My Professor (illustrated letter)
It must have become apparent to him that I wasn't going to say anything, and he finally started to speak again. "So Miss R-----," he said condescendingly, "where shall I begin? Should I start with your flippant, know-it-all attitude? Or perhaps your phony, apple-polishing manner in class would be a better topic to discuss."
I silently laughed to myself. He knew damn well that I wasn't an apple-polisher. There were at least 5 other students in his class who stood out that way. And despite my high opinion of myself, I know better than to flaunt my self esteem by acting the know-it-all. My general demeanor in class is calm and self-assured, and I usually speak politely and quietly, and more often than not in his class, only when I'm called on.
So I could tell that something other than what he saying was the real cause of his negative feelings towards me, and more and more, I was starting to see what it was -- and I began to see how to get what I wanted from him.