I have a student in my class — let’s call him John — who missed the entire first week, so I sent him an email to the effect that I hadn’t seen him in class yet and what were his plans going forward.
He replied that he had really been looking forward to the class but had a health condition that was going to force him to drop and who could he contact about a tuition refund.
So he’s healthy enough to type. The class is online, so he could watch from his hospital bed if necessary.
In short, I don’t believe him but what can you do?
A slightly better way to play it, in my opinion, is to send me back an email saying “I’m typing this for John because he’s too sick to move his fingers. It’s really touch and go at this point. Please remember him in your prayers. P.S. Who should I — errr, he — contact about a tuition refund?”
Thus spoke The Programmer.