Students try their hardest to turn in assigments but hey, it's hard, and when it's the final day and 4 a.m. rolls around, accidents happen. Thankfully, teachers are typically understanding when it comes to being sent the wrong file.
SeaJay823 asked: Teachers of Reddit, what have your students accidentally sent to you, when they meant to submit an assignment? [Serious]
Submissions have been edited for clarity, context, and profanity.
When the error is worth it.
Memes. Just so many memes. Like... an overwhelming number. They attached a zip file full of memes instead of a file folder with a couple of docs and a ppt for a project.
The memes were pretty good, though.
Gotta admire this student's dedication.
One of mine in middle school sent me what looked like a copy paste about how if you arrive at the train station at 10:00 tomorrow, you will get a free puppy and a balloon. My first thought was that she was getting catfished and she wanted to tell me about it.
I immediately confronted her in the hall and she laughed and said "were you thinking of going to the train station??" She had typed it out and thought it would be a hilarious prank if she could get a teacher to wait at a train station to get a free puppy.
Teacher gets it.
I once sent my English professor a rough draft instead of the final draft of my paper. Like a very very rough draft. Which I had saved as "ENG201_f***face_milton.docx" so as to not mistake it for the final. He titled his email about it "F*ckface Milton: Three Reasons Not to Submit Your Paper at Two O'Clock in the Morning" and was real cool about it.
Dear F*ckface, I appreciate your understanding and apologize once more for my mistake.
Pro tip: don't sync your browser history. To anything. Ever.
Not exactly turning in an assignment, but I once had a kid that was working on some research for a project come to me and tell me he couldn't find the website he was on the day before and needed to get back to it. Figured I'd just check chrome's history and make quick work of it while looking like a computer genius (8th graders are pretty damn computer illiterate for having grown up with them in their hands 24/7).
Well. This kid had apparently logged into his google account on my classroom laptop and turned on sync to load his extensions from home. It's a common way students manage to download certain extensions that allow them to get around the school's webfilter. He also learned that day that it syncs your web history because as soon as a scrolled down to the "Yesterday" part of the history, I was met with a barrage of PornHub entries.
So computer illiterate that they don't even know about incognito mode.
See, I would have guessed that having access to incognito mode would lead to today's kids not needing to know how to clear their browser history. Instead, they're just not bright enough to use either one.
Writing a paper at three in the morning the night before it's due...
Pretty regularly I get stream-of-consciousness fretting in essays. "The society of ancient Rome was much like ours, except that f*ck sh*t f*ck I'm not going to finish this" etc.
Always worth a laugh.
I'm about 50% sure the paper I submitted last week had some of that it in but I'm too scared to check. Going to hope my instructor has the same sense of humour as you!
That's how the end of my nanowrimo book was last year. F*ck this i'm never going to get to 50,000 words because I'm out of time and this is bullshit and i don't outline and i'm never going to amount to anything.
A valid question.
Another reverse, but in undergrad I accidentally submitted my final paper with the notes on it from previous drafts. My drafting process, like most of my life, involves a lot of profanity. My professor was understanding but asked for clarification on whether I was calling the reader or the paper "a f*ckass little bitch."
Well which was it?
Why not both?
Could have been worse. Way worse.
I had a student accidentally send me the screenshot of a Snapchat with me in it. They had made me into a jazz band meme.
I uh. I read that very wrong until I re-read several times. I'm gonna go sit in the corner now.
Worth the read.
A "coming out" letter meant for her parents. For context, she was the first generation, Chinese girl from a very traditional family who now live in North America. This is a big deal. Very brave on her part.
She sent it in the morning and did not show up to school. It was on the school email server so you could see if people had opened/read attachments. The letter was honest and beautiful, I was moved to tears in my office that morning.
Naturally, I was very concerned for her mental health because she likely put it together what happened because she did not send the required assignment by the deadline. This was extremely unlike her. It was a complete mistake because the email title indicated it was the assignment.
