Monday, August 18, 2014

Please don't kick the colleagues

I need to stop admitting out loud that my syllabi are done or one of my colleagues is going to kick me. Sorry! I can't help it that I'm totally neurotic about deadlines! And I don't know what came over me when I agreed to attend 13 different meetings and events this week, some of which require me to actually present information! With all that going on, there's no way writing syllabi would fit into this ridiculous week.

This morning I've been making progress on all those petty little details that must be completed before classes begin, but I keep running into dead ends. Speaking of wanting to kick a colleague, did you know that all it takes to derail a powerful committee is to refuse to respond to e-mail? It doesn't matter that all the rest of the committee members have dutifully sent me their scheduling information--the one holdout will prevent the committee from taking a single step this semester. Applying for tenure or promotion this year? Sorry, folks! The committee can't schedule any meetings until that one guy reads his e-mail! No tenure for anyone!

Rumor has it that people are having trouble sending files to the department photocopier this morning. Good thing I got all my photocopying done before the trouble started! Oh, and by the way, I used up all the pretty yellow paper! I'll just sit here and watch my colleagues struggle--but I'd better look busy or someone's bound to kick me.


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