Actual Email Exchange with a Student

 

Dear Professor,

 I am the typical college student who puts everything off till the last minute.  That means that today is the day to work on the ___ assignment.  I was wondering where the raw data is for this, because I just found the word doc you attached in your email with the problem to solve but no data so i’m not sure how to proceed.  Thanks.

Dear Student,

And I’m the typical professor who completely ignores students 24 hours before a crucial assignment is due! This email has been automatically generated! See ya, sucker!

Lest you think I was being cruel, the data were on the 2nd page of the assignment he had in his possession. I even typed “AUTO-REPLY” in the subject line, just for additional fun. However, my good nature took over and I sent an email explaining where he could find the data a few minutes later. I just couldn’t help myself.