Dream: Like A Veterinarian, But For Rocks
Friday, Oct 2nd, 2009:
Alison was on good terms with her old undergrad adviser from Carleton. He was a respected polymath close to retirement, and she was trying to convince him to name her as his replacement for one of his jobs at the university. (He was a senior staff doctor, he chaired the Geology department, he taught the occasional biology seminar....) Everything seemed to be going well.
He died, and Alison's plans began to unravel as the University made its staffing decisions. She'd been rebuffed repeatedly by the President's office. I agreed to help her see him, but it still took us two entire episodes before she got a meeting with him.
She arrived at 37:30, 5 minutes from the end of the second episode. She made her case concisely, then explained that she'd lost all faith in the integrity of the University and its management as a result of this fiasco and had no interest in working for it. I was proud of her. The President called her back as she opened the door to leave and offered her a better job, the one she really wanted (something like a veterinarian, but for rocks). She negotiated carefully, then accepted.
Before we could celebrate, we heard the Board of Regents had invalidated the agreement and cut the position. We went to meet with them; a half-dozen retired men lounged around a heavy table of dark wood.
"We've actually cut all our veterinary positions," one of them told us. "The cruise missile we've been developing is finally ready. It can handle all sorts of veterinary operations, and we can deploy it anywhere."
Alison was on good terms with her old undergrad adviser from Carleton. He was a respected polymath close to retirement, and she was trying to convince him to name her as his replacement for one of his jobs at the university. (He was a senior staff doctor, he chaired the Geology department, he taught the occasional biology seminar....) Everything seemed to be going well.
He died, and Alison's plans began to unravel as the University made its staffing decisions. She'd been rebuffed repeatedly by the President's office. I agreed to help her see him, but it still took us two entire episodes before she got a meeting with him.
She arrived at 37:30, 5 minutes from the end of the second episode. She made her case concisely, then explained that she'd lost all faith in the integrity of the University and its management as a result of this fiasco and had no interest in working for it. I was proud of her. The President called her back as she opened the door to leave and offered her a better job, the one she really wanted (something like a veterinarian, but for rocks). She negotiated carefully, then accepted.
Before we could celebrate, we heard the Board of Regents had invalidated the agreement and cut the position. We went to meet with them; a half-dozen retired men lounged around a heavy table of dark wood.
"We've actually cut all our veterinary positions," one of them told us. "The cruise missile we've been developing is finally ready. It can handle all sorts of veterinary operations, and we can deploy it anywhere."