Attendance Sheet Dilemma

I was in class two days ago, and the attendance sheet reaches me. I sign it, and as I look it over, I notice that a certain student in the front row has been missed because of where he was sitting. Part of me feels responsible (guilty?) to get this person a chance to be “present,” so I debate for a moment about whether or not to send the sheet down its original path, or to risk a few stares and send the attendance sheet on a detour. I hand the paper to the girl in front of me, and whisper (I wouldn’t want to disturb class, would I?) to her to pass the paper to the person in front, and then return it so that it can continue its journey around the classroom. She takes the sheet, looks it over, then slides it under her binder and ignores it. I quickly assume that she failed to hear me, assumed the attendance sheet made it all the way around, and was holding it to the end of the period before returning it to you. Suddenly, I felt responsible for the missing initials of everyone beyond me. I wanted to repeat my whisper to her again, but thought that to be excessively confrontational, especially on the off-chance that she had heard me the first time. I began to feel the “frown” of the rows behind me, as I was responsible for causing their absence. It became an all-encompassing thought, so much so that I was unable to concentrate on the class, and could only think about that sheet, stopped where it was. I became filled with worry and fear.

Eventually, with five minutes left in class, she suddenly looks startled, takes the paper, and hands it back to me. I hand it back to her, and repeat what I had originally whispered the first time a bit louder. She replies that she cannot reach him. So, I send the paper down the row, and I don’t remember if it made it all the way through by the end of class.

Now, I’m not telling you this story to suggest there’s something wrong with the attendance system, or to cure my conscience in the event that someone was indeed missed yesterday (well, maybe some of the latter). Mainly, I’m wondering what this story says about the kind of person I am.

Am I a person controlled by their guilt? Am I a person who has an inferiority complex? Or do I have a proud, controlling complex, and whenever I fail to get my way, assume that the other party musn’t have known my intentions, because everyone loves to do what I want them to do? Do I assume/judge too much? Do I stress over nothing? What kind of person goes through a story like this?