First.
My plane from Paris to Toulouse tonight was delayed by 1.5 hours because of an air traffic controller strike in Greece.
Second.
I had parked my car in the parking lot of my husband’s workplace near the airport, but because of the delay, the security had barricaded me in, and hubby had not left me the remote control in the car to open the barricade because I have never needed it before. 30 minutes more.
Third.
I received a gently worded message that can only be read to mean that one of my two group directors in Paris thinks I might not be providing optimal quality guidance to a master’s student, for whom the other director forced me into accepting a co-tutorship on a project I didn’t want to work on from the outset. The student is a nice guy, and should not have to pay a price because I caved in – part of why I did, is that he would have paid much more had I not. The co-tutor is well-intentioned, but it was obviously not going to work with her alone.
I can be such a sucker. I said I would be the point person in the laboratory for this student for a project that I made sure to obtain in writing, and would arrange for him to get what he needs. The student hasn’t complained to me, nor to my knowledge to anyone else, but he would like to have his project evolve in all sorts of ways that I don’t want to oversee.
There is a great proverb in French, “les absents ont tort”. Meaning literally, those who are absent are wrong. Think about it. It applies well to meetings, to voting, and certainly, to trying to run research activities on two sites.
One of the nice things about being a woman of child-bearing age is that I can fantasize briefly about getting pregnant accidentally-on-purpose and telling all my colleagues to go to hell and make do without me for three years of parental leave (which right to unpaid leave was established after I had my children).
Then I remember that I actually do respect and like all of these people, and that I’m probably just tired, and need to go find my soft bed to get over the earlier, minor frustrations of the day (not all of which mentioned) that have likely conditioned my reaction.
Yes, maybe sleep on it, chin up and a gently worded reply?
Alternatively, I’ll see if I can call in a few favours…
just give me the coordinates.
Can you claim to get some retrospective maternity leave? Now that would be progress! And atypically French.
There is nothing like modern travel to reduce even well-adjusted people to despair. Just march in there and sort them out in person.
Thanks, folks, for support-at-a-distance. I’d have sorted them out in person if anyone had bothered to mention it to me while I was still there to do so – now it will have to await July 6th for my presence. Currently I need to address some family stuff (and no, I’m not pregnant! and yes, got some sleep!)
What an apt proverb for academia! I would add the corollary that those who are absent are placed on committees. It’s often difficult to say “no” to supervisory and advising duties, especially when a student is involved.
Hope you get a chance to relax this weekend, Heather.
Heather, I really admire you for working so hard and being successful as it is…you may be hard on yourself and there is so much pressure in science, but I do hope you get to relax and vent your frustrations! It definitely seems like you have a complicated situation in your hands but once you give yourself some space, you will figure it out! You are not a sucker. :)