Between graduating from college and starting my career in tech, I worked in the K-12 school system. I helped with a lot of the hands-on attention some of the students needed and helped manage homework and communication with the kids (and with the parents through the kids).
This means I had the opportunity to hear every imaginable story as to why kids didn't have their homework done. "I spilled milk on it", "I left it at home", "my dog ate it", "my Mom accidentally threw it away", or even "I didn't have time to do it because I was stuck at my sibling's baseball game".
One morning, one of the kids came in with an extra creative excuse that got them bonus points from me for creativity. "A car crashed through our living room and my homework is now stuck between the car and the piano." I laughed, complimented their creativity, and told them to be sure to bring the homework in the next day.
Later that day while working at lunch, I overheard some of the teachers talking about the news where apparently a car had crashed into a home not too far from the school.
Out of curiosity, I pulled up the news story on my phone and imagine my surprise when I discovered that the day before a vehicle had crashed into the living room of a home and the address matched that of my student.
Realizing this wasn't an excuse at all but a rather legitimate reason to not come to school with completed homework in hand, I apologized to the student and reached out to the parents to make sure everyone was okay. Fortunately, nobody was hurt and insurance covered all the damage.
