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Let’s face it—almost every single one of us has ended up being late to class at least once or twice. It can be pretty easy to panic over how to excuse yourself for not being on time, and teachers are always ready to deal with a white lie. Whether it’s imaginary appointments with the dentist or sudden and unexplainable stomach aches, there can be no end to students’ creativity.
Yet, some stories can be so ridiculous, people can’t help but question whether they are real. User minecraftplayer48 decided to ask the teachers of Reddit, "What was the best excuse for being late that turned out to be true?" As of this day, the thread has collected more than 9.7K comments full of examples of how people didn’t make their wild stories up.
From getting pulled over by the police to assisting with births, Bored Panda has collected some of the craziest answers from this thread. Check them out down below and, if you’re up for it, share your own experiences in the comments!
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#1
I apologize that I'm writing this on mobile, so there might be errors. I'm an English professor, and one year a pretty good student showed up without one of his 2 major term papers. He explained that his safe had been stolen by a contractor who was working on their house. His laptop was in the safe, and that's where his paper was. I genuinely believe him because he been a really good student.
Then over the next few weeks, he started to show up to class looking very tired. He said that he was on a hunt for the person who stole his safe, and he was spending late nights with his cousin driving around looking for the guy because they knew his van. Now, the student and his cousin were both recently back from tours in Iraq and had seen combat experience. They wanted to find the guy to beat the s**t out of him and get the safe back because his wife's wedding ring was in the safe as well as a bunch of cash. He rewrote the paper and turned it in, apologetic that it wasn't up to his usual quality, but he still kept coming to class looking like he hadn't slept.
After a little while he came very happy to my office hours, and he reported that he found the guy after a long search that involved breaking into a meth den shaking people down with baseball bats and even bribing some prostitutes. He said that they found the guy's van at a Taco Bell after getting a tip from a prostitute, and they cornered him and waited for the police to come.
I read in the news that he had in fact done a citizen's arrest and stopped the guy at a Taco Bell, and that they ended up calling in the Secret Service because he used the cash that he stole from the safe to buy a bunch of counterfeiting equipment. Secret Service apparently investigates counterfeiting, so the whole investigation happened because this guy who I dub "the white Shaft" tracked the scumbag down through the bad side of town late at night to get a wedding ring, some cash, and his research paper back. It all turned out to be true. He got the ring and the laptop back. I gladly accepted his original paper, and it got a much higher grade than the rewrite.
RELATED:
#2
Middle school boy was late because he watched his dad become a citizen.
#3
This happened to me as a pupil; a very quiet, unassuming kid in our class came in to German with about five minutes of the class left.
We went to a Catholic school and the teachers were all quite strict and intimidating. Classes were usually silent, especially in junior school. When this boy came into class at the end of the lesson that day, the door flew inwards with such force that the teacher gave an audible gasp.
It had been raining heavily outside, his hair was plastered to his forehead. His blazer was dripping and sodden. He had mud caked into his trousers up to his knees, and he was breathing heavily.
The teacher exclaimed, ‘Brendan! What happened?’ We all stared up at him in shocked silence. This quiet, unassuming little boy let out a big sigh and just said, ‘I took a shortcut.’ And went straight to his seat.
That line became iconic in our school for years afterwards.
#4
"Sorry Bohemian Rhapsody came on just as I parked." - My art teacher when he was about 5:55 minutes late.
#5
A kid missed my first period class one morning, but was in school later that day. When I asked him why he hadn't arrived in time for my course, he said his cow was birthing its calf that morning, so he'd picked being in the barn over English. Made sense to me. His essays weren't going to win any ribbons at the county fair, but his calf could.
#6
Former student here.
"Sorry, boss, my stepdad tried to [take our lifes] last night and I had to deal with the cops".
Professor just looked at me for a moment and said "....dude do you want to like, go grab a drink and talk about this after class?"
Man, my English prof was a bro when I was in college.
#7
When I was student teaching, I was late because there was bunch chickens in the middle of the road. They wouldn't move at all. This is in the middle of a city of 200,000 people. Freaking chickens.
I finally get to school and profusely apologize to my mentor teacher and I told her why I was late thinking it sounded ridiculous. She said, "yeah, those chickens are f**king a**holes, they surrounded my car in the McDonalds parking lot last year. Dont worry about."
#8
Told me he got pulled over by the cops for wobbly driving on his bike and they thought he was drunk. Turned out he was just dodging all the slugs on the street.
coleby worthen 2 years ago
I took the shell off my racing snail thinking it would make it faster, if anything is made it more sluggish…… I’ll see myself out
#9
When I was in college, my psych professor told us that the only excuse for being late was a funeral procession. Any other reason, you wouldn't be allowed to come in.
A few weeks into the semester, I was headed from one building to another, which involved crossing the main road. Lo and behold, there was one very long funeral procession going by. I got a short video of it as proof, then stood on the sidewalk to let it go by.
Unfortunately, the procession made me five minutes late to class. I knocked on the door, and the professor came over to start to tell me off. I showed her the video.
"Well I'll be damned, c'mon in."
#10
She had to take her sister to school and drive her mom to rehab. She was always late to class because her mom just wanted to sleep in. Problem was if the mom was late or did not go she would have violated her probation and gone to prison. I never marked her late. If she missed anything important she could come in at lunch or after school to make it up.
#11
Hmmm, I had a student whose father had died and had not done any homework or prep for the geography class, from what I heard the teacher scolded him for not doing so but the student didn’t want to say anything (presumably sensitive issue) so his best friend shouted at the teacher “DONT YOU HAVE ANY SHAME, HIS FATHER DIED LAST NIGHT” and the teacher said “I don’t care”, there was an audible gasp and I was in the next room.
