Thursdays are mine, dammit!

I hold office hours on Monday and Tuesday, and my TAs hold office hours on Wednesday. Homeworks in my classes are due on Thursday. I thought that by packing all the weekly office hours in before homeworks were due was a good plan. Students can be assured that we are there to help when they need it.

However, I'm pretty generous with my time and have an open-door policy. "Come by any time," I say. "If I'm busy I'll tell you to come back later." Any time except on Thursdays. Thursdays are the only days I reserve for myself. I write, derive, simulate, program and generally get lots of research done on Thursdays.

So one annoying fellow with a habit of dropping by on Thursdays says to me Wednesday after class, "Angry Professor, will you be in your office tomorrow morning?" Reflexively I say no. Amending that, I explain that I have a standing appointment on Thursday mornings. He protests, "But you're always in there!"

Yes, I'm always in there, but I have a long-distance collaborator with whom I write, via telephone, on Thursday mornings. Why was he so insistent to see me on Thursday morning?

"Well," he confesses, "the homework is due tomorrow and I'll have questions about it."

Now I get it. He will wait to start the (pretty long and demanding) homework the night before it is due, and it is my professorial responsibility to make myself available to him so that I might pull his ass out of the fire mere minutes before he must turn in his assignment. I don't think so.