Co-worker woes

[Dbl Helicks]

Shame...poor PhD student. I feel sorry for them sometimes, always having to deal with nasty grumpy underslept underpaid overworked postdocs. It's a miracle we don't scare them off altogether!

Seriously do you think we have a duty to be more cheerful so we foster our own replacements, or do we have a duty to be surly so they are under no misconceptions?

[Mad Dan Eccles]

Bwah hah hah. The Force is strong with this one. I'll take him myself.

I think we have a duty to be honest. No more, no less.

[tideliar]

Honesty. Only way to go. Ask me and I'll tll you the truth about it's like to be a postdoc and I can tell you about grad school. And when it's going well you'll see the happiest most excited motherf****r in the department.

And when it's going badly, you'll see a nasty, pissed off, surly, angry, depressed maniac.

c'est la vie, non?

[Mad Dan Eccles]

eh oui. Comme ci, comme ça.

[emmanc]

haven't had a group meeting for a while, so no chance to put into action the dog training methods

I have found that scowling at the questioner usually sees them off quite quickly

[neurograd]

Just popping my head back in the forum after a long time! Glad to see the thread got resurrected, although Emma's day from hell certainly sounds like no fun. At least it sounds like that issue was resolved.

For the long-term update on my little saga that started the whole thread, the guy's been gone for over 6 months now or so, and it's been glorious. Lab is peaceful and productive and conflict-free.

I found the discussion of keeping track of how long everyone works interesting. I tend to work 6-8 hours/day physically in the lab during the week, and maybe 1-2 hours if needed on the weekend. But I do a lot of writing, data analysis, and just general thinking about my experiments when I'm home. I can say with absolute certainty that my PI is completely pleased with my productivity, and wouldn't care if I were working 12-14 hours/day in the lab instead. In fact, she would probably tell me to take a rest. But in reality if I take into account the work I do at home, and over supposed "vacations" etc., it probably comes out to >10 hrs/day.

It's funny, though, sometimes I worry that other people in my lab might think I don't put in the hours, but then I can't really determine how many hours they're working, either. I think it's one of those things were you think everyone's noticing, but really they couldn't care less.

[Dr Mike]

Hey neurograd, nice to see you again.

Have you made an effort to tell people, even off-hand, that some of your work happens at home? Even though it shouldn't matter, I think it's important not to be perceived as a slacker by one's peers as well as one's boss.

[neurograd]

Hey Dr Mike!

Don't worry, my lab (by and large) and boss know that I do some of my work at home. You're right, perception is definitely important. I think if my productivity were in question it might be an issue, but I have been quite productive so it's not a problem.

[Daughter of Darwin]

Well, that's a relief. Never underestimate the bitchiness of the lab environment - hell hath no fury like the postdoc who suspects her fellow docs are getting the same number of papers with half the amount of work though! Somehow, we're all supposed to be suffering the same.

[hedge]

Yes, but there is always the 'golden boy/girl' who can do no wrong and every touch seems to turn into a Nature paper. We all know the type!