[MLUG - DISCUSSION] excuses, excuses

[Jonathan King <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On Thu, 11 Jul 2002, Ross, Matt wrote:

> > > I'm new to the list so haven't been keeping up with this 
> > thread sorry.
> >   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> >  
> > > Archives are available at http://mlug.missouri.edu/list-archives/
> >                             ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> > 
> > That excuse is not valid.
> 
> Since when do excuses need to be valid?  If the excuse were
> valid, you wouldn't need to make one up.
                              ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^

Hi, this is the ghost of all your former professors speaking.  What
do you mean by "make one up"? :-)  

Seriously, it's pretty easy to figure out when an excuse is really
just a request for a "personal day".  Other excuses are merely weak,
in the sense that while some event did occur, it only prevented (or
hindered) you from completing something because you did nothing in
advance.

Now, my two favorite funny excuses so far are these:

1) There is a paper due the Wednesday before spring break, assigned 
   in February.  In the early hours of the due date, I get frantic 
   email from a student who cannot complete the assignment on time
   (spontaneous combustion of a printer I think).  I respond that
   this is okay, just get it in tomorrow (Thursday) morning.  (Gee,
   why was that due date the *Wednesday* before break?) I then
   get return email thanking me for the extension, but that the 
   paper won't be in until the Tuesday after break because a flight
   to Mexico is leaving in 4 hours and the student needs to be on 
   it.  Student is apoplectic when told that points will be deducted
   in this case.

2) Student comes in on the day when the short paper is due waving
   a floppy disk that is alleged to contain a paper that is now
   unreadable.  I am suspicious, but graciously offer to help 
   recover the paper on the disk since I have some amazingly 
   effective disk and file repair tools available, geek that I 
   am, and, hey, office hours are right now!

   It's amazing how quickly somebody can go as white as a sheet.
   Student confesses, I admit that I really don't have any such 
   tools, the paper is accepted the following day, and I swear I 
   have never seen a more grateful student in all of my days.

jking



 

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