Have you ever offered something to someone, then ended up wishing you hadn't?

My class came in asking (more like "telling") me if I was letting them go early ("Like in ten minutes!") to avoid the thunderstorm. I told them we have a lesson to do, and that takes priority. They moaned, and hemmed, and complained, so I offered them an alternative, "The lesson should take 45-60 minutes. If we all work together, and everyone pays attention, when we all (keyword here "all") finish the lesson, we can leave." I consented because there are more pregnant women in this group than in the others, and I imagined then tripping and falling in the thunderstorm. They were ready to go, People even got off the internet. I was surprised.

There were a few problems here and there, someone's computer froze, another forgot to copy a file, etc.. But we were marching along. Thirty-five minutes into the lesson, a few of them start to "just mention" how were getting close to "the forty-five minute deadline". I know, when did it become a "deadline"? So I reminded them that we ALL had to finish. Someone said "I can't believe this! Why do I have to stay late? If I'm done, I should be able to go." This was one of the first people in class to have a problem with her computer. She also complained about how I wasn't fixing it fast enough. Anyway, someone printed a bunch of copies, so we ran out of paper. And some complained about how they had to "wait so long" for me to find some more. In the end, they left after sixty-five minutes (of a two hour class), complaining how I "went into overtime". Give an inch, they take a foot. Give a foot, they take your whole friggin leg! You just can't be nice to some people.

Next time, I don't care if it's the Apocalypse, they're staying until the end of class. No mercy.