1. Your advisor leaving for vacation and returning in two and a half weeks. Unless this is how she left the order board. Then you get mad. Then you are even more grateful she will be gone for a while.
The background is that she has not really had funding for almost a year, and we are not really sure where the money comes from. Still some start-up from when she joined the department? Anyway. She makes this BIG HUGE deal about spending money, but I am not really sure what she expects us to do? Sit on our hands and stare at the wall? I have a dissertation to write?!Whenever there are more than two or three things to order, she always puts the price up, as if we are literally dumping reagents down the drain and this will stop us. The grad student a year ahead of me and myself are both starting some new things (for the lab) and have to order a bunch of stuff that we have been holding out on. She knew we want to do these experiments. They will result in beautiful data. Her leaving for vacation was actually the push we needed to get her the information. We gave her our orders with prices on pieces of paper. After ordering when we had all left for the day, my advisor actually went through the trouble of writing all that stuff in red with the totals for us all to see. WE ALREADY KNEW WHAT IT ALL COST. The little "Priceless" statement at the bottom I wrote after she headed out for vacation. I am thinking of submitting the photo to this website.
2. This will always provide a little stress relief. I may just eat it all while she is gone. (I have to admit, the ex gave it to me before Valentine's Day. I still have all but a few squares of the pear one left.)
9 comments:
Aggravation, priceless? hahah... but this will be great practice for applying for grants, no? Now you know exactly how much it all costs. have fun while she's away.
As a person who runs a business I can understand where they are coming from. Every time I see someone throw something out I don't see the item sail into the trash. I see money go into the trash.
I know exactly how much everything costs per unit and how much waste can add up to over time. If someday you find yourself in charge of a business you'll find yourself in the same mindset. All good business people are aware of their costs.
You might feel that they are beating you over the head with the costs. However, they probably have a good reason. It sounds like they are very short on cash.
I'm sure at least a few people are being wasteful. They have probably seen a few valuable things in the trash. They didn't see who put them there so they address the problem with everyone.
I'd rather work for someone who cares too much than someone who cares too little. Besides what do you care if she writes some stuff on a marker board? After all it isn't your money in the first place.
If you want to spend someone else's cash you have to go by their rules even if they seem annoying. You can always spend your own money. Then you won't have to put up with anything. If it makes you that mad you can always open your wallet.
That website is aMAZing. And your advisor's note looks like a perfect submission. You must have been so steamed! As you say, all the more reason to enjoy her absence. And more motivation to work on your grant application, right? (Would you get to order your own materials then?) Here's wishing you lots of beautiful data while she's away!
Aurora, it is true we now know how much it costs. But we knew that when we gave her the info and even looked for the least expensive place to buy stuff!
Unsigned, as a graduate student I fully understand the importance of using a budget and have applied to four grants this year to pull my own weight (not saying I'll get any of them). The problem is not that we care that she tells us this information, but rather the manner in which she approaches it. This is difficult to convey in one post, probably still difficult if I was writing a book, and can really only be experienced. In academia you never get trained on how to build a team or manage. This comes through more with some advisors than with others. Oh, and I was being facetious when I said we were dumping stuff down the drain. Our lab is very conscientious of the supplies we use and we reuse what we can!
Molly, hilarious, huh? If I'm lucky those new experiments will work on the first try...HAH! :)
The whiteboard picture would be a great entry for that website. She needs this stupid vacation to chill out a bit.
And, yummm, Lindt chocolate...
I think your advisor could use some of that chocolate. And maybe a Valium. ;-)
#3. Hard liquor.
You know, her general behavior on posting prices strikes me less as passive-aggressive and more as desperate and panicked.
I think that the way she handled your recent order - the one with the price breakdown - is definitely wacky. Because like you said, you already know it. Is she worried about everyone else knowing it too? Is she trying to tell everyone "don't get any ideas that I'm going to fund all of your new ideas, because I just funded Jenski's and so-and-so's". Or is it "we can't spend much money right now, because of this big order we just had to place."
Have any of you considered talking to her about it? I know that it is a difficult thing to bring up, but NOT talking to her and being pissed about it is actually the passive aggressive part.
Just food for thought.
And I think unsigned is a coward for not putting a name on a comment. I mean, if you have opinions, have the decency to stand by them with your name.
Squirl, here's hopin' she comes back relaxed!
Spark, I'm sure one of the grad students has some pills lying around.
Kalki, #4 should be wine probably.
Danielle, you have a good point. She has done this off and on since before she lost funding, so we've always taken it as an antagonistic thing. I do hope that my frustrations with things like this do not REALLY affect how I interact with her. It is difficult for me to get over the idea that she is supposed to advise me and show me how to run a lab, when really I could be just as central to open communications!
Post a Comment