I quickly called the secretary to check her attendance right after the day started. Determined she was not in school. Then I called the counsellor and told her the issue, I knew she had a relationship with the student. I did as well through coaching the improv team.
We determined that it would be ok if I reached out to her. I had her phone number from previous trips/improv events and such, and I elected to call her from the counselor's office and check in.
She was hiding at the coffee shop a few blocks from the school, in full panic mode. I was able to tell her how brave she is, how proud I was of her taking this step, and how I am here for her for support. I was nervous cause I am a guy, but at the moment, this kid needed some love. I have simply accepted that sometimes, as a teacher, you need to be a friend or loving parent. I believe in the modern day, educators need to be a lot more than just teachers. And we should be trained as such. I've done a bunch of extra training but it should be required for all teachers.
In the end, I ended up going to pick her up, gave her a big hug and we went for a pretty long walk. I had told my admin what had happened, they were in full support of me stepping out for an undisclosed amount of time.
We got her back to school after lunch, she sat with the counsellor and me. She met with us for a few weeks until she finally informed her family about her orientation.
It didn't go great, but it didn't go as bad as we thought. She is now a young scientist with a new partner, we connect for coffee from time to time.
She wrote me a letter on her grad day that I still keep when I need a reminder that I am not a terrible person. It helps me cry when I need it.
I am so happy to be a teacher (admin now), not because I teach science.
I love being in education for human moments. Those moments are what life is about.
For all you struggling students out there, you got more people in your corner than you think. It does get better. I've seen it myself.
TL;DR - Students sends coming out letter to me instead of assignment. All ends up ok.
Note: If any of you kids/adults/humans out there need someone to talk too, I spend a lot of time on r/Askreddit when tough threads come up. I am on here all the time and will always respond. If you need a sounding board, or just need to reach out. Don't hesitate, all we got is each other. I am here if you need it.
Never leave your laptop unattended.
When I was a TA in grad school, I was grading a lab report when in the middle of a few paragraphs was "penis". I highlighted them all and wrote a note to (a) proofread the final version and (b) never trust college kids with an unlocked computer.
I decided not to deduct any points this time.
Oops.
I was a TA for a computer science class once and had a student who accidentally sent me a zip of photos instead of his project code. In it were photos of what seemed like a normal road trip and then suddenly a few surprise naughty pics.
Since the students were using code repositories, I just pulled his actual project to grade it and never mentioned anything to that student.
This conspiracy genius.
Late to the thread but in high school I was doing an arduino project and wiring a LED screen to the board. I had in big bold letters "BUSH DID 9/11" flashing across the screen to get a laugh out of one of my friends and completely forgot to change it when I handed it in. My teacher gave me a pretty strange look when he came over to mark it and it wasn't until I was taking my circuit apart that I realized what I had done.
Better than "HITLER DID NOTHING WRONG."
D'awww.
Love letter to another student. It was sweet. I deleted it immediately and asked for the correct one. We never mentioned it. He blushed the next time he came to class though!
Now that's cute.
Counselor did Nazi this coming.
School therapy counselor here. I have a thing going on with several students where we text/email each other "wholesome" pics, usually motivational posts or cute animal photos just to add a little brightness to their day. There's been quite a few incidents where students have sent me a weird photo, but nothing beats the time I saw a deep-fried clock with the Nazi symbol instead of clock hands hanging on the wall.
Was it a deep-fried meme or was the clock itself deep-fried?
It was a deep fried meme.
Wow, lucky break.
I once sent my Molecular Science lecturer our paper in PDF (he wanted it in hardcopy) but we ended printing it out wrongly. Came out as single sided pages instead of double sided pages and he's known to be very anal. We didn't have time to reprint so we submitted that huge stack of papers and attached a well thought out sorry note instead. Expected to get a complete grade off the next week when we were due to receive it but we got an A. Why you ask? His daughter drew all over our paper in a red crayon and he sent us an email feeling apologetic. It was kind of cute that we didn't get a grade off thanks to his daughter's artwork.
