A statistical oddity.

"Well, ain't this a statistical oddity...."

What is the likelihood that, out of a class of roughly 20, the two people most likely to show up very late to lab choose to work as lab partners?

Pretty darn good, apparently.

That's what happened to me today. I had eight of the groups done and gone (this is a "set it up then monitor for the rest of the week" experiment) when one guy walked in, wanting to know if his lab partner had been. I said I didn't THINK so and he said, "Well, I'll call him" but he never came back. I assumed that meant that the lab partner HAD been in.

I was sitting my office, thinking, "Maybe there ARE only eight groups? More groups of 3 than I thought?" and was contemplating leaving to go buy the groceries I was too sick to go after this weekend, when dude and his lab partner show up.

40 minutes late.

I have no idea what kind of a class conflict a person could have - in fact, one could not have one - so there's really no excuse. But at least I now know I have nine groups, and so if only eight set-ups have been used, I have to wait around.

They're blooming lucky I didn't leave. But again....I don't get how some people manage to get through life. The work world must be a big wake-up call.

I don't like assigning lab partners because that feels very fifth-grade, but I don't know. It seems like people with similar "issues" tend to gravitate to each other and it's a big headache to have the two people with poor math skills partnered up, or the two people who are chronically late, or the two people who don't feel motivated to clean up their area. So I might have to in future classes.