heapq with tuple ordering

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heapq compares tuples element by element. The first pop returns (1, 'urgent') because 1 is the smallest first element. The two remaining tuples both have priority 2, so Python breaks the tie by comparing the second element as strings. 'also medium' starts with 'a' (ASCII 97) while 'medium' starts with 'm' (ASCII 109), so 'also medium' < 'medium' - making (2, 'also medium') the smaller tuple. The second pop therefore returns (2, 'also medium'). The practical lesson: when you push tuples into a heap and two priorities are equal, Python will try to compare the next field. If that field is not comparable (like a custom object), you get a TypeError - so always include a unique tiebreaker as the second element in production code.