"We're here for the review."

[TheSnakeLady]

Not quite retail, but still involves SCs vs employees...

A little backstory here: a few years ago, I was taking some college courses while working at my day job, which meant I could only take courses at night. The local university didn't have any evening courses, but they pointed me at a community college which they would accept transfer credits from at full value. So, I signed up.

This particular course was a Chemistry course, and we, the students, were the customers (after all, we did pay money). This is the story of two giggly girls fresh out of highschool who thought they could game the system.

While the professor took attendance, you didn't get any points for showing up. His lectures were all posted on the web, so if you missed class, you could download the lecture and catch up on the notes. Also, since there was lab in the evenings right after class, you were expected to dress in clothing that met safety guidelines (no long floppy sleeves, no open-toed shoes, hair ties are a must, as are safety goggles).

Well, on the first day of class, I knew these two girls were going to be trouble. Both were wearing sandals (ok, ok, day 1 not likely to be an issue), and they were continuously whispering to one another and giggling. I have no idea what was so funny, as they sat in front off to the right, and I was a few rows back, but they were obviously not taking the material seriously (if they were even paying attention at all).

There was at least one lab near the beginning where they wore sandals and the instructor had words with them, but that wasn't the main issue. Somewhere near the middle of the course, they just stopped showing up. Now, given this was a college course, and with the giggle girls continually not attending, the instructor figured the two had just given up on it and hadn't bothered to file a drop request.

Not so...

A few weeks later, towards the latter half of the semester, we finished a series of lectures a session early. Since everyone who had been attending was there that day, the instructor had us vote whether to move the exam up a day or to start the next series of lectures slightly early. We voted for the early exam. So we had a review one class early, with the exam planned for the day the syllabus said we would have a review.

On the day of the exam, guess who shows up? The giggle girls. 10 minutes late. They walk in and seem a little confused as to why everyone's heads down writing on a set of papers.

GG1 to the professor: Uh, we're here for the review...
Professor: Oh, the review was last class. If you'd been attending, you would've known we moved it up a day.
GG1 and GG2 stare at eachother, like deer caught in headlights.
Professor: *hands them each a packet* Here's your tests. Goodluck!


Yes, that's right. The giggle girls had figured out a way they could do as little work as possible in school but still get credit for it. They figured that since all they needed to do was to pass the course, they could skip all the classes and just show up for the review, and then would get a good enough grade on the test to pass the course. Oops.

[myswtghst]

I actually know quite a few people who tried to get away with that in college. If I skipped classes, I made darn sure I didn't miss many in a row and I knew someone who was in the class to keep me updated!

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

F to the A to the I to the L. Literally.

There were some classes I had in college where evrybody would show up for the first few days, and from then on there would be half as many people attending each calss period.

Of course I was in the half that showed up. Most of the time.

[powerboy]

I went to a college class for one day. It was a history class, my girlfriend at the time was in. I just went because I had the day off and wanted to see if I would like going to college. I did, and I would have went to the rest of her classes, but I got called into work early.

Offtopic.

I am going to go school soon to become a certified Electrician.

[coldcupofjoe]

Offtopic.

I am going to go school soon to become a certified Electrician.

Completely offtopic.

Electricity is fun. I plan on specializing in automotive electrical. Once you know the basics of electrical systems, it's all logic. You can even tell what's wrong in a circuit by the way it's behaving.

[Boozy]

I actually know quite a few people who tried to get away with that in college.

I did get away with that in college.

The girls were annoying when they were in class, so really, wasn't it better for everyone else that they stopped attending? After that, they weren't hurting anyone but themselves.

[protege]

I got away with that in my "computers in business" class. How? Well, since it was basically Lotus and Access, both of which I'd had before...I was simply bored. I'd get the work done, and then have nothing to do. In fact, the professor said I could just skip the class and only show up for tests. I was tempted to do that...but when I found out that Doom was installed on several of that room's computers...

[digilight]

I am going to go school soon to become a certified Electrician.

Way to go. My dad was an electrician for years until he couldn't physically handle it anymore (bad back and other health problems, the back was a job related injury that was botched in surgery but the others were no relation). He is very analytical and even though he hasn't been a practicing electrician for over 20 years still has no problem with normal electrician questions.

He has saved myself, my friends, and family a ton of money by simply diagnosing problems and coming up with a simple fix. He once diagnosed my neighbors problem over the phone correctly and the fix took my neighbor all of 5 minutes (poor guy had been working on it all day up till that point).

One of the important things that my dad learned was don't do favors for friends. He did countless room rewires, hottub installs, etc and wasn't paid shit for it. For jobs that should have paid in excess of a grand he was lucky to see a quarter of that.

Do see it thru, the money is great, and if you have the analytical side to see the problem and solution in your head it can be quite easy for you.

