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So back in high school, what in Quebec we call secondary three or four which translates roughly to grade eight or nine, I was in my chemistry class during a quiz when I had finished reasonably early, had reviewed the quiz, handed it in and there was still seven minutes left in the period before it was over.

One by one I took the elements of my pencil case, which included pens, pencils, erasers, protractors among other things and started balancing everything on my desk. As an example, stand the eraser upright and across it find the center point of a pen and a pencil and lay them across, and then on top of the pen and pencil put the protractor, and then on top of that put the next item, and so on.

Eventually I managed to balance all of the contents of my pencil case and still there was time left.

The teacher noticed what I was doing and actually came a little closer to take a look at the progress I was making, while at the same time vigilating the students who had not yet completed the quiz.

So then X (a class mate, though not a friend of mine) who sat further back in the class got up to hand in his quiz and as he passed my desk he knocked over the elaborate balancing act I had built.

The teacher gave X a detention for doing it.

Fortunately the school I went to was sufficiently disciplined that retribution wasn't something I had to contend with.