Monday, September 6, 2010

Lab Manager who does no lab work?

The fact is that in science if you want to make great money, you'll eventually have to come out of the lab. I just didn't expect it to come so soon since I was told that my job would involve a lot more lab work than it actually does. The thing is that I'm at my computer and in meetings so much during the day, that my knees are starting to hurt!!! At this point, I've honestly only done 3 procedures using my hands, that's 3 procedures in 1 month! And that's not to say that what I have been doing isn't important, it's just that I didn't expect this to happen to me at this point. But apparently IO'd better get used to it since I plan for my salary to only increase from this point forward!!!

Of course, I'm getting a REAL good lesson in "people" once again, and find my Achilles, working for and with a lot of women, aching from all the $hit I'm once again observing. But I'll say it again, make yourself a doormat at the onset and that's what you'll be for the remainder of your time there! Anhoo, it's not anything particularly outrageous I'm seeing, I just will never get why some people feel the need to remind you that: 1) They're in charge and that 2) If you screw up, they'll put their foot in your hindparts, LOL!!!

Moving on, the tech from hell is still proudly wearing her torns and pitchfork, but I'm learning to handle it pretty well. The issue that I was warned could potentially be bad and which is turning out to be the case, is that this woman comes from a culture/country that tends to immigrate to this country and adopt ALL the negative stereotypes about brown people from the moment they get off the plane/boat. You know I tell people all the time, I'd MUCH rather deal with a hillbilly from the back woods of Tennessee, than someone from New Delhi with a similar "belief system", because the level of racial prejudice is often 1 zillion times worse!!!. And if she were really intelligent it wouldn't be so bad, but because she's not nearly as smart as she thinks she is, it's really, REALLY bad!! Arrogant ignorance has and will NEVER be pretty, LOL!!! But if you've graduated from a top 10 school and have been "in the business" for almost 15 years, then I expect you to know that when you're standardizing an antibody for experimental use, you should use a known positive control when it's available!!! Thing is, I had to watch her make this mistake so I could justify why she's no longer tasked with these duties any longer, and the hundreds of dollars this lab has wasted because she didn't know what the hell she was doing is mind blowing! But the fact is that not everyone with a science degree is cut out to do science, at least not research anyway!!! Some folks should stick to the cookie cutter lab environments like those found in hospital and commercial path labs, and leave the research to others.

OK, I think I'm done venting about that for now!! Now about my MCAT prep, just 2 words sums it up: NON EXISTENT!!! Honestly, adapting to my new gig has been a little more stressful than I anticipated as has getting acclimated to having a high school student in my midst. So, I've put myself on a once/week schedule until things normalize somewhat (which for a working Mom, is NEVER gonna really happen), but I think you know what I mean. :) Yesterday, it was biology/immunology review which was as much for the fact that I'm Immuno heavy in my new gig, as the fact that after getting to the bookstore, I realized I left my chemistry books at home! So I found a very nifty Physio book at on sale for like 8 bucks, and proceeded to get my review "on"!!!

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