W: Excuse me Professor Hodgkin, do you have a moment?
M: Certainly, Tracy. What can I do for you?
W: It's about the term paper due next week. I wanted to ask you if there's any chance of getting an extension on the due date.
M: Oh now Tracy, I think I made it very clear at the beginning of the semester that I didn't accept any late submissions of assignments or term papers. Besides, you still have three days until the deadline.
F: Yes, I realize that, but this is an extreme situation, and I don't think I can get it in on time.
M: Oh? What's happened?
W: Well, I started work on the project over a month ago, and all my research and my first draft were on my laptop. Anyway, I was doing some research in the library last night and it was quite late when I finished up, so I decided take a taxi home to my apartment.
M: Yes?
W: Well you see, I was pretty tired when I finished up, and when I got home I just went straight to bed.
M: Sorry, I'm not seeing the problem here.
W: The problem is that when I woke up the next day to finish my work, I didn't have my laptop! I panicked and rushed back to the library, but they said they hadn't seen it.
M: Well, you think you might have left it in the taxi?
W: Yes, I suppose I could've, but the problem is I don't remember the name of the taxi company or the driver. It was dark, and to be honest I wasn't really paying attention. But anyway, the problem is that unless someone turns it in, I've lost all my research for the paper! I don't think there's any way I can redo all my work in the next three days.
M: Well, I suppose it might be possible to call some of the major taxi companies in the area... But in any case, didn't you have your work backed up?
W: Yeah, sure. I kept copies of my research on a USB drive, but unfortunately it was in the same bag as my laptop. That's pretty dumb I know, but I was mainly worried about breaking the laptop, or my hard drive crashing, or something like that.. .not losing the whole computer!
M: Tracy I'm really sorry to hear about this, but unfortunately I don't think I can make an exception. It wouldn't be fair to the other students. I definitely suggest calling around the local taxi companies. They may have found it. If not, I will certainly be available if you want to discuss your work over the next few days, though. |
