A few of us tried forging our parents' signatures in school to get out of something, right? It's a risky bit of high school mischief, as it's not hard to get caught.
But in this case, a Texas school district has been forced to investigate how a misspelled note - which was clearly written by a young child - actually worked.
Charlie Dahu received a phone call from a concerned neighbour, who told him his 7-year-old daughter, Rosabella, was waiting outside the family's locked home, reports ABC 13.
He rushed home immediately, relieved to find nothing bad had happened to her.
But Dahu can't fathom how Sheldon Elementary School allowed his second grade daughter to take the bus home by herself, given the note couldn't possibly have been written by a parent.
"You can clearly see she did not even spell the word bus right," said Mr Dahu.
"Y'know, in case the childlike handwriting and lack of signature weren't dead giveaways either."
In a statement, the school district said the situation is being investigated: "Sheldon ISD is currently investigating the situation. We are reviewing our training procedures to ensure that our after-school grant programme staff is properly trained in dismissal procedures.
"At this point, the district is continuing to investigate and will take proper disciplinary action. As always, student safety is our top priority."
Bizarre. Totally bizarre.