Excuse me while I vent

I lost a tutorial. Grumble.

I don't mean I accidentally misplaced it, because that would be careless, even for me. I mean that after weeks of no one but me showing any interest in teaching the Intro tutorials, I got a visit from the HOD yesterday to tell me that two other grad students and one newly graduated one have requested teaching. All of a sudden. And he'd like to find a "solution", which, because he is being tugged in two directions by not wanting to hurt anyone's feelings and also having a negative budget to play with, is not easily forthcoming.

Seeing how late their requests were (like, the week that semester started), he felt justified in turning down the two other grad students. And fortunately for me, I'm cheaper to employ than someone who already has their PhD, so I'm not losing all of my classes. But HOD was feeling understandably sorry for Newly Graduated Student, as a teaching position she had arranged for this year had just fallen through, and she also has a new baby to cope with.

HOD made it clear he wasn't going to redistribute any of my tutorials without my agreement, but I feel there was a lot of subtle pressure to play nice and give in. So instead of the reply I wanted to make, which was "No! I asked for these back in November. And I need the money to fund my travel to the conference workshop I am organising. They're all mine. Mi...i...i...i...ne!" I said I could probably manage to do two instead of three. And ScaryLecturer is giving up his two as well, which he will be grateful for, since as a lecturer he doesn't get paid extra for them, anyway. Newly Graduated Student will therefore have four classes and I will have two.

Which, while maybe a little unfair, is the best situation for everyone. And I am glad to be in a department that cares so much about their new graduates. Really. I've been thinking for a while that I should write a post about how much I like the supportive and friendly atmosphere of our department. And I will write one, just as soon as I finish sulking.


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