Needless to say that teacher is no longer employed here.
#12
Not me but in my class.
This was in College, a student turned in work late after not showing up for two classes. Two classes amounted to a full week so it was noticeable.
Professor looked at him and said "I hope somebody passed away for you to be this late"
"DOES MY DAD COUNT????"
Honestly I've always heard you can hear a pin drop and never really thought anything of it, but yeah you could hear a f**king pin cut through the air after that.
Andy Acceber 2 years ago
Professor is just asking for trouble. Who would say something like that?
#13
This one happened to a classmate when we were in college training to be teachers. She missed a really important class, came for just the last 10 minutes or so because her neighbor knocked on her door while in active labor asking for help a little while before she was supposed to leave for class. Classmate walked back to neighbor's house with preggo neighbor and delivered her baby in the living room while on the phone to 911. Paramedics came and mom and baby were fine, but classmate needed to go home and shower/change first because she was covered in blood.
#14
Had a Sociology prof in college who was never late for anything. One day, we showed up for class and he wasn't there. After five minutes or so, we are reading the handbook to find out what level of Professor he was and found that he was an Associate professor and entitled to ten minutes wait. A few seconds before his time expired, a voice came from under his desk saying "Today we are going to discuss withdrawn personalities." He conducted the whole class from under his desk.
#15
Kid was late to school and had to miss a very important football game. The reason? His fat Pug fell asleep on his phone. The pug’s fat rolls muffled his alarm.
#16
I was one of about 20 kids who were late to school. We showed up at the school office as a group and when questioned why we were late, we said "The school bus blew up".
They questioned "So the engine blew up"
The kids "No, the whole bus, in flames. It blew up"
There was much conference between the teachers, all of them thinking we embellished the story. Next thing you know, one of the admin staff has the news website open, very obvious image of an entire bus on fire with a bunch of kids in our school uniform standing in front of it. Our late slip for class read "School bus blew up".
Susan Bosse 2 years ago
Don't you think the school would have been well aware before these kids even reached campus? I mean, they would have had to send another bus or some mode of transport to get them to the school from the site of the bus explosion.
#17
I had a six year old turn up late to her lesson and blurt out "sorry I was late, I had to colour in a bunny!"
Seems fair.
#18
My auto teacher let me practice removing and adding the tires on his vehicle. The next morning it was about 20 minutes into first period and no sign of him. He comes running into the classroom out of breath and his hair is all messed up. He points at me and says "YOU!!!! What is a torque wrench used for???" I respond with "I don't know." He says "I know you dont know!!!" Turns out one of his tires came off while driving down the highway.
#19
Student told me he couldn’t do the work because he was delivering oil from 3PM until 11PM. In middle school. He wasn’t lying. Dad has broken his both of shoulders and one clavicle so his grandma and pregnant mom were “switching off driving” (pretty sure he was doing most of it at night) and he was hooking the tanks to the oil. I called all his teachers and had his work load lightened and got permission for him to come in an hour late each day as he was providing the only income for his family of eight, as he was the oldest. Tutored him so he could pass seventh grade. I paid cost of oil only for years until I moved out of the area.
Evil Little Thing 2 years ago
What kind of oil needs to be delivered, and what are these tanks that need hooking up?
#20
Not a student, but one of my Teaching Assistants when I ran a pre-school in West Philly... 'sorry I missed yesterday, my friend shot my mom'. Naturally, I'm a little speechless... 'oh no it's ok, he was AIMING FOR SOMEONE ELSE'
#21
Not a teacher, but a kid walked I to my class one day and literally just said "sorry I'm late, I didn't want to be here". He wasn't wrong I suppose.
#22
A kid came in late from lunch, but handed me a half dozen fresh tamales from his family’s tamaleria, and I was 9 months pregnant, so obviously he didn’t get in trouble.
Oopsydaisy 2 years ago
Tamaleria. I did not even know that was a thing. My spell heckler certainly doesn't know it's a thing. Great word!
#23
Bear in the backyard. No access gate. Animal control had to tranq it from the room and drag it through the house. Made the news. Got to retake the test I missed after sending her the news article.
#24
I was the student...my neighbor had a really social goat, and she figured out how to escape her pen in order to come over and hang out. She escaped and followed me to the bus stop, and when the bus came, she tried to follow me onto it. I couldn't actually get on the bus without her being right behind me, so I had to get off, bring her home, and call my dad to bring me to school.
#25
Had a college algebra teacher show up late or no show almost every class. The other students thought it was hilarious because if there’s no teacher for 15 mins you can leave. So we had no class a huge chunk of the semester and it really aggravated me. This is preyoutube and I was not understanding the math at all and the girl trying to tutor me didn’t speak English well and my grade for the first time ever in my life was suffering (and I’m paying for the class)
One day, teacher showed up about 20 mins late and I’m one of the few people who didn’t take off early and he angry walks in, slams his briefcase on the desk and says “I apologize for this semester. I have cancer. I’m dying” and then left.
8I
..I don’t know what happened to him tbh
Samantha Lomb 2 years ago
This is the fault of the college for not putting him on sick leave and getting another instructor
#26
Not teacher, but pupil. I was in a car crash on my way to school. About 5 cars involved because some jerk decided to overtake us since we slowed down coming to a turn. So a trip to the hospital to get checked, and then school 3 hours late. I had small cuts all over my face from glass flying everywhere and had a really sore shoulder, but my teachers wouldn't believe me until police showed up because they forgot to get a statement from me. Apparently some of the other involved people died and the jerk got 8 years in prison.
