I’m sitting in my finance class right now. Clearly, I’m studying hard, paying close attention, and taking diligent notes. However, I generally don’t even bother coming to this class, so I think my mere presence here is adequate for today.

What amazes me about this professor is that she calls role at the beginning of each class. This would make sense if she were using that as a way of awarding or deducting participation points, but she’s not. Our entire grade is comprised only of four exams and four homework assignments. So why take attendance? Who cares? Being that this is my first time coming to class in close to two months, with the exception of exam days, I’m surprised she even bothered to call my name.

The frightening thing is that she knows who I am, and actually knows me by name. Considering that I’ve never had her before, I never attend her lectures, and I only periodically visit her labs, I would have not have expected her to even recognize me as one of her students, let alone know my name. But at the second exam, when I went to show her my student ID as I turned in my test, she said ominously, “Oh, I know who you are. I don’t need to see your ID.”

That scared me a little. But not enough to increase my attendance.