Have Mercy!

   When I met my college professors a few weeks ago, I immediately started to decide which ones I was going to like....and which ones I would have to tolerate.  By the end of the first week I had started to sort out their pecking order on my list of favorite teachers.  The list is pretty selective and goes all the way back to elementary school.
  In class I have heard some of these professors make statements like "this isn't high school anymore" and "I'm not here to hold your hand".  I get it.  We students need to step up our level of responsibility.  However, these kinds of statements make the professors seem unapproachable.
  My first big snafu was 2 weeks ago when I realized on a Friday that all of the online tasks I had worked so diligently on for an online class had been for the wrong chapter. There had been an email earlier in the week from the professor about a discrepancy on the website. The email was unclear, and I had dismissed it. Two days later, when I realized what was going on,  I emailed my professor to explain that I wasn't sure if I could get all of the correct work completed on time due to the discrepancy. I did not ask for an extension.  I asked for a suggestion of how I could prioritize or streamline the content.  Then I spent 14 hours between Saturday and Sunday working on the assignments, trying to get it all done while waiting for his reply.  That reply came just hours before everything was due and informed me that I needed to be more diligent on checking my email. Ummm... okay. Thanks for reinforcing the assumption that we are not to ask for assistance. (He just fell completely off of "the list") (And I got it all done....I just didn't shower for 3 days)
   Today I had a rough draft due for a tough teacher.  She runs a "no nonsense" kind of classroom.  As I uploaded my draft, I discovered that my final draft of the previous paper that was due 8 days ago had not uploaded.  Apparently I had neglected to click "confirm" when I attempted to upload it 10 days ago.  After freaking out for a while (I have never had a late assignment, let alone a missing one), I took a deep breath and emailed her an explanation.  I asked her if she would still be willing to read and comment on my paper even though I knew the grade would now be irrelevant.  When I read her reply, I almost cried.  She wrote "sometimes a student is so responsible that a teacher just knows there is a good reason behind a slip-up".  She then told me I could submit the paper (8 days late) and she will grade it. Have mercy!  She just moved up several notches on my list.