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[galactic_hedgehog]

Don't forget, the deadline may also be 8 am Monday, so the student is rightfully nervous about getting the letter out.

[katherineparr]

Sure, but if the deadline is 8am Monday, the student should not have sent the request at 10:30pm on Friday!

[galactic_hedgehog]

Sorry.  I should have put quotes around "rightfully."  The snarkiness didn't come through.

[katherineparr]

OH.

Waiter! Two Snarky Cocktails, please. Double olives.

[chicklet]

Dear Dr. Chicklet,

I want to take your class, but it conflicts with another (REQUIRED!!!) class for my major. I asked the other teacher if she could move her class so I could take yours, but she won't do it. So could you move yours?

Snowflake

My response:

Dear Snowflake,

Thank you for your interest in my class. However, in order to change a class on the schedule, I must identify another viable time slot, complete two reams of paperwork, get approval by the Dean,  and then present my case to the the course committee. In total, this procedure takes 6 months. Therefore, I'm afraid I won't be able to accomodate you.

Sincerely,
Dr Chicklet

[liquidambar]

Hello Prof. Liquidambar：
It is nice to write to you，Greeting. here is my unfinshed proposal. Would
you please have a look at it. I don’t know whether go along with the
format. So need more help with that although I think I have expressed my
idea already. So please give me some ideas about it. code will be refered to
my hand-in tomorrow.
Thanks and best wishes.

1) This was sent at 2 AM.  The proposal was due in class that morning at 9 AM.
2) The attachment was a file format I couldn't open.
3) I sent a reply stating that I couldn't read the attachment; the student's follow-up e-mail with a different file version was sent 7 minutes before class.  Why even bother?

This was a grad student, by the way.

[jerseyjay]

A variant on the "but you don't deserve a life" emails:
Friday 10:30 PM, a perfectly reasonable:
Dear Dr Cara,
Would you be willing to write a letter of reference for me for X grant?
Thank you, Student

Then (WTF?), Sunday morning 10 AM:
Dear Dr Cara,
Could you please confirm that you have received my email?
Student  (previous email was then pasted below)

As well as it being a mere 36 hours, and a weekend, I was away at a conference. You know what my letter of reference is going to say now....

I would be inclined to let it go. (At least the student was awake by 10 am on a Sunday.) The student does seem to have expected a letter be written in 24 hours, just a reply. Yes, he (or she) should have waited till at least the next business day. Yes, he should have come by your office. Yes, more tact is appropriate. But he is probably nervous and may even be somewhat confused. (I have trouble remembering whom I have asked for a specific reference when I have several applications going.) He may also have had experiences of professors loosing or ignoring such emails. So I would, again, just let it go--although you may also send a reply saying yes, you got it, but add something about how you have a life or something, to make the point that it is unreasonable to expect such a turn around.)

[daniel_von_flanagan]

And surely the normal thing to say in such a case would have been "Please can you confirm that you have received my email because I am worried there is a problem with my email account/ because I am worried my message may have been filtered."

Sure, but students are still learning how not to be children, and they don't always realize things like this.  Possibly they even realized a few seconds after sending the first email that they should have asked for confirmation, then fretted for the intervening time over how best to rectify their error. - DvF

[yemaya]

And surely the normal thing to say in such a case would have been "Please can you confirm that you have received my email because I am worried there is a problem with my email account/ because I am worried my message may have been filtered."

Sure, but students are still learning how not to be children, and they don't always realize things like this.  Possibly they even realized a few seconds after sending the first email that they should have asked for confirmation, then fretted for the intervening time over how best to rectify their error. - DvF

This is absolutely true.  Sometimes perfectly nice students don't consider the tone of their emails when they write.  If the email is really bad, requiring them to read the email back to you is often just the check they need.

[scheherazade]

Hello Prof. Liquidambar：
It is nice to write to you，Greeting. here is my unfinshed proposal. Would
you please have a look at it. I don’t know whether go along with the
format. So need more help with that although I think I have expressed my
idea already. So please give me some ideas about it. code will be refered to
my hand-in tomorrow.
Thanks and best wishes.

And all your base are belong to us.

[liquidambar]

Hello Prof. Liquidambar：
It is nice to write to you，Greeting. here is my unfinshed proposal. Would
you please have a look at it. I don’t know whether go along with the
format. So need more help with that although I think I have expressed my
idea already. So please give me some ideas about it. code will be refered to
my hand-in tomorrow.
Thanks and best wishes.

And all your base are belong to us.

This was especially baffling because the document he was turning in didn't include any code and wasn't supposed to include any.

[rockprof]

Hello Prof. Liquidambar：
It is nice to write to you，Greeting. here is my unfinshed proposal. Would
you please have a look at it. I don’t know whether go along with the
format. So need more help with that although I think I have expressed my
idea already. So please give me some ideas about it. code will be refered to
my hand-in tomorrow.
Thanks and best wishes.

And all your base are belong to us.

This was especially baffling because the document he was turning in didn't include any code and wasn't supposed to include any.

Maybe it's a secret code.

[redding]

I can’t believe it, but I think they might be learning.  Check out this email exchange between me and a student.  Her response is not ideal, but at least she gave a pretty sincere apology.

Redding,

One other student and I showed up for the workshop today at 1 on the third
floor. No emails were sent indicating that the event was
cancelled or that the location was moved. However, nobody showed up to run
the workshop.  This is not the first time that I have been stood up by a
____, and I don't think it is right. I have
midterms, essays, or problem sets due for every class in which I am enrolled
(and for some classes, I have multiple things due), and I simply don't have
time to waste.  We waited for fifteen or twenty minutes to no avail.  I
expected that my time would at least earn me a credit towards promotion, and
I think that given the circumstances, it is only fair to award that.

Thanks,
Precious Snotleigh


My Response:

Precious,

The workshop was moved to the second floor at the last minute.  If you had been
there on time you would have known this.  I waited on the third floor and sent
everyone down until a few minutes after one, but I had to go down to get the
workshop started. 

I have already heard from one other student in this position and have given her
the credit, and I planned to do so for anyone in this situation.  You will also
receive the credit.

I am, however, disturbed by the tone of your email.  I would suggest that in
professional situations you learn to temper your frustration with respect for
those with whom you are working.  The kind of attitude you expressed in this
email will not serve you well in the future, and will likely never make people
feel inclined to want to work with you.


Her response:

Dear Redding,

Thank you for your understanding, and for agreeing to give me credit.

I also want to apologize. The tone of my email was, as you pointed out,
disrespectful and uncalled for. It has been a very stressful week, and I
sent it while I was still frustrated, before I had time to fully assess the
situation. I have been stood up before, so I incorrectly assumed that I had
been stood up again. Part of the confusion was, in fact, my fault for
showing up a couple of minutes late. I still feel there might have been
better ways to alert us of the room change – sending an email, perhaps, or
posting a sign on the door. But my reaction was still way out of line, and
I'm sorry. I hope you understand.

Thanks,
Precious

[llanfair]

Wow, redding! Nicely done! May I borrow your so-diplomatic wording for my next Snotleigh?

[dysnomia]

And all your base are belong to us.

Haha! This made my day.

Edited to add: oh, that was posted two days ago.
*sigh*