...Everyone is an expert on something. And everyone has some piece of necessary knowledge that you require for some particular project. And when you finally get the information you've been waiting over a week for your post-doc give you... the person you need to get information from next is on vacation. Always. These things that, if people were around and had email access, I could take care of in a day, end up taking several weeks.
Why haven't I graduated yet? Because every time I need key information from someone, it takes at least a week to get it. And then another week to get the next piece of information. And then another week...
Example time frame:
Supposed to start method development: March
(Actual start: May. Reason: Bossman wants post-doc to re-validate method)
Supposed to start running samples on new method: May
(Actual start: tentatively, mid-September. Reason: Technician doesn't want to deal with my finicky samples. Make New plan: Find another method. Get information from other people. Take several safety tests. Get approval for specific lab space from safety committee. Design experiment to validate method. Practice runs with new method.)
Supposed to be done with samples: June
(fuck)
I'm sure, somewhere, there is a mathematical formula that relates years working on PhD to number of experts in a lab. I'll just open my math drawer and poke around.
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