A Minor Screw-up

Sometimes it seems like I go through life just stumbling from one screw-up to another. Now my tweets are giving offense, so I need to watch those. This line of thought brought to mind some true classics, one of which is the subject of this blog.

I had managed a 4.0 GPA (mostly by accident) through the first couple of semesters at Va Tech and was awarded a Teaching Assistantship (TA) for my third semester. I was assigned to an introductory undergrad course - EE for non-EE Majors. This is a required course for all non-EE engineering majors and so is a rather large class, which meant it got two TAs. The instructor was pretty easy going - after all the students are only taking this class because they have to - and we (me and the other TA) realized that this was a pretty cushy appointment. There was no regular homework to grade or classes to teach. Our entire responsibility consisted of grading two mid-terms. Oh, and one of us had to administer the final since the instructor was going to be away during finals week. Since the other TA was busy on the day of the finals, I agreed to administer the test.

Just before the finals week I met with the instructor to pick up the question papers and get last-minute instructions. He later emailed me with information about the room and time. The day of the finals dawned and I still lolling in bed at 7.45am (email said test is at 10.50am) and thinking how strange the start time was. Every exam I had taken had always started on the hour. I started parsing the email in my mind and started getting a funny feeling. I quickly sat up, logged in and re-read the email. Sure enough, what I thought was the start time was in fact the end time! The exam was due to begin at 8am.

For a moment I was paralyzed in horror - this is the finals we are talking about and the instructor had repeatedly made clear how this had to be done right - after all he wasn't asking for much the rest of the time. Then I swung into action - pulled on a change of clothes and dashed out of the house. I decided against driving since finding parking would cost me huge amounts of time. I had just missed the bus, but if I cut across between the apt buildings I could catch it at a later stop, so I ran hard across the intervening field and made it to that stop. The bus ride allowed me to catch my breath, but the horror of the situation was just churning my stomach. After a seeming eternity I got to the stop nearest to the building in which the exam room was and I started running towards the room. As I approached I saw a couple of students coming my way. Its almost 8.30am by now. I asked this student if he was in that class. He replied that indeed he was, but that "The TA never showed up with the exam." Trying hard to be nonchalant, I said that I was the TA and that he should follow me back to the room to take the exam. He hesitated a bit and then said, "Well, I can come, but most of the other students are gone." The game was up - there was no way to administer this test now.

With a sinking heart I made my way to the dean's office. What would my punishment be? Would they ask me to refund the TA money? Would my grades suffer? I imagined all manner of extreme scenarios as I stood outside waiting for the secretary to let me in. When I finally got an audience, the dean was rather nice about it. My offer to administer the test tomorrow (by personally calling each student) was brushed aside - many students had already left town since this was their last exam. Eventually it was decided that the students would get a grade that was an average of their two mid-terms and their project score. If anybody was unhappy with that, they were welcome to take the final.

It took me a while to digest what had just happened. I had screwed-up big time and come out fairly unscathed (I didn't get another TA position, but luckily I had an RA by then). Although I do wonder if there was some blow-back on the instructor. You see, the reason he was so particular about the finals was that, by rule, he is supposed to administer it - that is the one task they are not supposed to ask a TA to do.