Academics Chat Thread

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

I believe the old Chat thread has fallen off the front page of this section, and I thought it might be time to reinstate it. I know it's only sporadically useful, but sometimes it's nice, right?

I am a lowly postdoctoral English Lit type. Finished my PhD in 2014, teaching associate for a couple of years, and now part-time while DD is a baby. I'm currently working frantically to get my book manuscript to the publisher by my deadline (October), and also trying to regain enthusiasm for the job market.

Who else is lurking around here?

I am only vaguely aware of the guy and his getting in to Oxford with crap A levels. my excuse is: I am forin

What will this Toby Young appointment mean for us? I've only just heard about it myself 😟

Oh dear. Just caught up on a few tit bits of info on him....

DH is an academic. I am a teacher . It's the one time our two worlds have collided massively. He's just dreadful.

Toby Young that is. Not DH.

He's gone, isn't he?

Toby Young, not user1471134011's DH.

Might I put out a small plea for some moral support? I'm having a bit of a shit time at work ATM. A few years back I was hired into a very incestuous dept that 95 percent of the time hires people that have done their PhDs there - a lot of my colleagues have known each other since they were undergrads at the same institution. My research area is also kind of marginal to the main department which is very hierarchical and traditional all about dead white males and I'm pretty much doing my own thing a lot of the time.

Anyway, today we had a big dept meeting which finished at lunchtime. I thought people might go and eat together, like we would have in my old job, but no, people either went home or peeled off in twos and threes, leaving me on my tod. Now I realise they're under no obligation and people have busy lives and stuff, but I do find the lack of camaraderie rather depressing. Sigh.

Oh that sounds tough, but from here it looks as though big lunches out aren’t not the culture there, rather than you being left out. Give it time. You only need to find one or two likeminded people and then you can go off with them yourself next time .

I tend to make friends with people in other departments - there are very few women in my department so it's a case of survival.

it's depressing. I have lunch with some colleagues, which is nice if not a bit mundane - others I'd be happy to never see.
Whenever I can, I organise lunch meets with colleagues from other departments / unis to get a nice chat / company and do some work as well.

Otherwise, also having shit time at work - I have very low motivation, and really resent that I spend 40% of my time being a glorified admin, chasing orders, finance, expenses, HR etc. I've done nothing today but liaise with the millions of temporary/faceless admins in my uni, trying to understand the admin red tape of my uni - been there ~16 years now, and systems change every year. I'm pissed off no end.

Thanks all. I guess I'm just feeling a bit sorry for myself. I think I'm just doomed to be an eternal outsider in this new dept, I've been there for several years already but everyone is already BFF with people they've known there for twenty years, and I never come into contact with anyone from any other departments - it doesn't help that we're split across several sites.

I heard on the grapevine that one of the reasons my pet project was knocked back before Xmas (see upthread) is because "she's a foreigner, she doesn't understand how it works here". FFS, I've only been in the system for fifteen years. I think it might be time for a sabbatical.

gauche sounds like this isn't a great department for you. I've found the best way to make friends and also alliances is just to look for one or two people you might have something in common with, or make a coffee date to discuss work, or I usually try to have a coffee with new staff members as well. Some of these have gone on to be friends, and if not, then it still promotes a more friendly and collegiate atmosphere. I wouldn't say I'm super-popular, but I hate big department events anyway, and so I always have someone to sit next to in meetings or go for the odd lunch which is the level of sociability I'm looking for anyway.

Sabbatical sounds good!

Yeah it's not a great fit. Ironically I had a brilliant bunch of mates in my old job, but left because of one particular colleague who was harassing me. Which makes it sound like I might be the problem, I know, but really not, I'm a perfectly pleasant and easy-going person :-)

A WFT Admin moan from me.
Information audit has come round. We are supposed to report every single file we have on our computers that has any name of anyone in i.e. anything from a student with a name in, anything with a list of students or colleagues, any journal article, etc. etc. etc.

I have written back saying they clearly have no clue what I have on my computer, and neither do I, so I'm not opening all my files up to check. So basically sod off.

I expect I will be told to keep quiet and lie (one colleague already told me she sent in a nil return, but unless she keeps no files on her computer obviously that is not true).

Oh, gauche, that does sound isolating. Although I must say I still consider myself 'work friends' with someone I last had lunch with two years ago and I believe may have said a few words to last year when crossing in a lecture theatre - you may be able to find some individuals, perhaps outside your department, to do more socialising?

I'm also feeling demotivated. I just haven't gotten back into things since the holidays - I came back immediately to meetings and travel and giving a talk and it was all exciting, and now back at the Uni everything feels dull. I can't get excited about stuff, and I have so many things to do that I'm paralysed by indecision. Then when I decide to go start something, it doesn't work and I feel like I'm bouncing about: "oh, I'll do X and get that out of the way" - computer system needed for X is down; "oh, I'll do Y" - find I don't have everything I need for Y, material for Y not available for 2 weeks; "oh, what about Z? why haven't I done that already?" - realise Z is far more complicated than I thought as I run into same problem that stopped me completing it last time, and so on - I've made a start on half a dozen or more projects and run down.

worst - WHAT???? I have never heard of this. That's ridiculous! I've done FoI requests for specific individuals - and that took hours of trawling through material and gathering it. Are you meant to report the names per file, the file names, the numbers, or what? Every single email message will have someone's (or multiple someones') names! Journal articles? WTF??

WTF indeed worst, that is just plain ridiculous.

If something is just in an email we apparently don't have to do it.
But people email round documents, I can't remember if I downloaded them or not.

They say "just report one batch of documents" but even to do that I have to know where all the documents are that hold one type of information. I bet my downloads folder (and all the temporary folders that Outlook creates when it downloads stuff) each have several types of information.

Ach soz to be a whingebag but I've just had a really snotty rude email from a pissy PhD student who I didn't give a job to because someone else was a better candidate. For fuck's sake, little cow.

really!!?? talk about burning bridges!
come on - what does it say??

Haha, tempting but best not... I'm quite tempted to write back and say well see this is just reinforcing my opinion that I was right not to give you the job, you loon. I shall squash the urge though, no good can come of it.

Worst: yours is not the only university that is panicking about confidential data held by staff, in the run up to the new law.

Oh dear, I'm out of touch. What's the new law?

What new law?

I was awake 3-4.30 worrying my big story will be gazumped

what big story?