Tuesday 23 September 2008

A challenging situation

So more issues to do with work....the same work that I wanted to vent about yesterday and today is posing an entirely new set of challenges. I think that it is interesting that this particular job is pushing my buttons...and very different buttons at that.

Yesterday was about me needing to set firm boundaries and being uncomfortable with that. Today the student is fighting with another student and I am in the situation of having to interpret different parts of the fight (mostly they are writing back and forth) and also the student is wanting to talk to me about the fight and get validation from me.

I am not engaging and instead am letting the student know that speaking to a counselor is an option. I am sure that there is some great way to handle this situation but I certainly don't know what it is. My job definition is to interpret and that's it but I am not a smock-wearing machine (sorry, that will only make sense to the other interpreters reading this). There is a fine line for being involved without actually getting involved.

I can see what has happened between these two students and yet without some kind of mediation, I don't think that either of them will be able to understand what happened. One day they were getting along and the next they weren't. They each think the other one is the cause of their problem. The truth is that they are each the cause of their own problem.

But then, it is always easier to blame someone else than it is to look at your own behaviour.

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