Who are these people?

Not to sound like Seinfeld, but I'm giving an exam today and two students came in half an hour late, HALF AN HOUR LATE, to an exam that is only an hour and fifteen minutes long.

Now I know I have issues with lateness. I am one of those compulsively early people generally. If I'm only five minutes early, I arrive panicked that I might be late. That's just how I am and I understand it's wierd and for the most part I don't hold people to the same standard.

My students are given a five minute "grace period" before I start marking them as late. However, I had a student this week who showed up an hour late for class and was shocked that I marked her as absent anyway. I have had a number of students show up to class with only five or ten minutes remaining and expect to be marked as present. That's right, they arrived basically in time to get the homework and then leave and they expected to be marked as present. I absolutely refuse to do so. I have the quid pro quo attitude towards attendance-if I have to get up at 630 in the morning to haul my candied ass in here then you have to as well.

But really, arriving a half an hour late to an exam?

I suppose on the flip side I have had professors and teachers arrive late for their own exams. I had one professor in college who arrive forty minutes late to our mid term. We sat and waited. When she finally arrived, she had to eliminate half of the exam so we could finish it one time. ( I actually received an A+. A complete and total one hundred plus a bonus question. It was in Theater History A: The Origins of Theater in case you wanted to know.)

In high school we had a teacher who was an hour late to his own final. We were actually officially dismissed by the school. He arrived to find the room empty. He was so irate the next day in class he told us he was going to give us all Fs. We went to the school administration and explained that we had been formally dismissed and now we were being threatened with failure. Not only did the school prevent him from failing us, but they made him give us all As for the mid term. I loved it.

Oh cripe, the young'un just walked in. I hate that vacillating little twit. I'd hide under my desk, but they have us sharing an office. Somehow I think he'd take my hiding as come on as well. Oh where is Olivier Martinez when I need him?