"Sweety"

Now, before I continue, there are some relevant facts to mention about my students:

1. They're on public assistance, which I only mention because of there are a few who are looking to "upgrade" their partner.

2. Many women in the program are single mothers, therefore some are just looking.

3. Some are pregnant, and are in that short phase where they get easily excited.

4. Some have been in bad relationships, so when they see a guy treating them kindly, they a) like it, and/or b) think it's a come-on.

5. Some have been in REAL bad relationships with REAL bad people. WHY? Why do nice girls get involved with such OBVIOUSLY BAD guys? Why!!?? Now, (I'm not excusing here) I'm not talking about the "young-teen-stupidly-naive" girls, I'm talking about the "over-25-grown-woman-that's-had-three-or-four-serious-relationships" women.

That said, let's start.

I always try to be professional in how I comport myself with the students. I try my best to ever make the students feel like I'm flirting, nor do I make suggestive comments. But sometimes, I (and other teachers) get hit-on, or are the recipients of some big-time flirting.

One student calls me "sweety" and "babe" every now and then. One student mentioned how another teacher was "looking REAL nice" that day. And those are just some of the "regular" flirts. Sometimes we get the "hardcore" flirts, like when someone talks about their "sexual escapades" and such. You hear them saying (just loud enough for you to hear) how "...need a man like him to..." or "...I bet he knows how to make me..."

I usually try to ignore it, and act as if I didn't hear it, but sometimes you just can't. Sometimes, they won't let you ignore it, they'll mention it again, or just come out and ask you if you heard. But there's no way I'll get involved with any of them, not just because it's prohibited, but because it's not right to abuse the teacher-student relationship.

Sometimes, I think they know I'm not going to "go for it" and just want to see my reaction.