Right way, wrong way

The other day I blogged about the guy who did a less-than-half-assed job on an assignment, and then wound up getting an extension. He represents the "wrong way" to get an extension:

1. Don't think about the assignment until right before the due date
2. Disregard the instructions
3. When you hit a wall, come and complain/ask the instructor to do the work for you
4. Get an extension because the instructor is fed up with your shenanigans but isn't feeling ballsy enough to throw you out of class.

There is also a right way to get an extension, and I didn't mention it:

One of my students - he's slightly older, I'd say he's at least 30 - came to my office before class on the due date. "I'm really sorry" he said. "I have an article but I don't have it written up in a good way yet. I'll understand if you don't accept it late, but let me explain: both my mother and my aunt were in the hospital this weekend and I honestly thought I could get the thing written while I was sitting around waiting."

I said I was sorry to hear he had relatives in the hospital. And I asked: "Could you have it done Wednesday?"

"Oh, certainly!" he said. "I'll understand if you need to take points off."
"No, that's okay" I responded - this is someone who's always been on time, always had the work done before, who comes to see me if there's something he doesn't understand.

He had it done today - typed, even (I didn't require that but it does help). He came to me before class to hand it in and thanked me again for the extension.

So that's just a lesson: right way, wrong way. Wrong way is to always be demanding and to do the bare minimum, then complain that you need more time. Right way is to have a generally good record, to explain the reason for the problem, be willing to accept consequences. And showing gratitude when you get what you need helps too.

I will refrain from commenting that wrong-way dude is probably 22 or under and right-way dude is, as I said, at least 30. (Well, actually, I just did make that comment...)