My senior year of college I took a Marketing class with a man named Dr. Bruner. He looked like a total good ol' boy. Cowboy hats, crazy mustache, pearl snaps. But he was a really, really engaging professor, and I always enjoyed his class. I can't remember the course number, but that really doesn't matter. It was Marketing four-oh-something, and it was one of the last Marketing courses I needed to get my minor.
Monday, the very first day of class for the semester, Dr. Bruner stated that he expected us to utilize WebCT for ALL class communication. He said he only used class time for lectures. Announcements could be found online and don't waste time asking about them during lecture. Fair enough. This was a M/W/F class, by the way.
Now, with my class/work schedule I started every single Monday/Wednesday/Friday at 8:00 am in Quigley Hall for my first lecture. At 9:00 I went upstairs and worked as an undergraduate TA in the Textile Lab for two hours. I then had to beat feet across campus to make my 11:00 lecture with Dr. Bruner in Lawson Hall.
So, Wednesday morning rolls around, and I attend my 8 o'clock class, work two hours in the Textile Lab, and then I head over to Lawson Hall for Marketing four-oh-something. I didn't watch the clock very well during my work hours and am, therefore, running late for class. I dash into Lawson Hall, open the door to the lecture hall, and it is packed! To make matters worse, two TAs are handing out tests. Aaaaahhhhh!!!!! Who gives a test on the second day of class?!?!?!
While I'm silently berating myself for NOT CHECKING WEBCT, I start searching wildly for a seat. Like I said, this lecture hall is packed! Hundreds of people. I finally find a seat all the way down front, and all the way to the wall. So, I'm forced to climb over about 20 people to sit down, and they're all pretty irritated with me. But still not as irritated as I am with myself for not checking WebCT. And, as you can imagine, since I haven't even checked WebCT, I most certainly have not opened the text book yet!
I get my test and there are only two questions. Essay questions. Not even a 25% chance from multiple choice. The TA is rambling on about being sure to put your section number on your test, and I'm so freaked out that I can't even guess what our section number is. I ask the girl next to me, who I've just seriously roughed up with my backpack, our section number. She's kind enough to mutter, "Zero-three," and I scribble it down while thanking her for her help but avoiding eye contact. My attention then snaps back to the TA as she is explaining the test was designed to take only 40 minutes. That means 20 minutes for each essay. "Oh! Only forty minutes you say? So that gives me a whole ten extra minutes to figure this crap out. Thanks a lot," I think to myself. I am seriously trying to center myself at this point so I can fumble my way through the test.
After a few more calming breaths, I work up the courage to read the first question. As it has been eight years, I can't remember what exactly the test questions were, but I don't have a clue how to answer the first. It is like reading gibberish. I flip it over hoping that somehow, someway the answer to the first question will come while I read the second question. The second question is equally cryptic.
At this point I am utterly befuddled. How can I be in a fourth year Marketing class and have absolutely no idea how to begin answering these questions? I mean, really, I have NO idea where to begin piecing a semi-acceptable answer together. I flip back to the first question, and immediately abandon it again. Back to question two. Again. I read and read and read the question, and I finally get inspiration for an answer that might, just might, get 60% credit. 70% if mine's at the bottom of the pile and the TA is sick of grading.
I start writing frantically. I'm writing, writing, writing. "Oh, my gosh! It's already been 15 minutes and I'm only 3/4 of the way through this essay! I still have to write an answer for the first one! Aaaaahhhh!!!!!" runs through my head. I decide to flip the test back to question one (yes, I am fully aware that this is a horrendous way to take a test, but I'm FrEaKiNg OuT!), and I start reading question one again. This is when I notice a critical piece of information.
Now, I feel obligated entitled to explain that Lawson Hall is a circular building. The lecture halls are shaped like pie wedges, all nestled together snugly. There are really no distinguishing features of the building that can be used of landmarks. It's uniformity had to be some architects pride and joy. But, for a 22-year-old fashion student running late for class, the uniformity of Lawson Hall was not architectural genius; it was a big old hairy mole.
As I stare down at the test, after 15 minutes of answering essay question number two, I notice, printed in big, black, bold letters, ADVERTISING 104 emblazoned across the top of the page. I am in the wrong lecture hall. And, now, I am taking a test for a class in which I am neither currently, nor previously, registered. And, I am missing the lecture for the class for which I am registered. I. Am. An. Idiot.
I can not believe what I have done. What a fool I am. How did I miss the fact that this isn't my class? Now, I have to get back out of here!
I gather up my test, climb over all 20 people, who, thank, god, I never have to see again since they aren't my classmates, and walk all the way up the aisle to the back of the lecture hall. As you can imagine, I'm the first out of my seat, and the TA collecting tests is beyond confused. I hand over the test and then whisper, "Um, yeah, you don't need to grade mine. Uh, I'm not actually in this class. I should be in the hall next door," and then dart out the door, but not before the TA has a chance to laugh in my face.
I walked into my actual class about 20 minutes late with a bright red face that day. Oops! But, I still learned a valuable lesson: always check WebCT before going to class. Had I done it Tuesday night, I would have known we did not have a test on Wednesday and would have saved myself a lot of ink by not trying to take Advertising 104's.
