Oh my GOD. One of my ex students developed a crush on me and confessed. Idiot that I am, I tried to handle it gently by giving him the "No I can't because I am your teacher and my career's at stake but let's be friends" speech. I also made it a point to be nice to him so he didn't feel like I was weirded out by his passionate confessions. He seemed all devastated, but kept talking to me online, which lulld me into a false sense of security. Over time he seemed to conveniently forget that I'd already rejected his advances at the very beginning.
He began to ask me out on dates again and I kept saying I'm busy; but because he knows I regularly lunch with my other students, I said (to be fair) hey, we can have lunch during your lunch break if you want. THEN, he says he can't understand me: "do you want something or not? sometimes you say you are busy busy busy, then you say no dinner but lunch ok."
And I'm like OMFG. Were you not listening? I am NOT one of those girls who plays games. What I say is what you get. Where along the line did my career become dispensible? Where along the line did I flirt with you or accept your proclamations/advances? Where along the line did I bring our conversations anywhere NEAR non-platonic?
Needless to say, I set the story straight then and there. Dude, it is NOT gonna happen. Dude, MY CAREER. Dude, the lunch offer was a lunch offer between FRIENDS. I DON'T WANT ANYTHING MORE. Do you understand? No mincing of words. I was/am so frustrated that I don't even feel bad about it yet. As expected, he spat out an Ok, I have to go now.
I blocked him on my messenger account.
I mean, he's my age, he's no longer a student at my workplace, and he's a really sweet guy except for the persistence and mild harassment. I would've given him a chance because I give all guys a chance (my only condition is that nothing about him repulses me, and you gotta admit that's a pretty fair call), but for him, I could not. He has friends still studying where I work, and if I went out with him, his friends would definitely hear about it... and that would be the end of my credibility as a teacher. I would just be another girl at the school. Not a teacher, but a chick who was fair game for anyone game enough to take a shot. Bloody hell, I think about it and it makes me shudder. I cannot imagine anyone tempting enough to change my mind.
What is happening to the world? Is there no more sense of boundaries between student and teacher? I mean, most of my male students hit on me; that's still tolerable because they're totally not serious (I think they're just doing it for kicks and to see how much they can get away with) and it's amusing (like wow, I'm the Hot Teacher), but when they start giving you love letters and proclaiming undying love for you after a month? When they leave the school without letting on that they fancy you, and then BAM! one day seek you out and tell you the reason they left was so they could confess to you and ask you out? Jesus.
Usually I feel so bad about it, which is why I make it a point never never never to flirt with my students in any shape or form. But it's still happening, and I am starting to fray at the edges.