Overheard

While in line at the institution of my learning's (not teaching) bursar's office:

"I literally dropped the class two or three minutes after midnight."

"I'm sorry, but if I made an exception for you because of two or three minutes, what is there to prevent me from making an exception for the hundreds of students who drop classes four or five minutes after midnight. You see my reasoning here, right?"

"But I was in a clean room, making chemotherapy IV's. I couldn't leave a clean room to drop a class." (Emphasis in the original)

"I recognize that, but can I ask why you decided to put off dropping the class until the last day?"

Silence, then "Look, I'm just looking for a little empathy here. I'm two or three minutes late, and it costs me $200 dollars."

"Yes, I have empathy for you. But I cannot refund your $200 dollars."

Student bangs his hand on the table and leaves, not looking at the thirty people in line, all waiting on him to finish his whining. Dude, read your syllabus.