Someone needs a lesson in constructive criticism.
I had a student reply to a Remind message I sent with "I hate all this stupid sh*t she makes us do." I called to his attention that he replied directly to me and he should come in Monday morning to speak with me about inappropriate messages and the proper use of school technology.
He came in and straight up DOUBLED DOWN. Told me everyone felt the same way and he was being honest and if "you were offended you should rethink some of the policies. It's not my fault this class sucks."
I calmly (it was a struggle) pointed out that, since this was an advanced class, his participation was entirely voluntary and, as such, his own choice that he needed to handle. One detention and phone call to Mom later (she answered with "What did he do this time?" - apparently this was not the first time a teacher had called home), he hands me an "apology" letter explaining, again, that this situation was entirely my fault.
Referred him to the office, and he basically did nothing but try to make the class miserable the rest of the year.
Damn. These people are harsh as f*ck. Even if he thought the class was "boring" there are much better ways to handle that without being a prick.
Yeah, like even if you hate a course and teacher just suck it up in school. When you aren't in school then you can bitch, to people willing to hear about it of course, about the course.
Don't be alarmed: There are some terrible corporations out there (looking at you, Nestle) but there are also some great brands that are selling decent products.
I know, surprising, right? Maybe we've all just gotten used to brands selling things of questionable quality that when we stumble across something worthwhile it stuns us.
Hold on tight when you find a brand deserving of your loyalty!
People shared their thoughts with us after Redditor spwf asked the online community,
"What brand(s) do you swear by and why?"
"Their cast iron pans..."
"Lodge. Their cast iron pans are super durable and can last a lifetime."
StillForest989
Not just a lifetime. Your Lodge cast iron will outlive you, if (and even if you don’t) take care of it. Even if they get rusty they can be resurfaced. And damn is it satisfying to resurface a forgotten cast iron pan.
Asics, specifically the Gel-Nimbus series. I've suffered from joint pain and unbearable plantar fasciitis from a relatively young age... These shoes are life savers. Very pricey and I don't love the look of tennis shoes of any type but nevertheless I will praise these shoes to the end of days. Hopefully, I will always be able to afford them once a year.
Glad to hear you've found some much-needed relief!
"Warranty and service..."
"Victorinox. Excellent pocket knives, multi tools and their kitchen knives are probably the best ones you can get under 100 USD. Warranty and service is top notch."
CharacterComb3039
Anyone who cooks, but can't afford or doesn't want to invest in a professional-grade chef's knife should get a Victorinox. They aren't nearly as good as a top tier professional chef's knife, but they are night and day compared with everything else in their price range.
"This one brand..."
"This one brand of granola bars called Sunbelt Bakery. Every other granola bar brand is so dry I can't eat them anymore."
[deleted]
Yes, these are so good! An excellent choice.
"Very comfortable."
"Dickies. High quality pants. They're meant to be work pants so they're pretty durable and breathe well. Very comfortable."
GargantuanCake
"High quality" is right. Those pants last forever.
"It helps clean..."
"Dawn dishsoap. It helps clean dishes and it's great when one of my kids has an accident and I have to wash their clothes. Sometimes leaves a small stain but no smell. It has saved so many outfits."
[deleted]
Fantastic – it sounds like you should be their salesperson.
"They don't use..."
"New Balance. They don't use slave labor to make shoes."
Tink2013
They are comfortable and fit well.
I personally still don't like the aesthetics of many of their shoes, but still recommend them to people who want a good shoe.
"They are a retailer..."
"REI. Stand behind everything in their store. They are a retailer but you can beat something up they sell and they give you a full refund."
bigturkey1738
Many people use them for shoes, for camping gear... all kinds of stuff. They're very reliable.
"I wear my Timberland boots..."
"I wear my Timberland boots almost every day, I’ve had them for almost ten years, and they’re still just about as sturdy as they were the day I bought them."
