OK, Jen! I have a question, and I'm begging for an honest answer. As our resident Academic-in-Training, the burden of this inquiry falls on your shoulders. I have become convinced that somewhere along the road to a Terminal Degree, some secret sect of Ph.D.-types requires you to take a core "Becoming Insufferably Weird and Annoying the Piss Out of Administration and Staff" seminar. Fess up. Is this true? A bespectacled, ruffled-looking faculty member just sashayed through here looking for the woman (we'll call her Jane) who has the office next to mine. Him: Hi. Is Jane around? Sometimes this place is downright creepy.
Me: Sorry, no. She stepped out for a meeting. She said she'd be back around noon.
Him: So she's not in?
Me: No. She stepped out for a meeting.
Him: I've phoned her a few times now. She didn't answer, so I thought maybe she had taken a sick day.
Me: No. She's in today. She's just at a meeting.
Him: (stares at me; protracted silence ensues)
Me: She'll be back around noon.
Him: (continues silent staring routine)
Me: (stares back)
Crickets: Chirp. Chirp.
Him: (after at least 10 seconds) OK, then.
Exeunt Professor Weirdo
posted by Kate at 11:09 AM link/comments
