Can I be evil, please?

[Jon_Dahl]

There's an exchange student at my uni. I find him exceptionally arrogant, ignorant and irritating. However, I always treat him well and just like everyone else, even though he has offended me with a very personal insult (I didn't react to it, just pretended not to hear).

He hasn't attended six lectures over the spend of two months, and they have all been mandatory. Now he has requested that I show him all the work that I have done at home after each lecture. Everyone had to do them and he has to return them ASAP, but it's impossible since he hasn't attented the lectures.

My options are:
a. Kindly decline. He will ask around and someone will help him eventually.
b. Help him out. It will give me good karma and helping people is always noble.
c. I modify my work a little bit and send him the modified version. The modified version will not make any sense to the lecturer (he will review the work), but it's impossible to know that if you haven't been to the lectures.

Now I ask you: which option should I choose? I have to do something quickly. Please, let me be evil. However... I hate when people are evil to me, though... I would cry for month if someone did this to me!

[Douglas]

Personally, I would say that he needs to learn that his actions have consequences. I'm not sure if giving him intentionally sabotaged "help" is really the right way to teach him that, especially since he'd likely learn "don't ask Jon_Dahl for help" instead of the real lesson, but helping him avoid the consequences is definitely not the ideal way to go.

[thorgrim29]

Is it too late to pretend you didn't see his plea for help?

[Emperor Ing]

Decline. His actions have consequences, and as far as you're concerned he's just reaping what he sows.

[sktarq]

Politely decline. The time & effort spent modifying your notes have greater worth than getting back at the onanger.

[Aliquid]

My options are:
a. Kindly decline. He will ask around and someone will help him eventually.
b. Help him out. It will give me good karma and helping people is always noble.
c. I modify my work a little bit and send him the modified version. The modified version will not make any sense to the lecturer (he will review the work), but it's impossible to know that if you haven't been to the lectures.

Looking at option 'b'... that isn't really helping. I guess you could say it is helping him continue a life of incompetence, but it isn't helping him be a better person or improve.

Giving him the answers would be "enabling" him.

[Telonius]

No, "Evil" would be to give him a "real" version of the notes, modified slightly; with, "Actually, Professor, I didn't do any of this work and am plagiarizing the entire assignment," written somewhere that both he and the Prof might well miss if they're not looking closely; then hold it over his head for the rest of the time he has the misfortune to know you.

I'd tell him straight-out, "no." Do not give in to any amount of begging, pleading, attempts at bribery, or intimidation. You tell him yes, you've established that you're the sort of person who he can get whatever he wants out of.

[Lord Raziere]

Simply decline, he has already dug deep into his own hole, he will get what he deserves for his neglect, and you don't have to do a thing.

[Alent]

I'm confused, are you asking for permission to help him cheat?

Because my understanding is most universities have honor codes against cheating, which is what providing lecture notes to him would be.

You've got a big enough issue going on with that one professor, if anything goes wrong with this it will weaken your ability to deal with that situation. Don't let this one compound terribly. This guy is an exchange student, he'll be gone pretty soon with that kind of academic performance anyway.

[MrZJunior]

Why not report this attempt to cheat to the professor or the honor board?

[Dodom]

a) sounds reasonable and even nicer than I'd be.
You don't have to always appease someone who's being inconsiderate to others, at some point there's nothing wrong with letting some anger show.
Letting him cheat isn't actually helping him, as others pointed out, so this is a thing you shouldn't feel bad about being firm with. Please don't accept, for both your sakes. For the rest of your relationship, you can demand more respect and if he's mature enough to apologise for the insult, later you can consider helping him study so he has a chance to catch up - that's a thing that would actually help him.
But until he actually makes amends, you owe him nothing.

[Flickerdart]

Why not report this attempt to cheat to the professor or the honor board?

This. Why be Evil when you can be Lawful?

[Florian]

@Jon_Dahl:

Marry him. Seems to be a bit more ambitious and adventurious then your bride-to-be.

[Dienekes]

When I was in high school, a girl who thought she was pretty walked up to me and batted her eyelashes and smiled and asked me to do her homework for her, because I was so smart in math, and she sooooo needed my help.

So, I said yes, took her homework, and did every answer mostly correct, and added 3 to the final solution, just so the teacher knew that whoever did this assignment was smart enough to do it and was just messing with the person doing the work.

Two days later she walked up to me, slapped me, cried, and told me how the teacher knew she was cheating and how much trouble she was in.