RedWestern
These shoes tend to last forever. "Durable" is the perfect word.
"One large bottle..."
"Dr. Bronner's Castile soap. One large bottle lasts me about a year and I use it for everything. No toxic BS in them like pretty much every other soap and they smell fantastic."
"Also when I say everything I really mean it. All purpose cleaner, dish soap, body wash, shampoo, carpet extractor wash, dog shampoo, it’s called 18 in 1 for a reason."
drumkid74
If you're interested in the story behind the company, the documentary Dr. Bronner's Magic Soapbox might be right up your alley.
See? Not all brands are terrible. After reading about some of these, it might be time to change of your buying habits.
Have some suggestions of your own? Tell us more in the comments below!
You know what would be great?
If society could just stop with arbitrary dress codes. If you're not working with the public, why should you have to dress up so much? If you're a police officer, then it makes sense that you'd wear a uniform that identifies you as a police officer. If you're Ted from IT who sits in the backroom all day, I really don't see why you have to come in every day in a suit and tie.
Let's just toss them out, shall we?
People shared their thoughts with us after Redditor Levels2ThisBrush asked the online community,
"What should be socially acceptable but isn't?"
"Leaving the office..."
"Leaving the office whenever you've finished your tasks for the day."
misringuette
This is why I'm so glad remote work is the new office.
"And yet, I get it!"
"Taking off sick from work, WITHOUT giving an invasive reason. I supervise a small team and so I see all the OOO emails, and for gods sake I want people to PLEASE not feel the need to explain in detail what kind of diarrhea is afflicting them, or how bad their period cramps are, or how much bad sushi they ate the night before. Just say “I’m under the weather, I won’t be online today.”"
"And yet, I get it! I do it too! I feel guilty or like I’ll be looked at with suspicion if my reason for taking off isn’t sufficiently debilitating enough!"
"But… we need to stop this. As a manager I don’t care, I don’t THINK the people above me who are also on these emails care… let’s just all agree to take sick days without any details from now on!"
imnotwallaceshawn
I do not miss my retail days where I had to organise someone to cover me and beg on bended knee.
"Cashiers or workers who don’t need to be standing all day not having a stool or chair."
Lavatories
Another thing I do not miss from my retail days. Having to stand for hours and hours only to come home with my feet killing me was not fun.
"Prices on apartments..."
"Prices on apartments and their respectable reasons for such price directly on their websites or advertising without the need for a tour or any secrecy."
Spiceinvader3124
I always assume if I have to ask the price I probably can’t afford it.
"Being quiet..."
"Being quiet/not wanting to engage in conversation all the time."
[deleted]
In Finland, if somebody tries to talk to you, they are probably a tourist.
"Choosing not to..."
"Choosing not to have toxic family members in your life."
[deleted]
It feels very liberating once you accept that you don't have to put up with it.
"Employees..."
"Employees calling customers out in public for being a**holes."
gameboy1001
Absolutely. Many customers get away with treating employees horribly because they know they can do it without any pushback... most of the time.
"The fact that I sometimes..."
"The fact that I sometimes need to take my insulin in public. No, Karen, I am not doing drugs, I need to live."
blubberwinx
You’re getting that sweet sweet insulin high… the high of being not-dead.
"Afternoon naps."
"Afternoon naps. I’m on team nap. Give me 25 minutes to charge up and I’ll give you back 3 hours of high quality work. Everyone wins. Plus I go home with extra energy instead of dead tired."
Governmentwatchlist
Short naps don't work for me. I can't do a 25 min recharge. When I take a nap it needs to be like a solid 2 hours
"Speak up!"
"Salary transparency. For some reason, in the US, there’s a taboo or stigma around discussing one’s salary. This should be done openly and freely, with zero embarrassment or judgment. The only winners from avoiding these conversations are the corporations that are able to pay people differently for the same roles. Speak up!"