I just wish I got his skill with electricity, I can do the basics but anything else and I have to call him and have him come over and walk me thru it. He can't get down there and do it anymore, but he has the knowledge to walk me thru it step by step without me burning down the house.

[MystyGlyttyr]

The college I went to had attendance requirements, so that if you missed five days in a semester, you failed the class. I thought that was a load of crap, personally, but I kind of understood their reasoning for it (they didn't want to fill classes with people who weren't going to get anything out of it, regardless of the fact that they got paid the same any which way, so it was a little bit honorable I suppose).

However, that meant I spent most of my classes sitting in the back of the room writing stories or doodling because the teachers taught straight out of the book without the faintest deviation and I had finished reading it within a week. I could have literally taken the American History final after two weeks and aced it and been done with that class, but instead I made a deal with the fellow sitting behind me that I'd poke him in the leg if he started snoring too loud and he'd buy me a Dr Pepper after class. Worked out great

[Gerrinson]

I got away with that in my "computers in business" class. How? Well, since it was basically Lotus and Access, both of which I'd had before...I was simply bored.

I had a similar experience with the required "Fundamentals of Computer Literacy" course, which is essentially MS Office 101. I walked in as a computer science/computer business double major, and was assigned the class because it was required (I was too early in my college career to know about CLEPing the credits.) The assigned class was 1/2 an hour from my house and I tried to switch into the same class that was at the satellite a mile from home, but it was full.

The first couple classes, I was basically a volunteer teacher's aide to keep the course moving along faster in hopes of getting to something I didn't know. The teacher kept me after class one day, went over his plan for the semester and agreed there was no reason for me to show up to class. He gave me all the coursework and tests (which were open book) and allowed me to drop off my completed work at the session that was in the satelite class so I didn't have to drive 1/2 an hour to hand in work. His one complaint was that it was much easier to teach when I was there to assist.

Got an A in that course if you were wondering.

[K'Z'K]

A lot of students seem to believe that they can just show up for exams and ace the class no matter what the subject. As a TA, I enjoy destroying that belief.

I did a handful of lectures for the course I was TAing last semester. On the day the syllabus said "review" I was still lecturing. One girl came in, found out the test had been pushed back, and left. On the actual review day, she and one other were very annoyed that I refused to tell them exactly what would be on the exam. "Is there a review sheet?" "Yeah. Your notes." They just grumbled a bit, but didn't dare say that they didn't have any. Really. I didn't spend all that time and effort on lectures (it's hard work, folks) just to turn around and tell you it's OK to ignore 90% of what I said. It don't work like that.

This semester I'll be lecturing again. The test for my stuff is mandatory. Normally we drop the lowest of the four exams, but since since attendance is so actrocious after the third when the fourth is dropable, we've made the fourth mandatory. I still expect only about 50% attendance. And I will laugh when they realize that I test on material from my lectures, even if it's not in the book (a fact I mention...in lecture).

Some people never seem to learn that we give lectures for a reason. I don't care if students don't go, but I also don't lose any sleep over failing them. In fact, I usually enjoy it.

-K'Z'K

[TheSnakeLady]

Well ok, I can somewhat see the argument for skipping most lectures if the material is already known and extremely simple, but with Chemistry the labwork is just as important as getting the lecture information. Plus the class was heavy on the discussion stuff, not just a talking head reading out of a book. Any class with a lab is not one you want to be skipping attendance in for large periods of time.

[Sylvia727]

And I will laugh when they realize that I test on material from my lectures, even if it's not in the book (a fact I mention...in lecture).

-K'Z'K

Speaking as a current student, I much prefer lectures to textbooks. For a while I thought I was an auditory learner, but having a friend read the book out loud did nothing for me. I finally theorized that professors speak like real people and explain it simply, while texts often use confusticating language, just because they can.

As for missing class, my first day in I pick out a sap--er, buddy, who takes reliable notes in case I ever skip--I mean, suddenly come down sick. (To be fair, I only miss one or two days a semester...and I give my notes to classmates who also make the effort.)

[protege]

Well ok, I can somewhat see the argument for skipping most lectures if the material is already known and extremely simple, but with Chemistry the labwork is just as important as getting the lecture information.

That's why I didn't skip my science classes There was just so much material in my college chemistry class, that it wasn't worth taking a chance that I'd miss something. Also, the lab work was a good part of the grade.

[redmountaingoldfish]

Some people never seem to learn that we give lectures for a reason. I don't care if students don't go, but I also don't lose any sleep over failing them. In fact, I usually enjoy it.

I always go to my classes, if going to class matters. Last semester I had a computer science class where the professor did nothing but read the Powerpoints WORD FOR WORD with almost no additional explanation. Since these Power Points were posted online, and since 97% percent of the homework help boiled down to "why don't you go to the JAVA API website and figure it out for yourself," I stopped going. And passed.

Then again, I've had other professors whose classes are, you know, informative and beneficial, so I went to those.

Sorry for the rant, I just hated that CS class.