Althouse: "Hey Todd..."

October 13, 2009

"Hey Todd..."

Caroline, Todd understands perfectly well what you are trying to do....

Via Instapundit ("Maybe this worked in 1978").

49 comments:

Fred4Pres said...: Todd must be gay.; 10/13/09, 10:19 AM
Fred4Pres said...: Okay, I am kidding. Todd handled it perfectly and professionally. It is just the perfect porn film introduction that makes it funny.; 10/13/09, 10:20 AM
MadisonMan said...: This has never happened to me as a TA or as an instructor. Make of that what you will.; 10/13/09, 10:23 AM
muddimo said...: Todd could have given Caroline a red light a little earlier in that exchange. For her part, Caroline could use a course or two in marketing. To close the sale you need the buyer to experience the product first hand, e.g. sit behind the wheel, take her for a spin.; 10/13/09, 10:26 AM
Anonymous said...: Gives new meaning to the term "grade inflation."

(MM - maybe you grade your students too easily.); 10/13/09, 10:28 AM
KCFleming said...: MadisonMan, same here.

I cite my obvious integrity over my genetic failings, as one might expect.; 10/13/09, 10:28 AM
former law student said...: You can't seduce anyone over email.; 10/13/09, 10:31 AM
traditionalguy said...: The start of a relationship that only a desparate man could fall for. But will she respect him in the morning after he has changed her grade to US Prime grade A meat.; 10/13/09, 10:32 AM
JohnAnnArbor said...: What if he took her offer, then failed her anyway? (No, I'm not suggesting he should have. He handled this well.)

I bet that's happened a few times.; 10/13/09, 10:35 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "You can't seduce anyone over email."

Yeah, you can!; 10/13/09, 10:36 AM
traditionalguy said...: He could give Caroline a C- for her being a good judge of his masculine attractiveness. That would not be so Hard On Her.; 10/13/09, 10:37 AM
Anonymous said...: Althouse, I'm pretty sure FLS' comment was satire. C'mon, keep up!; 10/13/09, 10:39 AM
careen said...: My favorite from the comments section:

Caroline's a little whore… And Todd's gay.

Judgmental, yet inclusive.; 10/13/09, 10:40 AM
Anonymous said...: Or was your comment a parody of "Yes We Can?" It's so confusing and tiring trying to keep up with the cool kids...; 10/13/09, 10:40 AM
Kev said...: (the other kev)

You can't seduce anyone over email.

Yeah, you can!

Attachments help . . .; 10/13/09, 10:44 AM
Kirk Parker said...: JohnAnnArbor,

"Hangman", eh? Ewwwwww......; 10/13/09, 10:48 AM
Bissage said...: That’s the first time I saw an exchange like that on the internet. Usually they’re on paper, part of the stapled handout materials they give you when you attend one of those workplace training seminars. The coversheet is always blue, for some reason or other.; 10/13/09, 11:00 AM
Anonymous said...: Your so smart...

Todd might have been more inclined to help her if she had shown she had a command of fifth-grade grammar.; 10/13/09, 11:17 AM
Prosqtor said...: "You can't seduce anyone over email."

Yeah, you can!

Meade, you sly devil.; 10/13/09, 11:17 AM
John said...: OMG a woman tried to use her sex appeal to get ahead. Quick que the Althouse puritans to come in and tell us how this is one of the greatest evils known to man kind and how great Todd is for not abusing his power relationship.; 10/13/09, 11:19 AM
JohnAnnArbor said...: "Hangman", eh? Ewwwwww......

I must be slow today, because I totally don't get that. Sorry.; 10/13/09, 11:22 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "OMG a woman tried to use her sex appeal to get ahead."

She tried to buy grades with sex, which hurts all the other students who work for their grades. It's easy to see how wrong this is, without any kind of Puritanical attitude.; 10/13/09, 11:31 AM
reader_iam said...: Thinking it's cool that Todd didn't take Caroline up on her offer is being a puritan?

I quake to think what I must be to also think that Caroline is a cheater, in intent at least.

(Assuming the whole thing's not just one of those internet urban-legend pranks, of course.); 10/13/09, 11:36 AM
Anonymous said...: OMG a woman tried to use her sex appeal to get ahead. Quick que the Althouse puritans to come in and tell us how this is one of the greatest evils known to man kind

Without a photo it is difficult to comment on her sex appeal, altho a willingness to whore herself out to avoid a study group would indicate she is the type of woman to be avoided if disease prevention is important, thus significantly diminishing her sex appeal.

