During her internship, Latoya had been uncomfortable with a particular co-worker, Shirley. Shirley had virtually ignored Latoya throughout her internship. She never once asked Latoya to work with her or even to observe her work. Because Shirley’s area of work was of particular interest to Latoya and related to her career goals, this was of real concern to her. After a few weeks, Latoya began to express her frustration and irritation about Shirley’s cold shoulder to co-workers and to other students in the agency. Within a few days, Shirley heard through the grapevine that Latoya had been talking about her. Shirley (who had no difficulty being assertive) confronted Latoya in an appropriate manner, expressing her concern that Latoya had apparently been speaking of her in a derogatory manner to others in the agency. Latoya quickly apologized to Shirley and left the room, still not having the courage to talk with her directly about the situation. For the remainder of the internship, Latoya was even more uncomfortable in Shirley’s presence and tried to avoid her as much as possible. Although Latoya otherwise had a very beneficial internship experience, she left at the end of the term with great regrets about how she handled the situation with Shirley. Worst of all, she never had an opportunity to learn about Shirley’s job. In this situation, as in many, nonassertive behavior did not solve the problem and, in fact, made matters even more tense and uncomfortable.