Yes, life will never stop surprising us. 

Just 10 minutes ago, I received a piece of very good advice from the most unlikely person. 

To be honest, I hated him. 

Moments ago, a student was disrespectfully confrontational towards me. She was accusing the library management to be incompetent. 

Her complaint didn't tally with her records shown on the computer system. Therefore, I tried to explain to her politely that she has gotten her facts wrong. 

But she stubbornly refused to even consider that possibility. "Why do I have to bear the consequences of your faulty system?!" 

I kept clicking the screen back and forth, showing her this book, that book, this date, that fine charges..etc.. She couldn't really understand the screen as she wasn't really paying attention. 

She just wanted to be right. After several more unreasonable accusations, she left. I was fuming with anger. 

He was seated just beside me and saw that I was very affected. 

But he didn’t say anything. Minutes later, I couldn’t keep my emotions inside my any longer. “I need special training to deal with this sort of things” 

“You need to learn not to be afraid. That student sensed that you were unsure of yourself and attacked you even more. Try looking at the student hard in the eye the next time.” He was right. 

I didn’t maintain an eye contact with her. 

Yes, I had allowed myself to be ‘attacked’. 

My necessary shield has always been absent, causing myself much distress. 

We all need our ‘shields’ for survival.