The Venting Thread

[ergative]

In this Covid era many of us have experienced declines in our modest incomes as the prices of menu items at restaurants have often inceased sharply. Since gratuity, "tip", amounts are   most often based on a percentage of the cost of the meal, wait staff have had, in effect, a raise. Many, though, due to hard times, expect a rise in their "tip" percentage. Often this happens. But most times, with me as patron, it does not. So, look "honey", know that if you are lookin' for more than 20% from me, there is gonna need to be sex or somethin' involved!

At a restaurant that I frequent, I noticed that the automatic tip calculations that appear at the bottom of statements are no longer 15%/18%/20%. It's now 18%/20%/25%.

Well, it's good that something's keeping up with inflation, since minimum wage for tipped jobs won't.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

Unrelated.

Why in the absolute Hell have you been wasting my time trying to schedule an appointment for College stuff when I already TOLD you that the people you need to see will NOT BE THERE?

[apl68]

It's discouraging to be working on getting raises for your staff for the coming year, and yet having some of them get mad at you because you tried to talk to them about something that needed to be dealt with and it hurt their feelings.  I'm not really at liberty to tell them that we're working on raises until the Powers That Be actually decide on it.

[mamselle]

Something about no good deed going unpunished seems to be resonating through the galaxy there...

M.

[Puget]

IRB staff, we are so freaking tired of having to explain your own procedures and forms to you, every single time. You are not new to this job, so how come you (a) ask for stuff that is different from the instructions on your very own website and forms, and from what other staff have previously emailed us, and (b) have the same problems with the training certificates not coming up the way you are searching or not reading the information on them correctly, requiring us to explain it to you every time. You are wasting my and my grad students' time because you seem to lack the basic skills to do your job. ARG!

[mamselle]

I had a sort-of in to an EA job that involved IRB submission preparation, etc.

I KNEW to dodge that bullet....didn't even apply.

M.

[ergative]

IRB staff, we are so freaking tired of having to explain your own procedures and forms to you, every single time. You are not new to this job, so how come you (a) ask for stuff that is different from the instructions on your very own website and forms, and from what other staff have previously emailed us, and (b) have the same problems with the training certificates not coming up the way you are searching or not reading the information on them correctly, requiring us to explain it to you every time. You are wasting my and my grad students' time because you seem to lack the basic skills to do your job. ARG!

When I was a grad student the IRB gave me a very hard time about how to enter some funding information into an application, so our brilliant admin person called them to 'clarify' exactly what it was they wanted. Apparently she was so firm with the IRB staffer on the other end of the phone that complaints were lodged against my department. I had always been slightly scared of this particular admin person, until I saw that she could use her powers for good. Or, at least, for me.

[mamselle]

IRB staff, we are so freaking tired of having to explain your own procedures and forms to you, every single time. You are not new to this job, so how come you (a) ask for stuff that is different from the instructions on your very own website and forms, and from what other staff have previously emailed us, and (b) have the same problems with the training certificates not coming up the way you are searching or not reading the information on them correctly, requiring us to explain it to you every time. You are wasting my and my grad students' time because you seem to lack the basic skills to do your job. ARG!

When I was a grad student the IRB gave me a very hard time about how to enter some funding information into an application, so our brilliant admin person called them to 'clarify' exactly what it was they wanted. Apparently she was so firm with the IRB staffer on the other end of the phone that complaints were lodged against my department. I had always been slightly scared of this particular admin person, until I saw that she could use her powers for good. Or, at least, for me.

That was exactly the situation I sought to avoid.

It's exhausting using your super-powers for good every day, all the time...

M.

[paddington_bear]

The chairperson of our university's Board of Trustees made some ill-informed and inflammatory comments to our local paper about the state of our university and what he saw as solutions to our budget/enrollment/retention problems (firing some tenured faculty, for one). So now our campus, which is already angry/frustrated/etc about the position we're in and the seemingly ineffectual solutions over the past X years, is even more angry/frustrated/etc.  Our Student Affairs head is leaving, so we'll have yet another interim admin. On the positive side, it was just announced that we're doing a search for almost a dozen positions. I need to win the lottery and get up out of here.

[clean]

Plagiarism!! 

Why cheat?  the assignment is so easy to do (write 5 original MC questions for each chapter), and worse, so easy to catch when you plagiarize! 

I should be doing so many other things than spending HOURS!! documenting what was copied and then filling out the form, and then preparing All of the Required supporting documentation (student emails, syllabus, ethics policy, the part of the REQUIRED ethics course that specifically addressed plagiarism, and then completing the redundant ONLINE submission form!

I so understand WHY other faculty dont do this work and am annoyed that the students therefore have a false sense that 'nothing is illegal if you dont get caught' OR worse, 'dont face any documented repercussions'.

Repeated DOCUMENTED incidents can result in actual academic suspension!  But no documentation of earlier bad deeds means that they get a warning at best! 

While this is 'part of my job', i dont think that I 'get paid to do this'!  (I get paid - bonuses even- to publish, not uphold the academic rigor of the institution! 

[Parasaurolophus]

Nooooooooooooooooo! My university email is now protected by two-factor authentication. Sigh.

(But not when accessed by phone...)

[mamselle]

Nooooooooooooooooo! My university email is now protected by two-factor authentication. Sigh.

(But not when accessed by phone...)

My Gmail is threatening this, and I Ssspoooooooo do not want it!!!

Nannying, that's all it is.

M.

[Harlow2]

Nooooooooooooooooo! My university email is now protected by two-factor authentication. Sigh.

(But not when accessed by phone...)

How often do you have to sign in with TFA?  We now have SO many barriers to doing work.  If that gets added I'll seriously contemplate retirement.

[Parasaurolophus]

Nooooooooooooooooo! My university email is now protected by two-factor authentication. Sigh.

(But not when accessed by phone...)

My Gmail is threatening this, and I Ssspoooooooo do not want it!!!

Nannying, that's all it is.

M.

Yeah, me too. Today's the day, apparently.

Nooooooooooooooooo! My university email is now protected by two-factor authentication. Sigh.

(But not when accessed by phone...)

How often do you have to sign in with TFA?  We now have SO many barriers to doing work.  If that gets added I'll seriously contemplate retirement.

Dunno yet! We'll see. IIRC, when they first introduced it at my postdoc institution it was twice a week and for every library access.

[Harlow2]

The chairperson of our university's Board of Trustees made some ill-informed and inflammatory comments to our local paper about the state of our university and what he saw as solutions to our budget/enrollment/retention problems (firing some tenured faculty, for one). So now our campus, which is already angry/frustrated/etc about the position we're in and the seemingly ineffectual solutions over the past X years, is even more angry/frustrated/etc.  Our Student Affairs head is leaving, so we'll have yet another interim admin. On the positive side, it was just announced that we're doing a search for almost a dozen positions. I need to win the lottery and get up out of here.

So sorry, paddington bear.  That kind of atmosphere is really tough.