Group projects are supposed to test collaboration, but often they just end up testing patience.

So when a college programming team was stuck with a fourth member who refused to contribute but expected an equal grade, the rest of the group completed their programs and gave her every chance to step up.

But when she failed, she learned the true cost of her laziness.

Keep reading for the full story.

me and 2 other students complete our work

So I’m currently in college, and last semester I was in a programming class (Java & C++).

In the class, most students were serious about it, but there was a girl—let’s call her “Mia.” She almost never did any work but said she needed to pass for credits or something.

Our teacher is very nice and always asks if everyone understands the material before proceeding, and I’m friends with two other students who want the same career as me.

Soon, the teacher assigned a class project, and a group of other students soon got stuck with Mia.

Two months into the class, her grades were bad but ours were good, so the teacher decided to assign a project to help boost grades.

The project was to make four separate programs that work together to print out a certain message depending on the user input.

The project was a four-person group, and guess who we were stuck with?

We were given two weeks to finish and submit it as a zip file.

But Mia made it very clear she wasn’t interested in cooperating.

While planning, she never showed up to help, and when we texted her, she blocked us on the second day.

So in class, we tried to talk to her about it, but she basically told us, “If we don’t do the project, we all fail, so do a good job.” What?!?

Regardless, the students decided to move forward with the project.

After that encounter, we all decided to complete our parts of the project and told the teacher about how she wasn’t helping, but not to talk to her about it because we were going to give her a chance to help out. (Spoiler alert: it never happened.)

The two weeks passed, and we turned in our three programs about three days prior.

When the teacher handed out the grades, she had a freaking meltdown.

Mia wasn’t pleased at all with her grade.

She came to us, demanding to know why we got A’s but she got an F.

Our teacher calmly asked her to send him her program, and he’d fix her grade.

She had a bunch of excuses, even going as far as saying the three we turned in were hers and we just took credit for them.

So the professor gave her one last chance and she blew it.

So he asked her to explain it (how the programs worked) … she couldn’t.

He then scolded her for non-participation, blaming others, lying, etc.

It ended with him asking her why she even took the class, as she could have taken another class that was more appropriate for her pathway.

Things didn’t work out too well for Mia after that.

She shut up after that and dropped out of the class before the academic penalty period.

My friends and I passed the class, and we’re all taking a new one in the fall.

Hope I don’t see her again.

Turns out, actually doing the work pays off.

What did Reddit think?

Unequal work doesn’t deserve equal grades.

The one lesson students invariably learn from group projects is that you can’t trust everyone.

If you want the A, you’ve got to earn the A.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.