Why education is like medicine...
Not to be too glib about the topic--I understand that I'm not a medical doctor, and the work I do is frequently not as vital, but there are similarities.
These two strips mirror our lives in my advising office:
Student: "I need to have this form signed so that I can register tomorrow."
Adviser: "When did you get the form?"
Student: "In August."
Adviser: "But it's November."
Student: "Yeah, [insert excuse here]."
(fortunately we're not open 24 hours, but our students think we are....)
Student: "I'm failing my math class and need to drop it."
Adviser: "When did you know you were having difficulties?"
Student: "In the fourth week of classes."
Adviser: "Why didn't you drop the class then?"
Student: "Because my roommate's cousin's sister's boyfriend said [insert bad information/rumor]."
No, we don't literally deal with life and death situations in our office (normally), but we do frequently run into the "it's everyone's fault but mine" problem and the poor-planning problem.