Caltech story

This story was published in a book so it must be true. :) I can easily imagine it happening, too!

A bunch of young Caltech undergrads showed up for Day One of their required Chemistry lab class, and they were all given a checklist of the equipment they'd need-- beakers, Erlenmeyer flasks, pipettes, etc. One know-it-all student (they're pretty common) showed up late, picked up his list and began assembling his stuff, making loud demands for help from patient TAs who'd explained everything before his arrival.

"Did you get your Fallopian tubes?" a female TA finally asked him.

"My what tubes?" asked the student, scanning his list for them.

"Oh, they're not on the list. Late addition. I'm afraid we've run out of them here; since you're the last arrival you'll have to go downstairs to the stockroom to get some."

So the clueless know-it-all arrived at the chemistry stockroom demanding Fallopian tubes. The best part of this story is that the woman working the stockroom had the situation sized up immediately and played along! "Hmmm, Fallopian tubes? They're hard to get. A highly personalized item; I have a pair myself but I'm afraid I can't lend them to you. You may need to put in a special order."

The student went back to lab fuming. "I can't find any Fallopian tubes! How am I supposed to do this class?"

The female TA was sympathetic. "It'll be difficult, but don't worry. Some people have actually managed to become good scientists without ever having any!"