Oopsydaisy 2 years ago
I would have just gone home. Shock makes you really tired. Poor kid probably needed to sleep.
#27
A guy in my college class missed class one day. The next day he came in with his eye covered up and medical paperwork in hand. Apparently he got pecked in the eye by a chicken.
#28
In my hometown if you walked into anywhere late and said the phrase "Sorry, grain train" you were never challenged. It was extremely common for 50+ carriage trains to run through the middle of town.
Two_rolling_black_eyes 2 years ago
My middle school was on railroad tracks with the main building on one side and all of the sports fields, parking lots, etc on the other. "I had gym last period" was an accepted excuse to being late to classes because it was quite common to get caught by a train. They built a pedestrian tunnel under the tracks after I graduated HS. Side note - its hard to learn with train whistles going off because there's a school sidewalk crossing the tracks.
#29
My best story ever! I taught in a hard core inner city school. My student comes in at 10:30. I was like, dude, where were you. Oh, my bus was late. Yah, no. Why would your bus be three hours late. Well Miss, there was a drive by shooting. OMG are you okay? Someone shot at the bus? No ma’am, a kid shot a gun out of the bus. We got pulled over. The cops had to search everyone. The kid with the gun was literally the last kid to be searched. True story, you can’t make this s**t up.
#30
We had an exam in my class and the teacher got a message from a student saying that he was going to be late because his car had a flat tire (the student was known to party), the teacher didn't think it could be true, so as a joke the teacher asked him to bring the tire back. He brought the flat tire back in the middle of the exam. Needless to say, the professor didn't expect that.
#31
Obligatory I'm not a teacher. My Dad, who was a teacher , was late himself because his car got surrounded by sheep and he couldn't get out. Joys of living in Wales.
Kira Okah 2 years ago
Also live in Wales, rurally. Had this happen before too, and sheep crossing (that road has railway crossing type lights for that one), loose sheep delaying the bus, late for class because of cow blocking the road, sheep on the rail line made me miss my train connection in Cardiff. Places get used to that one, it's so common it's rarely a lie.
#32
Flock of wild turkeys in the road. Not always school, but this happened more than once in my life.
For those of you who have never found yourselves in this situation: there is no way out of it. Wild turkeys will move when they damn well decide to do so, and only then.
#33
When I was in HS our apartment in Brooklyn, NY was broken into. Thankfully nobody was home, but all of our electronics were stolen. My computer (had a desktop with a big screen at the time) was also stolen which was connected to the same outlet as my alarm clock. Reset the time and went to bed not realizing I needed to reset the alarm too, showed up to my Sat SAT prep about 2 hrs late, explained to the teacher what happened, and she met with me during the week to go over materials. She was a rockstar
#34
I taught college English. A student suddenly stopped showing up and wasn't responding to emails. I googled him just to make sure he hadn't died or something, and I found his mugshot. He was in jail.
#35
A kid’s apartment burned down overnight. He was a little late, but still came.
Andy Acceber 2 years ago
Sometimes, kids don't know how to handle trauma. There was a horrible situation at the middle school my mom worked at where a mom died. Her son went to the bus stop and went to school anyway. He didn't know what else to do.
#36
One of my organ students told me he was late arriving for his lesson because he got stuck behind a lengthy funeral procession en route to the cemetery.
I knew he was telling the truth because I had played the organ for the service earlier that morning and the church was packed.
Vanta Black 2 years ago
How long was that procession if the teacher was able to make it to the lesson on time after playing at the funeral but the kid was late?
#37
Taught a group of seniors first period. It was towards the end of the year. I had a class of around 30 and only 5 were there when the bell rang. Halfway through class the rest of them show up. They went out to Cracker Barrel for breakfast and brought me some back. All was forgiven.
#38
The child missed my first-hour class, notes said car accident on the way to school and would be coming late. The kid comes for 2nd hour, has pictures on his phone of the ROLLOVER accident! WTF, kid, go home. Rest. Take care of yourself.
Aileen Grist 2 years ago
Sometimes just carrying on as normal is the best way to deal with trauma for children (and adults)
#39
My best friend and I used to roller skate to school and one day we both forgot to put our shoes in our backpacks. So we skated to the vice-principal’s office and got to skip first period to go home for shoes.
We stopped at Taco Bell on the way back for breakfast, because we figured we were already excused.
#40
“MTV paid me $50 to fill my backpack with cement and carry it around for the day.” I accepted that excuse. Student later regretted it, as a replacement backpack and college textbooks far exceeded $50. But he got his moment of fame and I didn’t penalize him for his tardy. Gotta live a little.
Edit: someone found a newspaper article on this. Turns out it was $200. He “earned” $100 for the first day and $100 when he returned the next day. I remembered $50, but it was 19 years ago. So ha, I was RIGHT to believe him! He still lost all his stuff (thanks cement), and I remember him telling me it wasn’t worth it.
What do you think ?
Adrian 2 years ago
Me. I had a very important exam at uni. I was late drove into the car park, out of the car, slammed the car door, raced off to the exam. Realised I'd left my notes and text books in car and its an open book exam. Damn. Raced back to car: its locked and keys are in the car. Root around in nearby garden bed and find decent sized rock aiming to break the cheapest and smallest window, the triangular one on back door. Whack! no good so whack harder. It works window breaks but I'd done it so hard my hand with the rock went through too and badly gashed my thumb and back of my hand. No time to lose. I race into the exam room dripping copious amounts of blood. Examiner races over and tries to find first-aid kit - can't find one. Strange as this is also the sports hall, but got a heap of paper towels and wrap that around my hand. Works for a while, but eventually blood starts oozing out and getting smeared all over the exam paper. Professor was so shocked I was allowed to sit exam again.