The photo would have to be smoking hot to have any compensatory effect.; 10/13/09, 11:36 AM
John said...: "She tried to buy grades with sex, which hurts all the other students who work for their grades. It's easy to see how wrong this is, without any kind of Puritanical attitude."

I would agree with you Ann except that she can buy everything else with her sex appeal, cars, vacations, dinners, all that goes with having a rich husband or boyfriedn, jobs and pretty much anything else you can think of. What is so special about grades?; 10/13/09, 11:37 AM
An Edjamikated Redneck said...: This kinda fits with that news blurb I heard this morning about a women who dropped her pants in front of 2 15 year old boys and said she wanted to have sex with them.

They looked away and called the police.

my firt thought was- at 5:30 this morning- was that she must be uglier than sin.

She was.

Maybe Todd isn't gay, but aware of Caroline's lack of attributes,

Also, I would worry that these emails could come back to haunt me, if not handled properly, if I were Todd.

NoIhing like putting in writing that you're willing to trade a lay for an A.

WV- disporsu: Latin term for the abilty to keep one's pants zipped at appropriate times. Antonym: Bill Clinton/Ted Kennedy; 10/13/09, 11:49 AM
Unknown said...: Via Instapundit ("Maybe this worked in 1978")

It worked in 1978 BC and it will work in 2978. Human nature doesn't change that much.; 10/13/09, 11:58 AM
JohnAnnArbor said...: Also, I would worry that these emails could come back to haunt me, if not handled properly, if I were Todd.

He could have started BCCing a trusted colleague as a back-up so that the e-mails aren't altered, reordered, whatever to make him look bad.; 10/13/09, 12:02 PM
Sofa King said...: Quick que the Althouse puritans to come in and tell us how this is one of the greatest evils known to man kind and how great Todd is for not abusing his power relationship.

Que?; 10/13/09, 12:23 PM
An Edjamikated Redneck said...: JohnAnnArbor; I was more concerned If Todd HAD agreed to Caroline's deal.

Even if she failed to go thru with the deal, she could effectivley blackmail Todd into a higher grade based on the emails.

WV: bidlegu; Auction price of a French spritual guide; 10/13/09, 12:28 PM
Darcy said...: I'm sure this happens all the time, but what makes me doubt that this particular exchange is real is that Caroline pretty much admits, in writing, what she is offering. If the emails are legit, she is dumb as a rock. Could she be that dumb? :); 10/13/09, 12:30 PM
Schorsch said...: Point of information: Many Universities do allow for relationships between teachers and students, as long as the teacher abdicates all grading responsibility. Which means telling the prof you work for that you're boning a student, so it's effectively quashed.; 10/13/09, 12:31 PM
Dustin said...: JohnAnnArbor,

I think the idea is that the email could have come back to haunt him if he went along with the sex. Obviously he wouldn't be able to protect himself from that with :bcc.

It is really stupid to implicate prospective accomplices with email. She would have had a much easier time if she had asked for an office hours appointment to discuss her grade, and made her proposal there. Then, he would have been more receptive to her wiles, if she's attractive, and she hopefully would have been able to read his reactions a little less horribly.

And he'd probably be afraid of a he-said/she-said if he reported the incident. Instead, he has no idea if he was being set up. If he had agreed to a date with her, all she'd have to do is threaten to go public and he'd give her the grade she needed.

Anyway, kids, there's your lesson.; 10/13/09, 12:32 PM
AllenS said...: Since she isn't going to pass the class, I'd offer this advice to her: drop out, get a job with Letterman, let him pay for your schooling.; 10/13/09, 12:36 PM
Skeptical said...: I have mixed feelings about this sort of thing.

On one hand, it's a bit of a bummer to me that in all my years of college teaching not a single student has ever hit on me.

On the other hand, it's probably a good thing, because I would, against all better judgment, probably doink the student and screw up multiple lives in the process.

For the best, then.; 10/13/09, 1:08 PM
Bob_R said...: I had a very similar experience (face to face no email) in 1981. So I can say with confidence to Todd (a) you did the right thing (b) if she was good looking you have made a deposit in the fantasy bank that you will be able to draw on, with interest, for the rest of your life.; 10/13/09, 1:19 PM
From Inwood said...: This seems like a chain letter hoax especially because "Caroline" finally makes her point so crystal clear. As if, as teenagers supposedly say.

