I had my first reluctant student Tuesday of last week. She said her teacher made her bring her paper in to the writing center and she needed a brown sheet. I said "Alright," and asked what she wanted to look at. She said she didn't know. I asked if she had any concerns with her paper, and she said no, she only needed the paper to prove she'd come in. I told her we would get her the piece of paper, but we had to "do" something. Before I could make suggestions of things we might look at, she told me to just do whatever it is that I do. I thought this was a good opportunity to explain what the writing center is and what services it offers. I told her "What I do is whatever you need my help with." In a fluster, she began slamming her things around and said, "Well, I guess you can't help me then," and left. I was definitely a little taken aback. I hadn't seen that coming. I knew she was agitated, but I didn't think she was a flight risk. I turned to the other tutors in the room, none of whom were occupied with tutees, and asked, "Did you guys just see that?" I explained what had happened to them and asked what they would have done differently. Then I asked them some questions about me, my demeanor, and my tutoring style, and if they thought I might have fascilitated what had happened. I wanted to make sure that I didn't come across as aggressive or intimidating. Then I went to Claire's office and told her what had happened and if she thought I should have done anything differently. This experience aggrevated me very much, and I've spent a lot of time brooding over it and what I should have done differently to diffuse the situation. I think I should have started making suggestions earlier. I held off on making suggestions because I wanted to student to tell me what she wanted. However, I think if I had given her a few ideas about things we could have done with her paper, she would have been happy to accept any of them. She didn't know what to suggest and I wouldn't make suggestions for her, and before I could bridge the gap, she became uncomfortable enough to leave. I underestimated her reluctance and was therefore unable to react in time to save the session.