Failed The Exam Before It Started

(Most of my students take my classes fairly seriously, but one student has been getting under my skin – has only turned in 70% of the assignments, showed up 30 minutes late to the first exam, only tried to do a third of the take-home exam and scored a 5% on it, and has actually fallen asleep in class. This is the day of an exam I’ve been talking about daily for at least the last week.)

Student: *via email* “The roads are really messed up from the windstorm last night, and I don’t know if I’ll be able to make it to class today. I’ll be there if the conditions improve.”

Me: *via email* “Hi, [Student]: Please do your best, but I understand if you can’t make it in. Since it’s due to factors outside of your control, I can let you do an oral make-up exam.”

Student: *via email two days later* “Wait, I’m confused. What do you mean oral exam? Was there an exam I missed?”

(I head-desked so hard. This course is costing them at least $700, including the book, and they seem to be happy to throw away more than a week’s salary for me.)