Seeing a professor out in real life is like “seeing a dog walk on its hind legs.” Yes, a Mean Girls quote. But, a quote that is spot on. After spending hours in class every day listening to lectures from those intellectual robots, could you imagine seeing a professor out at The Pearl? Eating ice cream like any other person… Unreal.

For myself, working around the city at cafes can bring about awkward, overly casual encounters with professors. Often times I serve a professor unknowingly; later to find out that my regular customer is, in fact, a UW-L professor. From that point on, nothing is the same. I become stiff, asking questions such as, “room for cream in your coffee?” Sounds normal, right? Trust me, it’s not.

UW-L junior, Holly Kritter, has the same encounters at her job. “My human differences professor walked into Papa Murphy’s to pick up pizza while I was working. I just said ‘Oh, hey this is funny’ and he replied with ‘Why? Because I eat?’” And that was the funny part, Kritter explained, “It was really funny that he was going to eat pizza.”

Investigating this through questioning English Professor Mohlenhoff-Baggett, it turns out she does eat in real life too. She specifically likes to eat at Sushi Pirate on her days off.

Asking what one human-like fact about herself is, Baggett stated that she is “constantly covered in pet fur with two cats and a dog.” Outrageous. Can you imagine not only seeing a professor in public but seeing a professor walking a dog in public?

Seeing professors out and about is more common than one might think too. Senior Rylee Hedberg states that she has encountered it many of times throughout her four years at UW-L. “I feel awkward and avoid having to talk to them,” Hedberg elaborates on the unease of seeing a professor outside of class. “I’m used to acting a certain way in class, and a different way in public. When I see them, I never know which way to act!”

Professor and Advisor, Scott Stine, explains that he’s truly a normal man, he even relaxes after work by spending time with his two daughters, ages three and six.

Asking for one human-like fact about himself, Stine responded with the story of a trip he took in college. “I took off the second semester of my junior year in college to go rock climb in Mexico and live in my tent. It was awesome. I highly recommend it.”

Mind blowing. Stine was once a college student, professors must be people too.