Jumping_Bear
The "for some reason" you're referring to is simply propaganda on behalf of corporations.
It's evident that something's got to change around here, and we're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore!
Have some observations of your own? Feel free to tell us more in the comments below!
As much as many of us don't like to disrupt the status quo, there is only so much time a person can tolerate a miserable situation before things become so unbearable that they ultimately have to peace out.
For some people, it takes a while for them to reach a breaking point. Eventually, there comes a time when they realize their self-worth is more important than continuing to please others who don't appreciate them for the sake of keeping up with appearances.
Curious to hear from people whose patience ran thin and made a strong decision, Reddit Prestigious-Order-62 asked:
"What made you say 'f'k this sh*t im out?'"
The unwarranted reprimanding was something that was never mentioned in the initial job description.
Feeling Criminal
"In the late 90’s."
"One time I got pulled into the Security office at a Department store I worked at. They accused me of constantly using the sales day coupons for people that didn’t present one (we always kept an extra copy at each register). I had watched my own department boss do it many times so I assumed it was okay. We didn’t even collect the coupons to be counted for the cash office, we just chucked them after use."
"They claimed I lost the store hundreds of dollars and had been watching me 'for months' do this awful, unforgivable crime for people spending 90 bucks on already bloated price designer jeans. I’m sure the occasional 10% discount was just devastating. 🙄""I got this huge lecture of how I was LITERALLY stealing from the store and they COULD call the police but would give me a chance to work off the damage. I couldn’t believe how criminal I was made to feel over it. The best part when they called my boss in who pretended to have never done it before to save her own a**."
"I asked if they were firing me. They said 'Yes and No. You will be let go, but you can choose to work off the damages so we don’t take you to court.' I told them I will just quit and asked for my last check. They said they will deduct what I owe from my last check. And I said 'Well then you need to show me all the footage and prove that I was stealing.' They wouldn’t produce footage, finally called the cops, and when the cops arrived, they were just as confused and called it an internal problem and advised them that this was overblown. I think they felt sorry for me. So finally upper management came in and just said 'just issue the last check, I will sign it here.' So much drama over so stupid a thing."
"It was sad because that actual day my Mom and daughter had come to the mall to meet me for lunch and I had to explain I just was forced to quit that job and was never allowed in that store again like I was some awful jerk."
"It was nice a few short years later, the entire chain bankrupted."
– Munich11
Power Trip
"A coworker waited until we were in front of a large group of people to start 'disciplining' me for something 'wrong' I did (I took my lunch 15 mins late to help another coworker) when she wasn’t even my supervisor. Applied for a job transfer the next day and couldn’t be happier where I am now."
– _shes_a_jar
Abusive Boss
"I had a piece of sh*t of a boss. He'd praise you in private but berate you in public. In front of coworkers and customers. Always about stuff that didn't matter."
"He'd also happily break company policy to side with customers after you spent an hour telling a customer you can't give them stuff for free, for example. Any time he was around, everything was miserable."
"My only regret is that I wasn't there to see him marched out by corporate when he got fired, because I had gone on to a better job by then."
– redisforever
Human Punching Bag
"I used to work in a Kitchen at a pub, it was grim work, but I had freinds there and had worked there for 3 years, So it wasn't too bad."
"One Christmas season we were being absolutely pumped, full out functions and busy services. My boss at the time was very stressed and fair enough, We were busy, We were all working overtime and full out. He used any excuse to completely blow up and absolutely scream at me for little to no reason, essentially him yelling at me was his stress relief. But fine, whatever, kitchens are rough places, no appolagies or anything, move on."
"I then go away for 3 weeks over the Christmas holidays and spend the time road tripping around the country having an amazing time."
"First shift back, not pleased being back, he makes a snarky comment."
"F'k this, Im out."
– Freddy54323
Even though these employees weren't chewed out in front of co-workers, the low salary without room for negotiation made them not wanting to stick around for much longer.