Jo Choto 2 years ago
I was part of a program to try and help young students (12-15) with issues (legal, behaviour, drug/alcohol, non-attendance, etc.) make it to graduation. One girl just kept not showing up and when she did, she would fall asleep. Turned out that her mother was a night sex worker who had previously been jailed for leaving her minor daughter unattended all night every night. So she took her daughter to work with her every night, which involved standing on the streets all night. Kid was exhausted. It was so, so sad.
zububonsai 2 years ago (edited)
"I'm sorry I'm late but I almost overran Jackie Chan with my bike." a girl running into the class my cousin attended, in 2003, in Görlitz (small town in Saxony, Germany) She usually goes to school by bicycle , she was rather last minute, it's 7a.m. skids around the corner on a pedestrian walk and. Jackie Chan (yes) walks and reacts like the pro he is and dives to the side and brushes it off, smiles for the shaking/shocked/apologising 17year old girl, assures her he isn't harmed... It was the talk of the school for weeks. --- PS: There is an inofficial "Jackie Chan Gasse" (alleyway) today in Görlitz. PS: He was filming "Around the world in 80 days"// Görlitz is also called "Görliwood" because over 50 movies were filmed there like "Inglorious Basterds" or the "The Grand Budapest Hotel". People here are laid back with actors/VIPs, and half of the townsfolk already has worked as an extra... (the contrary of Paparazzi lurking in bushes). Worth a visit!!!!
GoddessOdd 2 years ago
This didn't happen to me, but one of my neighbors, who was dropping off her 4 year old at preschool... waiting in the entry line. A car screeched up to the front of the line, handed a kid off to the teachers and raced away. When my neighbor got to the end of the line, she asked about it, (everyone was a little put out by the line jumper). Turns out the kid was being dropped off by a pregnant mom; her water broke as she was waiting in line, so she dropped off the kid and drove herself to the hospital. For any who might not be familiar, in my suburban school district, parents who drive their kids to school queue up in long lines to drop kids at the front of the school. The lines can be a mile long in some schools.
Leo Domitrix 2 years ago
Me. Flunked a chem exam b/c I showed up post-ictal after a grand mal seizure. Still no idea how I even did that. Prof called me in b/ that wasn't typical. He gave me the kindest lecture on just skipping exams entirely if that happened in future and just have the medical center leave a message at his office. Not qutie the same, but memorable nonetheless.
Theo Blackwood 2 years ago
I have one I’m still furious about. Mam was driving me a friend and his brother to school on a tiny Irish road. We come across a horse and rider knocked down by a car, Gardai everywhere. Poor horse was a goner. Got to school 1/2 hour late with photo proof the dead horse and my mam coming with us. Principal still gave us detention.
Monique Reed 2 years ago
"Couldn't turn in my plant collection on time because I was carjacked at knife point and it was in my car. I will get it to you as soon as I get the car back from the police impound." That one was actually true. "Sorry about missing the exam. My uncle was murdered in Mexico and I had to go be with the family and take care of things." Also true. Now ask us what the most outlandish FAKE excuse I ever heard was...
Lukas-not-Luca (he/him) 2 years ago
Me: my mom was in the hospital, so my adult sister was taking care of us (she lives with us by the way). She woke me up and went back to bed- I fell back to sleep on accident. I wake up at 7:20, about the time my bus gets to the stop. I throw on an outfit and am out the door by 7:23 and SPRINT down to the bus stop, but was way too late. So I had to walk around 4+ miles to school along busy roads, in a skirt because I promised a friend I'd wear one that day. I got to school around 10 minutes late and explained it to my teacher- she understood and felt bad. The worst part was my girlfriend was super worried about me and she had thought my parents forced me to walk to school because another friend had seen me walking. This was all fairly recent- the chafing on my legs only faded a few days ago.
ArchiBookworm 2 years ago
I was not someone who missed class, so when my design class was supposed to meet at the site, my professor was concerned when I didn't show. We had a flat. Put on the spare, it was flat. Ended up at the mechanics getting new tires. I got to the site about 20 minutes after everyone had left minus one classmate taking pictures.
Vorknkx 2 years ago (edited)
Once I was late due to a mild concussion after banging my head in the morning. Found out I could have actually taken the day off... decided to stay anyway. Bad idea! In one class there were videos being shown (with lamps turned off), and every time the lamps were turned back on, mini-explosions of pain would go off inside my head. Lesson learned!
Memere 2 years ago (edited)
Concussions aren't something to mess with, sorry you had to learn that the hard way. I had a minor auto accident on a weekend & had a mild concussion. The doctor did tell me to take off work, but I thought it was no big deal, so I went to work on Monday. After trying to look at the computer screen for about an hour, I was dizzy & had wonky vision. I wound up staying home for the rest of the week. Yep, I'll never do that again!
Load More Replies... Miss Frankfurter 2 years ago (edited)
Student in high school. Our homeroom teacher was also our English teacher. On this particular day of the week we always had English class first. All we did was sit in our homeroom for announcements and then she would start class. One morning she didn't show up for announcements, and then didn't show up for English class. We waited and waited. Then the principle came in and told us she had passed away the night before. What a shock. We wanted to send flowers to the funeral home and the principle said she would call. A class of high school kids and we collected $75 on the spot. Lunch money, every penny everyone had with them that day. She was such a wonderful teacher.