If it's true that she wrote all this, she’s too stupid to be let out without a keeper.

Never had any employee or younger female lawyers working for me who went after me, so now that I'm "old and gray and full of sleep and nodding by the fire", I can't even fantasize over any co-worker of whom I’m aware “who loved [my] beauty with love false or true”.; 10/13/09, 2:29 PM
Zach said...: A couple of observations:

1) Girls really don't do this -- even the ones that have a crush on you. Make that especially the ones that have a crush on you. They'll just bat their eyes and pretend to be more interested in the subject than they are. I did have a couple of girls hit on me after the class was over, which is the only way this kind of thing can work out.

2) It's so much better as fantasy than as reality, isn't it? In the fantasy, everybody has fun and then goes home. In reality, you've just given someone entirely too much power over you.

3) I've said this before in other contexts, but women aren't as good at playing the aggressor as they like to think. Let's be crude here: are you turned on by this exchange? Are you so horny you're about to do something you'll regret? 'Cause I'm not.

Guys will go for stupid deals, but only in the heat of the moment, and only if they think it's their idea.; 10/13/09, 2:58 PM
Zach said...: OMG a woman tried to use her sex appeal to get ahead.

She's not trying to use her sex appeal to get ahead, she's trying to use straight sex. (Always assuming the thread is legit and not a hoax.)

Using sex appeal to get ahead would be really selling the presentation you have to give for the term project, or showing up to all the problem sessions with a good attitude and a smile on your face. That stuff actually works.

Honestly, if you show up to all the problem sessions with a good attitude and a smile on your face, you'll pass anyway. It's really hard to fail a class when the teacher thinks you're trying.; 10/13/09, 3:11 PM
Kirk Parker said...: JohnAnnArbor,

Oops, I was just writing quickly off the top of my head; I really meant "Gallows Pole"

wv - "somene": what Todd was to Caroline by not going through with the deal.; 10/13/09, 4:07 PM
John said...: "1) Girls really don't do this -- even the ones that have a crush on you. Make that especially the ones that have a crush on you. They'll just bat their eyes and pretend to be more interested in the subject than they are. I did have a couple of girls hit on me after the class was over, which is the only way this kind of thing can work out.

Honestly, if you show up to all the problem sessions with a good attitude and a smile on your face, you'll pass anyway. It's really hard to fail a class when the teacher thinks you're trying."

Those two statments together are both very true and make me think this is a hoax. In reality, if she were cute, all she would have to do is show up at the problem sessions and bat her eyes and try hard and most TAs would pass her. And they wouldn't even feel bad about doing it or realize how she had manipulated them.; 10/13/09, 4:16 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: The reason she's trying to trade sex is that she doesn't want to try hard or show up to anything.; 10/13/09, 4:20 PM
Anonymous said...: Has to be a hoax.

As for students trying to sleep with teachers, though, and teachers trying to sleep with students, it's something that happens. A lot. I'm sure there's a lot of compelling psychology behind it all, on both sides.; 10/13/09, 4:39 PM
Anonymous said...: Freeman -- How do you know she wouldn't bring her absolute A-game in bed?; 10/13/09, 4:40 PM
Anonymous said...: When I was working in the computer lab at my undergrad, they made all university employees attend a sexual harrassment workshop. The facilitator did mention that this scenario (female student approaches male professor and attempts to improve her grade) was the most common sexual harrassment complaint they faced. Not even the most common incident, but the most common one complained about.

Popular media teaches us that men will do ANYthing for sex at the drop of a hat, because they're just dumb pigs and nothing more. Of course women expect to be able to exploit that.; 10/13/09, 5:00 PM
Bissage said...: The proposition has been advanced in this comment thread that men are ruled by their genitals.

This is all very true, of course.

And nobody saw this deep, penetrating truth more so than the late, great, B. Kliban.

Here’s your proof.

Can there be any doubt?; 10/13/09, 6:44 PM
AST said...: I was thinking what her parents would think if she got an A and they learned what she did to get it.

I guess I'm projecting. Maybe she's just acting as they raised her to.; 10/13/09, 6:44 PM
William said...: This is a politicized blog. I read the first few exchanges expecting a parody of Todd Palin's crypto relationship with Caroline Kennedy.; 10/13/09, 6:53 PM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: You guys are missing the obvious:

He DID go through with it, after covering his ass with the email.; 10/14/09, 12:24 AM