And now for something completely different...

* * *

So there I was, at Fair Trade, my italian soda long since down my esophagus. I was re-doing my graphs and finalizing them for publication. I'd texted Hill, she'd texted back, we called, and all was cool. Unexpectedly, I also saw Chelsea and Mike (whom I sometimes talk to after abnormal psych) heading over. Chelsea and a friend of hers were doing some last minute cramming for a test tomorrow. They'd good naturedly said hi and asked me to take it for them. Chelsea playfully gnawed on her credit card while I went with the joke. True, I finally found out that she and Mike are indeed going out, but I figured as much.

And then my night went straight to shit.

For lurking in my inbox was a mail from Ben, one of the profs I TA for. Somehow, for some reason, one of the students who'd taken a make-up exam had been in contact with him again. It was regarding her documentation. Ben is very rigid about people taking make-ups: if your mother died, you need a death certificate, notarized notice from a doctor, the whole nine yards.

The student (who failed the exam, I might add) alleged that I told her I didn't need to "see" her documentation. Ben was naturally confused about this, because that'd mean, hey, I'd gone against exactly what he told me. Fortunately it'd only been 10 minutes from his email. I emailed him back and told him that I honestly didn't recall ever telling any of his students they didn't need to show me documentation. But maybe this student misremembered from another course.

Right after that, as I thought about it, I remembered her showing me the documents. They looked legitimate. So I thought that was it in terms of verifying them. I hadn't heard anything about needing to give Ben the proof, or him asking about it, so I thought all was well.

And all of the sudden I had to drop doing graphs, emailing Hill back and forth (as we do), and concentrate on this little crisis.

I am absolutely furious (though that's ebbing a little).

For one, what in the hell was she doing going back and forth in talking with him about an exam she'd already taken? I got a forward of a forward of a reply of a reply, so obviously it'd gone on for some time. Next, why in the hell was she talking about scheduling taking an exam with him in one email? She'd already taken it with me! And in the last email from her in the chain, she'd 'misspoke' and said that I said I didn't need to "see" her documents.

Maybe I told her I didn't need to KEEP them, but I certainly needed to see them. I mentioned this potential confusion to both Ben and her.

I swear to Christ, if this chick is pulling this shit to get back at me for getting a failing grade, I am going straight to an academic discipline committee and getting her expelled. There's absolutely no reason why Ben would have followed up unless she mentioned something.

* * *

Speaking of things that piss me off.

K.

So I came in early today to watch some lab work done, because it's expected I'll eventually do it. It's for my project, so of course I'm willing to do it. No one ever told me we were doing stimulation cultures, granted, but I'll do it.

So here I am thinking the rest of the week can just go tra la la neato as usual. Then I get this e-mail (with the subject "p.s.":

"You are welcome to help with {lab stuff}. We are still planning on Wednesday and Thursday."

Based on past communications, this means:

"You'll also be expected to do {lab stuff}. Come in tomorrow and the day after that to learn how, so you can do it."

So you might be thinking, 'well it is your project, dude.' Ahhh, but I was EXPLICITLY told that ALL of the infant stuff for my project was being done by OTHER people. And so now I'm expected to wake up at 8am, eat a dollop of yogurt, and get to the lab at 9am, all to do lab work that I was originally told I wouldn't have to do.

Added to the make-up student issue, I am not happy. But by tomorrow afternoon, hopefully the latter will be dead and done. And I'm just a whiny bitch about waking up early, so I'll deal with the lab crap.

And after 4pm I get to spend the rest of the day shopping and hanging out with Hillary, so that gives me something to look forward to.

I swear, a guy can't just focus on his research and occasionally screw off nowadays without something completely unexpected coming up.

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