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Things that nobody tells you about uni life are that at some point, you grow tired of living off instant noodle pots, and that as soon as you become actual roommates with your BFF, all you liked about them turns into everything you hate. And this is just the beginning.

In classes, you meet fellow students, your crush, and the professors. That’s where it gets tricky, ‘cause some of ‘em truly inspire, support, and show you the side of knowledge that may change your life. But some are just so mean they verge on being evil, according to this Twitter thread.

The thread was started by Chris, a senior class president UNC-Chapel Hill, who took it to social media to share how his professor asked for proof of his grandmother’s death in order to excuse his absence from class. “Empathy goes a long way and some folks just don’t have it,” Chris said in a post amassing 194.1K likes.

His story resonated with many more students who shared their own experiences of dealing with questionable, and sometimes plain mean, behavior from professors. Let’s see what they shared right below.

Bored Panda reached out to Twitter user Charlsie, @charlsiekate, who shared an incident with a professor she had in her freshman year of college. “I missed the class twice the entire semester, once because my grandfather died. I got a C in the class because the teacher said it was her policy to drop people a letter grade for each absence regardless of the reason,” Charlsie tweeted in the thread.

It turns out, Charlsie didn’t understand that missing the class was such a big deal until the semester was over. “It was an honors class with nine people in it and we actually never got any grades during the semester. The class was Western Civ before 1500 and we did a lot of ancient geography research projects and wrote papers, and the final was a big paper that we turned in the last day of class.”

However, according to the former student, the class “never received any of our class work back and graded until the final day, and then it was only a couple of things. The professor throughout the semester claimed she could not grade things in a timely manner because of vertigo.”

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Bobert Robertson
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There's wifi in hospitals sure, but I cannot access the wifi through my brain while I'm unconscious....

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Then the class finally received the grades, Charlsie got a C. “I was able to contest the grade through the honors program and the professor’s response was that I missed two classes and she dropped people a letter grade for every missed class. As a side note, no one in the class got an A, everyone else got a B, in a class where she had not graded any of our classroom.”

Charlsie did what she felt she had to and provided all the info, “because I definitely brought her the obit for my grandfather earlier in the semester—showing that I had to miss one class to attend my grandfather’s funeral in a town five hours away.”

The dean of the Honors program stepped in to tell the teacher that she had to change Charlsie’s grade. Since that, the only interaction Charlsie had with the teacher was during a meeting on changing her grade. “She told me I absolutely did not deserve the grade change and that she was only changing it because she was being forced to do so, not because I earned it,” the former student recounted.

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Jo Johannsen
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's just bad teaching. Arbitrary rules only teach you distrust and disrespect..

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Jo Johannsen
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I admit it seems coldhearted, but how many times were they lied to before they got that way. Maybe never, but who knows?

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When it comes to professors' mean behavior, Charlsie believes that there’s some overall confusion that “that professors are supposed to be your friend or your mentor, but they aren’t your friend, and a lot of them see themselves more as your boss, as the gatekeeper.”

In addition, she said she had the feeling that this particular professor didn’t want to be at that state university, and “she hated the football team and the Greek life and the focus on sports and the nightlife.” Having said that, Charlsie doesn’t think that being a professor is “the cushy job it once was, and a lot of professors end up places they never imagined or wanted to be, and they take it out on their students.”

The former student also stressed out that the incident happened a long time ago and it was the worst professor experience she had in college. “Most of my professors were wonderful,” Charlsie said, remembering her freshman year.

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Kristof De Smet
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

seems like you know now why she teaches, and isn't really a therapist...

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Nadine
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Just goes to show how someone's insensitive comment can have long-lasting effects. I'm sorry.

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Margaret Rae
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

She waited to ask for "proof" in person because she knew it was wrong and didn't want to send her request via email. So messed up

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Karl Baxter
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Having spent over 20 years in Higher Education I can confirm that Universities are frequently a refuge for dysfunctional people who are mad, bad and dangerous to know. These people with their appalling social skills and behaviour wouldn’t survive for 5 minutes outside academia but are somehow tolerated nonetheless.

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Laura Würker
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I really want to know at what lifepoint the teachers thought their behavior is appropriate. What went wrong in their life that they think it is okay to treat their students like that?

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Lisa Reuss
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Un-f*****g-believable. What kind of monsters do we have teaching our young adults???

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Aeon Flux
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Professors aren't automatically horrible people. Just people.

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M Kate McCulloch
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Professors hear that someone has died about 5 times a semester. One in 10 turns out to be true. While you wish they would imagine what you are going through and show some empathy, also try to imagine what they are going through and return the favor.

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Carol Emerson
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3 years ago

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People often lie about deaths to get extensions. This is the reason. Has nothing to do with anything but that.

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Samantha Lomb
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I had a student show up high as a kite for finals after getting hit by a bus and breaking his leg the day before. I sent him home and gave him an incomplete which meant he had next semester to make up the exam.

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KK
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So sad. People seriously need to be more understanding.

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Bobert Robertson
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"here's a test for you, professor. If you are standing stationary at a distance of 1m from me, and my fist is travelling at 60km/h, how long until it collides with your face? You have 0.27 seconds"

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Rachel Peterson
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Awful. And you didn't owe him SH*T, not explanations, not reasons, nothing. So sorry for your loss and the unfortunate @sshole.

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Samantha Lomb
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not for everyone. I am a PhD now and my adviser though the process was like the lovechild of Santa and Dumbledore. Always kind understanding and willing to go the extra mile for students. We had a Turkish exchange student fall off the roof and break all his limbs and Bill walked him through all the medical billing s**t and applying for aid etc.

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N G
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don't want to come across as insensitive, but it feels like something's missing - why would his father risk his life to do a cremation?

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Kay blue
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm surprised that the teacher didn't also bring out the "dunce cap".

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Deborah Mann
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This truly breaks my heart. I am so sorry you went through that.

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Susanne Müller
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There is always a cutoff somewhere, it’s usually next of kin and night even be limited to parents, siblings and children only. In Europe, one would use vacation days for that probably...

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N G
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

At least he was open in giving his reason, so I'd say the reason is worse.

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H Edwards
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This makes no sense at all. My mother died from covid last year, and the fact that other people were dying from it at the same time didn't make it any less painful for me or my family.

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Max
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm starting to think these bosses and professors are getting kickbacks from the obituary columns.

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Max
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I mean, my expectations of compassion from special ed teachers are only marginally higher than my expectations of PE teachers

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