It is one of my fondest memories and I have never regretted it for a second. This *******'s trying to use you to get out of his own work, and has insulted you. Mess him up. It's hilarious.

[MrZJunior]

Why be Evil when you can be Lawful?

I like this, may I sig it?

[8BitNinja]

There's an exchange student at my uni. I find him exceptionally arrogant, ignorant and irritating. However, I always treat him well and just like everyone else, even though he has offended me with a very personal insult (I didn't react to it, just pretended not to hear).

He hasn't attended six lectures over the spend of two months, and they have all been mandatory. Now he has requested that I show him all the work that I have done at home after each lecture. Everyone had to do them and he has to return them ASAP, but it's impossible since he hasn't attented the lectures.

My options are:
a. Kindly decline. He will ask around and someone will help him eventually.
b. Help him out. It will give me good karma and helping people is always noble.
c. I modify my work a little bit and send him the modified version. The modified version will not make any sense to the lecturer (he will review the work), but it's impossible to know that if you haven't been to the lectures.

Now I ask you: which option should I choose? I have to do something quickly. Please, let me be evil. However... I hate when people are evil to me, though... I would cry for month if someone did this to me!

Turn the other cheek, the option to do wrong is always tempting, but never choose it, it won't be good in the long run

[Flickerdart]

I like this, may I sig it?

Of course!

[veti]

My options are:
a. Kindly decline. He will ask around and someone will help him eventually.
b. Help him out. It will give me good karma and helping people is always noble.
c. I modify my work a little bit and send him the modified version. The modified version will not make any sense to the lecturer (he will review the work), but it's impossible to know that if you haven't been to the lectures.

Now I ask you: which option should I choose? I have to do something quickly.

Why do you "have to do something quickly"? You seem to be ignoring the simplest, and fairest, option of all: (d) Do nothing. Don't respond to his request in any way. It's a variant on your (a), but less helpful.

I think you're mistaken about (b). There's no "good karma" in helping someone else get away with evil.

(c) is just too much work. Alignment-wise I'd call it Chaotic, but not particularly Evil; but it involves spending a non-trivial amount of your time, and honestly, how much satisfaction would you get from it?

If you do want to be evil, then how about (e) promise cheerfully to help, then - every day from now until Too Late - forget to bring the necessary notes with you?

Confession time: at university, I quite often skipped lectures and cribbed notes from my more-industrious friends. But on the other hand, these weren't "mandatory" lectures. And I made sure to be nice to those friends. I wouldn't expect someone to help me out if they weren't my friend and I'd been personally rude to them.

[Bulldog Psion]

I'd go with (d) -- ignore him totally. Don't even tell him you're not going to help him, maybe he'll waste time waiting for you to help and mess up his chances even more that way. I tend to be a quite excitable fellow, but I've found that pretending people like that don't even exist is more satisfying even than telling them off. Most of the time, anyway.

There's no way you should feel obliged to do his work, though, IMO. He insulted you, for gosh sakes -- now he wants help in the form of cheating? It reminds me of this http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0067.html....

Except with 100% less guilt, because if you let him "fall" the only thing that'll happen to him is that he'll flunk a course rather than falling in a pit of monsters.

[Haruki-kun]

Politely, yet FIRMLY decline. "I'm not gonna do your work for you."

[Cespenar]

Is there a chance the very personal insult was something scrambled in translation? I mean, the guy is an exchange student and cultures vary greatly when it comes to insults.

Also, similarly, apparently sharing/copying homeworks and stuff is a huge deal in the States, and maybe a couple places else. In some other countries, though, it's seen almost as the norm, trying to overcome a needless and cumbersome hurdle by the power of friendship alone.

Just putting it perspective for some people, chucking the word "Evil" so and forth around a piece of enforced paperwork.

Anyway, it's obvious what the final decision would ultimately be, though, by simply looking at the OP's second sentence.

[Coidzor]

Mandatory attendance policy without taking attendance? I knew Europe did some things differently than here in the States, but that's just bizarre.

Though I suppose the idea that he can't just get the relevant notes and then do the assignment himself is also fairly bizarre.

Option C shows that you're not as good as you think you are for even considering it and even a sociopath would think twice before letting such details get out where it could tarnish their reputation.

Either say no or provide the minimum information to him necessary for him to do the work himself, obviously.

[Jon_Dahl]

All right, I will ignore him and/or do option A. Thank you for talking me out of this. I was seriously tempted... But you guys don't even let me be chaotic! I have to agree with veti: C would've been chaotic, not evil.