You Only Get One Job
"They cut my hours so I had to get a second job. 3 days before I was supposed to start said second job, my manager at the main job told me that I couldn't get this second job because I had main job first and I needed to make it my priority. That's when I said f'k you and left. I didn't even give a notice, I literally just sent an email saying I wouldn't be coming in the next day, grabbed my sh*t and went home."
– ginger_princess2009
Meager Wage
"I used to work Retail and after 7 years at the company, I found out I was only making 50 cents more an hour than someone who just started yesterday. I understood if they couldn't pay me more and asked for a good schedule. 7-3 or 8-4 every day and the same two days off every week. I didn't even ask for weekends off."
"I was told that they couldn't give me a good schedule so I quit."
– maybeashly
Situations weren't much different outside the work place. Social dilemmas prompted these Redditors to say, "nope."
Rude Reception
"Went to a pub because a friend kept asking. When I got there, he was with a group of people I didn't know, so I introduced myself and got the next round. As I come back with the tray, I hear them saying something along the lines of 'why is that b*tch still here? I thought she was just supposed to drop off a bicycle?' 'Ya, we don't want her to come to <this other town with more pubs> and now she is drinking with us?' 'She's so dumb' *proceeds to imitate and ridicule me as I was actively listening and nodding when I was having a conversation with my friend."
"Gave the beer to random people and walked right out after saying good evening to my friend and briefly explaining I did not appreciate being tricked into being a bicycle taxi for people who hate me directly after meeting me."
– ILikeLamas678
A Shocking Incident
"I was on my boat fishing for bass. I casted out my line and watched the lure hit the water but the line just floated in the air. Lightning and thunder crashed and the line fell to the water. F'k this sh*t, I'm out."
– fsh4fun051
Femme Fatale
"She lined my bed with broken glass put the blankets over it and I dove on in lol."
"Edit: She was violent/crazy and on drugs, was like the 20th attack I took and that made me really think lol."
– MyLifeForAuir1Ally For The Ex
"I found nudes of his ex (from ten years ago) that I’d previously asked him twice to get rid of tucked in a pair of MY socks. Our couples counselor asked why he’d kept them and he said, 'You know. In case I ever needed to blackmail her.' He said it like it was a perfectly normal and reasonable thing to plan to do. The therapist and I locked eyes and I noped the f'k out of there and moved out."
– Previous_Mood_3251
Most of these Redditors realized leaving their situation was better than dealing with the consequences of sticking around.
The latter is never a good option. Why remain in a scenario you know is already going to consume your soul?
The lesson for today is–Don't be miserable. Your sanity is worth saving.
Besides, you would never know that something better awaits if you just don't get the F out.As we enter into the summer months, people now have to decide whether or not they want their morning coffee to be hot or iced.
Lucky for them, it's delicious either way.
One could make an argument that foods that are equally delicious hot or cold are perhaps the best, or at least the most reliable.
And this can include foods which are not customarily sold both hot and cold (cold pizza anyone?).
Redditor NectarineOther4989 was curious to hear which foods people enjoy either hot or cold, leading them to ask:
"What is something that tastes good both hot and cold?"
Fresh out of the oven, or the next day!
"Cookies."- SuvenPan
Chocolate withstands all temperatrues
"Brownies."- Reasonable-Software2
Can't go wrong with fruit and pastry
"Pie."
"Apple pie."- Hak_Saw5000
This doesn't only apply to food
"Revenge."- pushthestartbutton
Let the flavor develop
"Banana bread."
"2 totally different flavors depending on warm vs cold from fridge."- nonkowledge
So many to choose from!
"Sandwiches."- Designer-Usual1691
A matter of textural preference
"Cheese, ya fools."- eat_dontpray_love
Under a hot greek sun, or during a cold winter's eve.
"Spanakopita."- mrsxpando
While there's no better smell than a batch of chocolate chip cookies fresh out of the oven, those eating them the next day likely aren't missing out either.