“AITA for snitching on group partners?”
Trying to keep this as anonymous as possible. I’m in college and taking a class split into three short modules. You’re placed in one group for all three modules, and whatever grade the group earns is the grade you get.
My group consists of 2 other people who have only done work during class time, which isn’t enough since we meet at most 2x a week. I have activity logs and google chat messages showing that I’m always initiating communication, setting deadlines that only I meet, and doing work outside of class.
The class only lasts about three weeks. I genuinely tried to give them time and the benefit of the doubt, but we’re now a day away from presentations and they’ve barely contributed. One person wrote a small paragraph the night before, and the other presented part of the project.
The night one assignment was due, I reminded them earlier that I’d be very busy that day. At 9 pm, I asked if they had done it (neither had). So I completed it myself and emailed one of my professors around 9:30 pm about my situation (assignment due to SAME email at 11:5pm that night). I wasn’t demanding anything, but seeking advice and felt he should be aware.
After class, he called me in and berated me for emailing him after school hours and said I should have “made the group work.” I apologized, but explained I was concerned about my grade because I was doing most of the work.
I had even prepared to present the entire project alone due to the lack of communication. I explained how uneven the workload was compared to other classes, where at least bare minimum collaboration happens.
He told me I should contact the other professors and said I was too late in bringing this up, even though the course is very short and I wanted to give my group time to redeem themselves. I left the conversation crying and feeling worse for saying anything.
I did email the other professors as told, but now regret it after how poorly that interaction went. I would have been fine if he’d simply said there was nothing that could be done and the group grade stood. So, AITA?
Here’s what people had to say to OP:
sillylilbeanxo says:
NTA. You didn’t wait months. The entire class is THREE WEEKS. What exactly was the earlier window supposed to be?? Day two?? You tried reminders, deadlines, communication, and picking up slack. Your professor scolding you instead of addressing the broken group system is unprofessional. Crying afterward is a pretty normal response to being unfairly blamed when you did everything right.
Calm-Dragonfruit4575 responded:
I tried explaining this to him because if I complained day 2, its almost like its too early to tell and maybe they’ll pull through later. The entire class being so short doesn’t give me a lot of time to judge if they’re doing anything until the very end.
olivia-lace-again says:
NTA. That professor handled this poorly.
Jakyland says:
You still submitted the project. Replying to complain about emailing after hours means the professor went out of their way to be a jerk. There’s nothing wrong with emailing after hours, your professor should have just ignored it/not checked his email and read your email during regular hours. NTA.
What do you think?
