The workplace delimma of US born Scientists and a "no show"

I'm just going to flat out say it, I think it's WRONG for a US born and trained Scientist to have to compete to a significant degree with Foreign born Scientists, especially in a recession ( which I think is still at play in the US economy). Just as former military folks have preference for federal jobs, US training scientists should have some preferences too!

Why? Because the 'ish ain't right OR fair and like many other things in the US, the groups of people who deal with the consequences the most are those in the minority in certain fields, and I'm not just talking about racial minorities. I'm talking about the disabled, the poor ( or those whose backgrounds don't buy them very many advantages), women (especially in fields like computer science and engineering), AND under represented minorities, like Puerto Ricans, Blacks, ect. Recently a former big pharma colleague of mine whose from Africa, attended a Biosciences career fair where she said that from her observations, English was maybe the third or forth language being spoken with Asian languages topping the list. WOW! Now I've heard since the 80's that there aren't enough US born folks going into PhD type careers thus the need to import them from elsewhere. But I wonder if it has ever occurred to anyone that perhaps the reason why is because of the overall poor job market for these careers which is fueled by the strong presence of Immigrants? In comparison, I'm thinking it would be cold day in Hades before a similar thing happened in medicine, though it does seem that number of Americans are using the services of Foreign hospitals in an effort to manage their medical expenses. But a Foreign born Physician take over of the US medical profession? I just don't see that happening ever. It's just too bad that the PhD world isn't being protected in the same way which is why I NEVER advised anyone interested in a research career to go the PhD only route. You gotta' combine that with some sort of clinical training too( DO, MD, PharmD, ect) in order to secure your future employment prospects. Now for the record, let me state that I think immigration is a big part of what makes this country special. But if folks born here consistently have a difficult time getting a decent job, then we need to rethink a few things.

Moving on, I'm still behind in my Python course but that's mainly because I've got too much on my proverbial plate these days. Luckily for me, my prof is allowing me to go at my own pace which is a tremendous help, and I'm VERY thankful. Things are also moving along in the meanie moo lab and I always try to remind myself not to get too caught up in my PI's attitude since 1) she's like that with EVERYONE, 2) I really do enjoy what I'm doing in her lab, and 3) I'm learning so many new things! My eyeball rolling teenager also recently turned "sweet 16" and it was pretty unceremonious in that she spent the day in school and the night studying for a major test in Pre-calculus.But she's back to being her usually sweet self, so I'm glad!

Finally, I want to mention how my interview went. Or maybe I should say didn't go, I interviewed with 5 of the 6 people I'd be working with on the same day. But by the day of the interview, the 6th person had already rescheduled with me twice due to her "schedule". Cool, so we reschedule for the next week on a day that I would normally be in the lab, with an appointment set at 10AM. So 10:15 rolls around and I hadn't heard from her, so I emailed my contact in HR to make sure I wasn't supposed to be calling in (which you KNOW I was already clear on before, but whatever). She emails me ~ 10 mins later to say that the woman would call soon. Now 10:30 rolls around, then 10:45, then 11:00, then 11:15, and I STILL hadn't heard ANYTHING from this woman! So at 11:15 when I needed to be in the lab 15 minutes earlier, I called and emailed HR to let them know that I hadn't heard from the woman. And that was over 8 days ago, and I STILL haven't heard a thing back from ANYONE at this company!!!

In my previous post, I asked the rhetorical question about which I would choose if given one between this gig and the lower paying, but more directly tied to my future position at the NIH. Well after this experience, I'm sure it will come as NO surprise which gig I'd choose. I mean really, who in the hell wants a rude, inconsiderate, and disrespectful future employer when you already KNOW going in, they're going to treat you like a HUGE pile of crap? No, I don't have ANY more lessons to learn about where I need to work and the places I need to avoid like the plague!