Let me try to cheer your folks up with a little tale I saved about university finals. 🙂
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The setting is Ohio State University about six or seven years ago in a
huge lecture hall (approximately 1000 students) for a Calculus final.
Apparently this particular calculus teacher wasn't very well liked. He
was one of those guys who would stand at the front of the class and yell
out how much time was remaining before the end of a test, a real
charmer. Since he was so busy gallivanting around the room making sure
that nobody cheated and that everyone was aware of how much time they
had left before their failure on the test was complete, he had the
students stack the completed tests on the huge podium at the front of
the room. This made for quite a mess, remember there were 1000 students
in the class.
Anyway, during this particular final, one guy entered the test needing a
descent grade to pass the class. His only problem with Calculus was that
he did poorly when rushed, and this ass standing in the front of the
room barking out how much time was left before the tests had to be
handed in didn't help him at all. He figured he wanted to assure himself
of a good grade, so he hardly flinched when the professor said "pencils
down and submit your Scantron sheets and work to piles at the front of
the room".
Five minutes turned into ten, ten into twenty, twenty into
forty...almost an hour after the test was "officially over", our friend
finally put down his pencil, gathered up his work, and headed to the
front of the hall to submit his final. The whole time, the professor sat
at the front of the room, strangely waiting for the student to complete
his exam.
"What do you think you're doing?" the professor asked as the student
stood in front of him about to put down his exam on one of the neatly
stacked piles of exams (the professor had plenty of time to stack the
mountain of papers while he waited) It was clear that the professor had
waited only to give the student a hard time.
"Turning in my exam," retorted the student confidently.
"I'm afraid I have some bad news for you," the professor gloated, "Your
exam is an hour late. You've FAILED it and, consequently, I'll see you
next term when you repeat my course."
The student smiled slyly and asked the professor "Do you know who I am?"
"What?" replied the professor gruffly, annoyed that the student showed
no sign of emotion.
The student rephrased the question mockingly, "Do you know what my name
is?"
"NO", snarled the professor.
The student looked the professor dead in the eyes and said slowly, "I
didn't think so", as he lifted up one of the stacks half way, shoved his
test neatly into the center of the stack, let the stack fall burying his
test in the middle, turned around, and walked casually out of the huge
lecture hall.
