No one could see the struggle, self-doubt, financial stress and sleepless nights that had led to her strutting into the classroom for the first time, but she felt triumphant at first. After all, hadn't she endured all of the broken promises, undue criticism and gaslighting that academia had provided her with up until this point?

She wasn't expecting an apple on her desk every morning, but the reality of her dream job soon punctured everything that she had worked up to achieve.

It didn't take long until difficult questions ("Urm, that's a really salient question, I'll have to review the literature and get back to you next week?") became classroom corrections from students ("Oh, I see, I hadn't actually considered that... Okay, maybe scratch that last point").

Whispered and indeterminable comments became outright catcalls and derogatory comments.

Where once googling her name brought up papers and case citations, now yielded cruel blog comments and memes about her performance and appearance.

Her grip on the class loosened, and their hold on her tightened. Her ability to discipline the class disintegrated as their ability to ruin her self-worth intensified.

It wasn't long until she was presenting them with apples at the desk at the start of each class.

If you're still reading up until this point, thank you. I hope to either create a story similar to this, or perhaps just discuss the daily indignation our professor receives from a student or classroom who know how to exploit her vulnerabilities.