I promise this will be the last post with this title. But
the past week or so has been nothing but scenarios of this type at work—inefficiency,
stupidity, misinformation, poor communication, laziness and just plain indifference.
I'm so tired of it all, of having to
deal with customer service reps at scientific supply companies who don’t want
to deal with customers, of talking to salespeople who haven’t the faintest
notion of when their products will be delivered but who lie anyway and give you
a delivery date so that you spend several hours running around trying to find
out to whom it was delivered. I’m tired of leadership that doesn’t have the
faintest idea what employees want or if they do know, how to give it to them. I’m
tired of hearing ‘we’re going to be the best in the world’ when the IT
infrastructure is crumbling around us. You don’t get to the top with an IT
infrastructure that is from the Stone Age. I’m tired of hearing the same
conversations about the same problems that we’ve been talking about for years.
There were no solutions to them four years ago and there are no solutions to
them now. There are no solutions because there is no money, or if there is
money, it has been misappropriated and used on things that were not necessary.
We need an IT budget to revamp the IT infrastructure. We need to be discussing
the future of IT in our department, how to arrange it, how to pay for it, etc. We
don’t need to be discussing Christmas parties, overnight seminars or other
social events for which we have no budget.
I’m tired of so many thing in the workplace. I cannot wait
to retire, so that I can do other things that get me outdoors, away from the
four walls of a sterile office, away from the claustrophobic interiors and
indoor climates of modern buildings where you can hardly open a window. I want
to breathe fresh air, be surrounded by trees, plants, greenery. I want to let
go of all that is unhealthy—the stress of useless discussions and problems that
will never be solved. I want to be free of arrogant leaders, leaders whose egos
are like black holes that destroy everyone in their vicinity. I’m tired of
leaders who permit convicted criminals to remain in their jobs. I want to be
free of the rhetoric, the bullshit, and the lies when it comes to ‘being great’.
I’ll settle for being good enough. I don’t want any more competition for
funding, for promotions, or for publishing. I don’t care about impact factors,
H-factors, titles, prestige or anything related to inflated egos. I am so tired
of academia and academics. I never thought I’d say it, but it’s the truth. I
can’t wait to retire to my garden. That’s where you’ll find me.
