Laboratory Finances

Okay, I'm going to get a little bitchy about my work. I've been absolutely IRRITATED the past several days about recent events in the lab. BUT, I feel I need to qualify this whole post by saying that (1) I love my job; I bitch and moan a lot about it, but it's the best job I've had ever and (2) I love my boss; I'm convinced that without her this job would blow major chunks, and I know for a fact that if I had my previous boss for this job I would have been fired years ago. And with that said, I do have to bitch and moan about lab finances for a bit.

Our boss announced in our weekly meeting last Thursday that one of Program Project grants from the NIH did not get renewed and that the other labs on the project decided to take the rewrite in a different direction, so our lab is no longer included. This totally blows, but is not at all catastrophic. We have plenty of money from other grants, and she's working on writing several other applications to make up for this loss. However, what this does mean is six months to a year of "conservative spending" (her term).

This was contrasted with the announcement that no one had to worry about his/her job/salary/stipend. She was going to rearrange things so everyone would still be paid. That's nice; I enjoy job security (especially after my last job). HOWEVER, she also just took on a new grad student. AND she keeps refusing to fire the bitch of the lab who deserves to be gone. Rumors have been swirling around the lab for over a year that AC would be gone "soon". First is was Jan 2009. Then, I was even told by the secretary that June 30, 2009 would be her last day. Then, the summer meeting schedule came out, and she's listed through August! WTF?

Okay, don't get me wrong. I'm all for saving money in lab where appropriate, and I do think that we've been a bit over frivolous (partly due to lack of supervision and partly do to being spoiled for the past couple years). HOWEVER, AC uses the most supply money of any one person in lab (by my rough "calculations" in my head), and she yields very little good results. I know, I'm a complete hypocrite by saying this (and I cringe looking at my typing of it), because I was fired from my last job for not bringing in enough results to justify my salary.

But this is just a simple case of her not getting along with ANYONE. Her lab meeting presentations are frequently punctuated with shouting matches between her and the boss. Her individual, bi-weekly meetings are spent arguing loudly with her. It was 2 years after she started when the boss said at a meeting (where AC was not present) that "she finally had data that she believed". AC comes in at 1130am and leaves at 4 or 430pm. She'll talk on the phone a lot of that time. She monopolizes equipment and leaves messes (fungus growing in "sterile" hoods) everywhere. She makes one of the techs do most of her work, so she doesn't have to do it. She's generally just a horrible person. She was told a year ago that she had to find her own source of money or she'd be gone. Well, she didn't get the fellowship, and she's still around. Everyone in lab has come to me separately and said "I know how to cut out a HUGE chunk of money" (or words to that effect), all meaning that AC really needs to go.

Granted, AC does not have a job lined up. She whined about being a single mom with no job, and our boss pitied her. And I've been told, that as long as I want/need to be here I can be. But the boss can not keep hiring people when people aren't leaving the lab. We're out of space!

When I joined the lab, there were 5 people regular lab members (I make 6). In the past 3.5 years, two people have left, and 9 people have joined. We're now 14 people (not including my summer high school student). The boss expects lots of work being done, but less money spent and not enough space to do the work she wants.

I have a feeling that AC really will leave at the end of the summer. There is a week on the current schedule when she's not listed, and that's an excellent sign. I really just hope that the extra work of this "conservative spending" is worth it. I trust that the boss knows what she's doing. It just makes the lab a completely different dynamic now, and I'm not adjusting well to the change.