Stealthee 3k 2 years ago
Not school, but work. I'm one that never calls off. I had to call off one day and when I came in my boss was ribbing me and asked why I called off. I pulled my phone out and showed him the pictures of the car that hit my house at 2am. Luckily the house was structurally fine but the porch pretty much exploded.
Phyzzi 2 years ago (edited)
Ack! I was driving for the local bus system where some other driver managed to end up taking a bus into someone's house, which was obviously not great for anyone, though nobody was seriously injured. On a more humorous note, a friend of mine was working at a vet office when her brakes went out while she was parking, and she went through the front window of the office. Fortunately, that was enough to stop the car and the owner had a good sense of humor about it, putting up a sign that read "check out our new drive-through-window" on the board that covered the hole until it got repaired.
Load More Replies... GadgetGirl 2 years ago
Back in the dark ages of the late 70s, several kids were late or no shows for several days. Turned out a small plane had gone down in the neighborhood and the resulting explosion left body parts in several back yards. One kid found a hand, but was disappointed they wouldn't let him keep it.
Pezor Zass 2 years ago
When i was in grade 1 or 2, i was late getting to school. got to the back gate just in time to watch all of my class go into the building. Had no idea what to do, so i went back home. This was the 70s, so ya, i was walking to school alone. Mum thought it was hilarious and too difficult to explain to the school, so let me just take the day off for a "family occasion"
Sam Wizer 2 years ago
I was in an economics class for my undergrad, very well respected professor in a lecture of 500 that met MWF. He showed up a couple minutes late to class on Monday and apologized saying he hadn't slept. He said he'd figured out something and if it was true "they" would probably kill him for figuring it out. He said he wanted to share it with us as soon as he had it fully worked out. On Wednesday he said he still hadn't slept, but hadn't quite figured it out. On Friday the auditorium was packed, people that weren't even in the class were there because of word of mouth, everyone wanted to know what he had figured out. Professor came in, said he still hadn't slept but was ready to share. He tried to explain for 45 minutes and everyone was trying really hard to understand him, but what he was saying was completely incomprehensible. After a while he just walked out of the room. The following Monday we had a new professor and our old professor had been committed.
Amanda Ford 2 years ago
Back when I first became a teacher in Austin, TX I was taking attendance and discovered several boys were not in my English class. This was an eighth grade class, btw. I asked the students if they had seen...I read their names again...A few of them said yes, they had seen those guys. About 15-20 minutes went by. Then all of them walked in quietly and sat down. They didn't say a word but all of them had huge smiles on their faces. I asked why they were late, did they have a pass etc. One of them spoke up. "We just got to meet Salma Hayak. She's in town filming a movie. Her nephew goes to this school and she came to visit him. We all wanted to see her!" I thought about it for a moment and then said, "OK. That's fine. Now, let's get busy." When a few girls accused the boys of lying, I told them, it has to be true! I'd heard heard several lies from students, but they were all believable. And if Keanu Reeves or Johnny Depp ever visit, they would all get a free pass!
Kim Holmes 2 years ago
In college one school year, I was late with an assignment for art history because my car caught fire 3x in one day, late for a paper in Spanish because I rubbed the skin off my fingertips doing an art assignment, and was late for another paper because I was on the wrong side of a flood.
Julie Cipale 2 years ago
2015: Had unplanned surgery on right bicep due to severe staph infection (doctors didn't know why my right arm suddenly seized up & couldn't straighten out from elbow down). Had final exam for MS Access in college. Teacher was toughest prof to ever deal with, but understood that I had numerous med issues (the staph infection & surgery were nearly my last straw). Took exam a week late & even gave me extra time if I needed it (didn't). Told me I got an A, but he couldn't find my exam?!
Will Who 2 years ago
I had an English class in college that competed with one of my work schedules: if my relief was late, I was late to class. I hate being late, but this particular professor hated interruptions to her classes. Sometimes, things became tense when I tried to enter quietly and get to my seat. On Monday, March 30, 1981, I arrived in the parking lot for a 1:30 p.m. class time at 1:33 p.m. However, I walked into class a little after 1:45 p.m. Central Time. I was neither quiet nor trying to go unnoticed. I opened the door and said, "Everyone, someone attempted to assassinate President Reagan. At first, they thought he was OK. As I listened to the radio, the last report was that his limo turned around headed to Walter Reed. Nobody knows his condition as this was an unconfirmed report just as I left my car." Party affiliation does not matter a lot when someone shoots at POTUS. Someone turned on their radio so we could listen to the continuous frantic, and at times contradictory, coverage.
Will Who 2 years ago
The professor never said anything about my tardiness. Her usual barb, "Join us when it suits you," was not part of that day's commentary.
