Carolyn Foster Segal, an English professor, wrote “The Dog Ate My Flash Drive, and Other Tales of Woe.” There are five different topics within this story. All of the topics have a central theme, and that is excuses. These students refuse to admit their careless choices when it comes to their assignments. Despite Segal’s policy about not accepting late work, they continue to come up with outrageous stories as to why they haven’t done their assignments. Segal argues that although she knows that her students are giving her false excuses, she cannot do anything about it. The last category was by far the most ridiculous. Instead of using ordinary excuses, these students took it a step further. They increasingly exaggerated as the story went on.