@Jon_Dahl:

Marry him. Seems to be a bit more ambitious and adventurious then your bride-to-be.

I have to say that this made me smile :-D Thank you!

But you know, the weird this is that while messing around with him seemed like a viable option, reporting him seems awfully excessive, almost like cowardy. I don't know why I feel like that, because I should report him. Still, I feel it's out of the question.

[Killer Angel]

All right, I will ignore him and/or do option A. Thank you for talking me out of this. I was seriously tempted... But you guys don't even let me be chaotic! I have to agree with veti: C would've been chaotic, not evil.

I think you have made the right choice.
Regarding the option C, to be evil is fun. .. but only until you only indulge in it with your imagination.
Never practice evilness; it leaves a bitter taste. ..

[Bulldog Psion]

But you know, the weird this is that while messing around with him seemed like a viable option, reporting him seems awfully excessive, almost like cowardy. I don't know why I feel like that, because I should report him. Still, I feel it's out of the question.

While messing with him is something that I can't really put a good light on, I know exactly what you mean about reporting him. Personally, I'd probably just ignore him and the entire situation, but that's just me.

[Florian]

I have to say that this made me smile :-D Thank you!

But you know, the weird this is that while messing around with him seemed like a viable option, reporting him seems awfully excessive, almost like cowardy. I don't know why I feel like that, because I should report him. Still, I feel it's out of the question.

Nothing to thank me for.

Personally, I'd feel pleased when someone would approach me with a request like this. Shows that I do good on more than one account. I wouldn't accept the offer, but I wouldn't call in the authority either, because this is just business on a personal level.

[Dienekes]

I think you have made the right choice.
Regarding the option C, to be evil is fun. .. but only until you only indulge in it with your imagination.
Never practice evilness; it leaves a bitter taste. ..

Rather blatant lies there. Actually doing option C could be great fun, and doesn't leave a bitter taste at all. So long as you have the mentality to let it. If you are prone to feel guilt over every minor thing you've done, it probably isn't for you.

[Red Fel]

First off, none of these are Evil. At worst, slightly spiteful. I am disappointed in your lack of creativity. Most disappointed.

Confession time: At university, one of my friends had a roommate who was a student like this. Skipped most of his classes, acted like an entitled expletive, gelled his hair far too much to be healthy, and attempted to hit on anything with female parts, to varying degrees of success at each. My friend tried to stay out of it, which became impossible because he lived with this person; he tried to sabotage him, which failed because (like you) his ideas of Evil were less than inspired; and ultimately, he tried to advise him. As you would expect, this failed initially. As you wouldn't expect, however, it started to work.

This kid - this obnoxious, entitled, spoilt jerkwad man-child who spent daddy's money like it was water - had never had somebody tell him "What you're doing is wrong, and you need to shape up, you moron." So although he was initially dismissive of my friend's advice, he eventually started asking him questions, like "Can I do this?" or "Should I have done that?" My friend found himself in the awkward position of parent-slash-conscience to a person who, in all likelihood, had absolute minimum experience with either.

And that was story time with Red Fel.

In sum, I agree with those who say to decline, politely but firmly.

This. Why be Evil when you can be Lawful?

But you know, the weird this is that while messing around with him seemed like a viable option, reporting him seems awfully excessive, almost like cowardy. I don't know why I feel like that, because I should report him. Still, I feel it's out of the question.

It's neither excessive nor cowardly, provided that it is an actual honor code violation. Here's the thing. If your school has an honor code, in all likelihood, you violate it by failing to report a violation. Schools with honor codes pride themselves on teaching ethical behavior, not just academics, and they can't do that job if students do not report violations. So, if what he is doing does constitute an honor code violation - and I don't know that it does, that's for you to determine - you do, in fact, have an obligation to report it.

I've seen stupid mistakes become honor code violations. Minor ones. And sometimes, the consequence is minor. I've also seen ones with major repercussions. I saw a student once admit to what should have been a minor violation in front of a professor. The fact that he was so flagrant about it as to boast of his actions in front of a professor, particularly in an environment where the honor code was heavily emphasized, was enough to have him expelled from the program.

If this is a violation, it doesn't sound like it's serious enough to constitute an expulsion-level offense. Still, if it is, you have a duty to report, and it is neither excessive nor cowardly to do so.

[Flickerdart]

For tax reasons, mostly.

[Red Fel]

For tax reasons, mostly.

... Well played.

Inaccurate. But well played.