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Kai David 2 years ago
My baby sitter called off so I had to miß claß. I called my profeßor to let her know what was going on. She was not having it. Told me to bring my kid. I complied. A set of triplet 3 year olde boys. About 15 minutes into lecture, she got annoyed and asked why the mother could not watch the kids. The mother left us when she found out I was gay and I am a single dad with custody. The profeßor was a Franciscan nun at Lourdes, a Franciscan convent and college. My punishment was to do rosary. I told her no, I am a pagan jew. She tried to have me expelled and attempted to take my sons away from me
Elita One 2 years ago (edited)
High school I went to for 11/12 had an absolute piece of s**t bus for our route, had all sorts of problems including water running down the INSIDE of the windows when it rained. One morning it breaks down halfway though pick up and we were stuck waiting for half an hour for a bus from another school to take us to our school. We were late to school by an hour, when we all arrived at the office and were asked by the office ladies why we were late (all of us explaining the bus broke down) these bitches had the gall to get angry at us as if it was our fault! They started saying why didn't we get our parents to pick us up and get us to school? Because you stupid bitches all of us kids live 30+ minutes away from school on rural properties and you just expect our parents to leave their jobs just as far away to pick us up?! F**k the couple that own that bus too its that old that parents of kids using it went to school on it! I finished high school 5 years ago and their still using it!
Red 2 years ago
My mom had a student come in late because a mattress fell from a truck and he went to get it. Plot twist is that my mom saw the mattress flying out of the back of the truck on the way to school and told him before classes started. Small town, everybody is all over everybody else's businesses.
Jayne Kyra 2 years ago
A student once told me that her dad burnt her project (a poster). I felt rather torn on whether to believe this because she was a responsible student, or to doubt it. Then the dad showed up and apologized and asked me not to give his daughter a 5. I couldn´t stop laughing that day.
Lovin' Life 2 years ago (edited)
Had a classmate once, no joke, that came in about 45 minutes late. Teacher ask why he was late and he began singing, 🎵🎶because I got high, because I got high, because I got high🎶🎵, by Afroman. He was high as a kite! He was sent to rehab.
Barbara Vandewalle 2 years ago
I was late for a school function. My dad had a cow who was birthing her calf. The calf was breech and if dad had not helped both cow and calf would have died.
Suzanne Johnson 2 years ago
My professor received a note from a student, saying that his dog ate his paper (we’ve all heard this one)…mh professor had the note framed, and put it up on his office wall :-).
Bernát Bonda 2 years ago
I used to go to school with train. Well, in Hungary the train is unreliable, so I usually catch one about 30 minutes earlier, so if something is wrong, I still have a chance to be there in time. But not when a train is delayed for 3 hours... More funny, when we catch the train at time, but it turns out that train should have left 2 hours earlier. So i arrived to the destination in time from my perspective, but still got an excuse about the 2 hour late from the train company. Soooo let's go to Burger King, I'm not in hurry anymore haha
Andy Frobig 2 years ago
Maybe not an excuse, but...roll call in a weekly music performance class. Pudgy bearded Professor: Mike. Where's Mike? Mike's friend Kevin: He's in the bathroom. Professor: What's he doing? Kevin: Thinking of you.
Adrian 2 years ago
Me. I had a very important exam at uni. I was late drove into the car park, out of the car, slammed the car door, raced off to the exam. Realised I'd left my notes and text books in car and its an open book exam. Damn. Raced back to car: its locked and keys are in the car. Root around in nearby garden bed and find decent sized rock aiming to break the cheapest and smallest window, the triangular one on back door. Whack! no good so whack harder. It works window breaks but I'd done it so hard my hand with the rock went through too and badly gashed my thumb and back of my hand. No time to lose. I race into the exam room dripping copious amounts of blood. Examiner races over and tries to find first-aid kit - can't find one. Strange as this is also the sports hall, but got a heap of paper towels and wrap that around my hand. Works for a while, but eventually blood starts oozing out and getting smeared all over the exam paper. Professor was so shocked I was allowed to sit exam again.
Jo Choto 2 years ago
I was part of a program to try and help young students (12-15) with issues (legal, behaviour, drug/alcohol, non-attendance, etc.) make it to graduation. One girl just kept not showing up and when she did, she would fall asleep. Turned out that her mother was a night sex worker who had previously been jailed for leaving her minor daughter unattended all night every night. So she took her daughter to work with her every night, which involved standing on the streets all night. Kid was exhausted. It was so, so sad.
zububonsai 2 years ago (edited)
"I'm sorry I'm late but I almost overran Jackie Chan with my bike." a girl running into the class my cousin attended, in 2003, in Görlitz (small town in Saxony, Germany) She usually goes to school by bicycle , she was rather last minute, it's 7a.m. skids around the corner on a pedestrian walk and. Jackie Chan (yes) walks and reacts like the pro he is and dives to the side and brushes it off, smiles for the shaking/shocked/apologising 17year old girl, assures her he isn't harmed... It was the talk of the school for weeks. --- PS: There is an inofficial "Jackie Chan Gasse" (alleyway) today in Görlitz. PS: He was filming "Around the world in 80 days"// Görlitz is also called "Görliwood" because over 50 movies were filmed there like "Inglorious Basterds" or the "The Grand Budapest Hotel". People here are laid back with actors/VIPs, and half of the townsfolk already has worked as an extra... (the contrary of Paparazzi lurking in bushes). Worth a visit!!!!
GoddessOdd 2 years ago
This didn't happen to me, but one of my neighbors, who was dropping off her 4 year old at preschool... waiting in the entry line. A car screeched up to the front of the line, handed a kid off to the teachers and raced away. When my neighbor got to the end of the line, she asked about it, (everyone was a little put out by the line jumper). Turns out the kid was being dropped off by a pregnant mom; her water broke as she was waiting in line, so she dropped off the kid and drove herself to the hospital. For any who might not be familiar, in my suburban school district, parents who drive their kids to school queue up in long lines to drop kids at the front of the school. The lines can be a mile long in some schools.
