really loud and the music is really irritating; say, rap, or polka for instance.

4.  A student lays a map out on his desktop every time he comes to class, and you don’t teach geography.

5.  You’re trying on a sweater at Macy’s and it turns out to be that really scratchy wool; plus, the sale tags in the back are poking you in the neck.

6.  This student often asks you to repeat things you just said, so she can get it in her notes.

7.  Your friend calls you on your cell phone to ask you a question, but the connection is really bad so you can’t really understand what she’s asking.  So while you’re trying to process what she said so you can give a response, she says, “Never mind, I’ll ask my other friend,” and hangs up.

8.  A student wears the same hoodie to your class every single class period, oftentimes with the hood up.

9.  There’s a noise coming from the ceiling that sounds like fingernails on a chalkboard or metal grinding against metal.  And no one else seems to notice it.

10. A student consistently neglects her hygiene, producing a very unpleasant smell.

11.  You’re trying to hold really still; maybe you’re meditating or posing for a picture or something; but your foot is on an anthill and the ants keep crawling up your leg.

12. There is a student who never holds still.  Either he is tapping, or jiggling, or twisting, or shifting continuously.

13. Think of a smell like ammonia or sulfur or formaldehyde or sour milk.  The person you have to sit next to for an hour smells like that.  Strongly.

14. This student asks a number of questions every class period about the material, but the questions are off topic or not relevant aspects of the topic, or sometimes just so weird you don’t know how to answer.

15. You’re trying to read and the light starts to flicker on and off.  There’s nothing you can do about it so you try to ignore it but, the harder you try, the worse it gets so that now it’s like a strobe light at a bad disco tech and you’re getting a real headache from it.

16. A student who sits up front has a small, open wound on his arm and, each class, he eventually starts picking at it.

17. There’s something really great you want to watch on television, like your favorite show or your team is   playing.  But somebody comes in and starts telling you about something you already know, or have no interest in like how to form letters in cursive or how to make ice cubes.  And they continue to talk for an hour and you’re totally bored and you want to watch TV but the person gets mad if you don’t look at them and pay attention.

18. This student brings some object, like a hand towel or a ball or a stuffed animal to every class and fiddles with it the entire period.

19. You were sunbathing nude and fell asleep and woke up with a really bad sunburn on your entire back side.  And now you have to sit in a hard chair for an hour.

20. After about a half hour, this student gets up in the middle of your lecture and leaves the room for about ten minutes, every single class period.