Two peeves and a pleasure.

[rivka]

I came into work this morning to find a "Congratulations, Doctor!" sign on my door and a "Ph.D." appended to the nameplate beside the door. Also, the "while you were gone" note from our research assistant managed to work in the phrase "Dr. Wald" three different times. Yay, Lydia and Javi.

Now for the peeves:

(1) You should not ask someone with a new Ph.D. whether they're going to do a postdoc or take a "real job." As people working 60+ hours per week at their postdocs can surely attest, a postdoc is a "real job" in every sense of the word.

(2) It is unlikely that someone who has just spent eight years of her life earning a Ph.D. will be amused by the idea that Ph.D. stands for "[shit] Piled Higher & Deeper." Which part did you mean, the congratulations or the insult?

Okay, maybe I'm oversensitive, but sheesh.

Comments

[papersky.livejournal.com]

I think there are some people who want to spoil other people's pleasure in achievement, and I think some of them can be found on usenet.

If Omega had said that to me, I'd have gritted my teeth, rather than asked for clarification, because I think she was just being clueless -- it mostly would strike me as off because it's what you say to someone starting a PhD, not someone achieving one -- or as various people have said, it's what people say themselves in the middle of one. It's out of season.

The problem with asking for clarification is you get what was said afterwards, and that was spiteful and mean spirited and the more you say the more it appears you can't take a joke -- which is why joking isn't funny unless it's consensual.

The problem with *not* asking is that you sit there being miserable -- that's what happened to me on usenet when my first novel came out and you may remember what happened to the possibility of my innocently squeeing over it. People get so into scoring points they forget other people are people.