Leo Domitrix 2 years ago
Me. Flunked a chem exam b/c I showed up post-ictal after a grand mal seizure. Still no idea how I even did that. Prof called me in b/ that wasn't typical. He gave me the kindest lecture on just skipping exams entirely if that happened in future and just have the medical center leave a message at his office. Not qutie the same, but memorable nonetheless.
Theo Blackwood 2 years ago
I have one I’m still furious about. Mam was driving me a friend and his brother to school on a tiny Irish road. We come across a horse and rider knocked down by a car, Gardai everywhere. Poor horse was a goner. Got to school 1/2 hour late with photo proof the dead horse and my mam coming with us. Principal still gave us detention.
Monique Reed 2 years ago
"Couldn't turn in my plant collection on time because I was carjacked at knife point and it was in my car. I will get it to you as soon as I get the car back from the police impound." That one was actually true. "Sorry about missing the exam. My uncle was murdered in Mexico and I had to go be with the family and take care of things." Also true. Now ask us what the most outlandish FAKE excuse I ever heard was...
Lukas-not-Luca (he/him) 2 years ago
Me: my mom was in the hospital, so my adult sister was taking care of us (she lives with us by the way). She woke me up and went back to bed- I fell back to sleep on accident. I wake up at 7:20, about the time my bus gets to the stop. I throw on an outfit and am out the door by 7:23 and SPRINT down to the bus stop, but was way too late. So I had to walk around 4+ miles to school along busy roads, in a skirt because I promised a friend I'd wear one that day. I got to school around 10 minutes late and explained it to my teacher- she understood and felt bad. The worst part was my girlfriend was super worried about me and she had thought my parents forced me to walk to school because another friend had seen me walking. This was all fairly recent- the chafing on my legs only faded a few days ago.
ArchiBookworm 2 years ago
I was not someone who missed class, so when my design class was supposed to meet at the site, my professor was concerned when I didn't show. We had a flat. Put on the spare, it was flat. Ended up at the mechanics getting new tires. I got to the site about 20 minutes after everyone had left minus one classmate taking pictures.
Vorknkx 2 years ago (edited)
Once I was late due to a mild concussion after banging my head in the morning. Found out I could have actually taken the day off... decided to stay anyway. Bad idea! In one class there were videos being shown (with lamps turned off), and every time the lamps were turned back on, mini-explosions of pain would go off inside my head. Lesson learned!
Memere 2 years ago (edited)
Concussions aren't something to mess with, sorry you had to learn that the hard way. I had a minor auto accident on a weekend & had a mild concussion. The doctor did tell me to take off work, but I thought it was no big deal, so I went to work on Monday. After trying to look at the computer screen for about an hour, I was dizzy & had wonky vision. I wound up staying home for the rest of the week. Yep, I'll never do that again!
Load More Replies... Miss Frankfurter 2 years ago (edited)
Student in high school. Our homeroom teacher was also our English teacher. On this particular day of the week we always had English class first. All we did was sit in our homeroom for announcements and then she would start class. One morning she didn't show up for announcements, and then didn't show up for English class. We waited and waited. Then the principle came in and told us she had passed away the night before. What a shock. We wanted to send flowers to the funeral home and the principle said she would call. A class of high school kids and we collected $75 on the spot. Lunch money, every penny everyone had with them that day. She was such a wonderful teacher.
Stealthee 3k 2 years ago
Not school, but work. I'm one that never calls off. I had to call off one day and when I came in my boss was ribbing me and asked why I called off. I pulled my phone out and showed him the pictures of the car that hit my house at 2am. Luckily the house was structurally fine but the porch pretty much exploded.
Phyzzi 2 years ago (edited)
Ack! I was driving for the local bus system where some other driver managed to end up taking a bus into someone's house, which was obviously not great for anyone, though nobody was seriously injured. On a more humorous note, a friend of mine was working at a vet office when her brakes went out while she was parking, and she went through the front window of the office. Fortunately, that was enough to stop the car and the owner had a good sense of humor about it, putting up a sign that read "check out our new drive-through-window" on the board that covered the hole until it got repaired.
Load More Replies... GadgetGirl 2 years ago
Back in the dark ages of the late 70s, several kids were late or no shows for several days. Turned out a small plane had gone down in the neighborhood and the resulting explosion left body parts in several back yards. One kid found a hand, but was disappointed they wouldn't let him keep it.
Pezor Zass 2 years ago
When i was in grade 1 or 2, i was late getting to school. got to the back gate just in time to watch all of my class go into the building. Had no idea what to do, so i went back home. This was the 70s, so ya, i was walking to school alone. Mum thought it was hilarious and too difficult to explain to the school, so let me just take the day off for a "family occasion"
Sam Wizer 2 years ago
I was in an economics class for my undergrad, very well respected professor in a lecture of 500 that met MWF. He showed up a couple minutes late to class on Monday and apologized saying he hadn't slept. He said he'd figured out something and if it was true "they" would probably kill him for figuring it out. He said he wanted to share it with us as soon as he had it fully worked out. On Wednesday he said he still hadn't slept, but hadn't quite figured it out. On Friday the auditorium was packed, people that weren't even in the class were there because of word of mouth, everyone wanted to know what he had figured out. Professor came in, said he still hadn't slept but was ready to share. He tried to explain for 45 minutes and everyone was trying really hard to understand him, but what he was saying was completely incomprehensible. After a while he just walked out of the room. The following Monday we had a new professor and our old professor had been committed.
