Last-Name Basis

I had a number of professors in the English department in college for multiple classes and most of them allowed students to call them by their first names. But there was this one student who one of the teachers insisted not use her first name. I don’t remember the student’s name but I got the impression some of the teachers were annoyed by him. In a writing class once, he forgot to bring a pen (this was back when you wrote and took notes on paper pretty much all the time). The professor lent him her pen, sort of flicking it at him with an expression of disdain on her face. Another professor asked everyone how far they’d gotten in the assigned book. The student said, “Getting ready to begin.” The teacher said, “At this point you should be further than that,” with a tone of annoyance (this was in a class where we read a book per week). Anyway, this one professor let all the students call her by her first name. She was a great teacher and a really nice person. So this student answers a question using her first name one day: “So, Carol, the semiotic hallmarks of deconstructionism …” blah blah blah. The professor stops him and says, “Dr. Jones.” Later in the same class, he calls her Carol again. She again helpfully suggests, “Dr. Jones,” nodding her head firmly. She had a smile on her face as usual but it did not meet her eyes, and I could swear I felt a hint of icy air in the climate-controlled classroom. I guess even the nicest people have little tolerance for people who annoy them.