Amanda Ford 2 years ago
Back when I first became a teacher in Austin, TX I was taking attendance and discovered several boys were not in my English class. This was an eighth grade class, btw. I asked the students if they had seen...I read their names again...A few of them said yes, they had seen those guys. About 15-20 minutes went by. Then all of them walked in quietly and sat down. They didn't say a word but all of them had huge smiles on their faces. I asked why they were late, did they have a pass etc. One of them spoke up. "We just got to meet Salma Hayak. She's in town filming a movie. Her nephew goes to this school and she came to visit him. We all wanted to see her!" I thought about it for a moment and then said, "OK. That's fine. Now, let's get busy." When a few girls accused the boys of lying, I told them, it has to be true! I'd heard heard several lies from students, but they were all believable. And if Keanu Reeves or Johnny Depp ever visit, they would all get a free pass!
Kim Holmes 2 years ago
In college one school year, I was late with an assignment for art history because my car caught fire 3x in one day, late for a paper in Spanish because I rubbed the skin off my fingertips doing an art assignment, and was late for another paper because I was on the wrong side of a flood.
Julie Cipale 2 years ago
2015: Had unplanned surgery on right bicep due to severe staph infection (doctors didn't know why my right arm suddenly seized up & couldn't straighten out from elbow down). Had final exam for MS Access in college. Teacher was toughest prof to ever deal with, but understood that I had numerous med issues (the staph infection & surgery were nearly my last straw). Took exam a week late & even gave me extra time if I needed it (didn't). Told me I got an A, but he couldn't find my exam?!
Will Who 2 years ago
I had an English class in college that competed with one of my work schedules: if my relief was late, I was late to class. I hate being late, but this particular professor hated interruptions to her classes. Sometimes, things became tense when I tried to enter quietly and get to my seat. On Monday, March 30, 1981, I arrived in the parking lot for a 1:30 p.m. class time at 1:33 p.m. However, I walked into class a little after 1:45 p.m. Central Time. I was neither quiet nor trying to go unnoticed. I opened the door and said, "Everyone, someone attempted to assassinate President Reagan. At first, they thought he was OK. As I listened to the radio, the last report was that his limo turned around headed to Walter Reed. Nobody knows his condition as this was an unconfirmed report just as I left my car." Party affiliation does not matter a lot when someone shoots at POTUS. Someone turned on their radio so we could listen to the continuous frantic, and at times contradictory, coverage.
Will Who 2 years ago
The professor never said anything about my tardiness. Her usual barb, "Join us when it suits you," was not part of that day's commentary.
Load More Replies... Kai David 2 years ago
My baby sitter called off so I had to miß claß. I called my profeßor to let her know what was going on. She was not having it. Told me to bring my kid. I complied. A set of triplet 3 year olde boys. About 15 minutes into lecture, she got annoyed and asked why the mother could not watch the kids. The mother left us when she found out I was gay and I am a single dad with custody. The profeßor was a Franciscan nun at Lourdes, a Franciscan convent and college. My punishment was to do rosary. I told her no, I am a pagan jew. She tried to have me expelled and attempted to take my sons away from me
Elita One 2 years ago (edited)
High school I went to for 11/12 had an absolute piece of s**t bus for our route, had all sorts of problems including water running down the INSIDE of the windows when it rained. One morning it breaks down halfway though pick up and we were stuck waiting for half an hour for a bus from another school to take us to our school. We were late to school by an hour, when we all arrived at the office and were asked by the office ladies why we were late (all of us explaining the bus broke down) these bitches had the gall to get angry at us as if it was our fault! They started saying why didn't we get our parents to pick us up and get us to school? Because you stupid bitches all of us kids live 30+ minutes away from school on rural properties and you just expect our parents to leave their jobs just as far away to pick us up?! F**k the couple that own that bus too its that old that parents of kids using it went to school on it! I finished high school 5 years ago and their still using it!
Red 2 years ago
My mom had a student come in late because a mattress fell from a truck and he went to get it. Plot twist is that my mom saw the mattress flying out of the back of the truck on the way to school and told him before classes started. Small town, everybody is all over everybody else's businesses.
Jayne Kyra 2 years ago
A student once told me that her dad burnt her project (a poster). I felt rather torn on whether to believe this because she was a responsible student, or to doubt it. Then the dad showed up and apologized and asked me not to give his daughter a 5. I couldn´t stop laughing that day.
Lovin' Life 2 years ago (edited)
Had a classmate once, no joke, that came in about 45 minutes late. Teacher ask why he was late and he began singing, 🎵🎶because I got high, because I got high, because I got high🎶🎵, by Afroman. He was high as a kite! He was sent to rehab.
Barbara Vandewalle 2 years ago
I was late for a school function. My dad had a cow who was birthing her calf. The calf was breech and if dad had not helped both cow and calf would have died.
Suzanne Johnson 2 years ago
My professor received a note from a student, saying that his dog ate his paper (we’ve all heard this one)…mh professor had the note framed, and put it up on his office wall :-).
Bernát Bonda 2 years ago
I used to go to school with train. Well, in Hungary the train is unreliable, so I usually catch one about 30 minutes earlier, so if something is wrong, I still have a chance to be there in time. But not when a train is delayed for 3 hours... More funny, when we catch the train at time, but it turns out that train should have left 2 hours earlier. So i arrived to the destination in time from my perspective, but still got an excuse about the 2 hour late from the train company. Soooo let's go to Burger King, I'm not in hurry anymore haha
Andy Frobig 2 years ago
Maybe not an excuse, but...roll call in a weekly music performance class. Pudgy bearded Professor: Mike. Where's Mike? Mike's friend Kevin: He's in the bathroom. Professor: What's he doing? Kevin: Thinking of you.
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