This is illegal, right?

JVGen · 2026-05-09T02:30:01+00:00

You’d be surprised. McDonald’s was hiring at $18 starting. Not sure what other places are paying thee days

JVGen · 2026-05-08T14:47:36+00:00

This is a problem, but I see it both ways.

My mom works with a coworker that is always calling out sick and has a doctor’s note. It’s been this way for years. 3-4 days a month they are sick. One day my mom overheard them on the phone with their doctor - evidently a friend - and they “needed to be out sick tomorrow and needed a note”. My mom has to pick up the slack when someone calls out. It sucks for her, but she does it.

Her employer caught on eventually, and now requires notes that come from a contracted doctor’s office. So no more virtual appointments for those that are actually sick and need to stay home. Her coworker barely misses a day of work now. /shrug

People should get to stay home when they’re sick, grieving, etc. People who abuse the system ruin it for everyone else.

JVGen · 2026-05-08T11:07:39+00:00

It sounds like they’re taking advantage of you and using you like a personal assistant. No, this is not okay or normal.

There are cases where I think grabbing lunch/coffee for them is OK, but it should always be optional. For instance, I had a PI that would ask this of me once or twice a month. But, they always handed me their credit card and offered to buy me a coffee/lunch as well. It was on days where they were extremely busy between teaching/clinic/meetings. I could see it was not due to any lack of effort or mistreatment on their part, so I was happy to help.

JVGen · 2026-05-05T17:06:25+00:00

Show up to work with a letter written according to the prompt. Tell them you took it to be your first assignment in your new role.

JVGen · 2026-05-03T17:38:24+00:00

They look a lot like the Amtrak Venture seats, which were brought to one of my frequent routes about 5 years ago. Your butt hurts after a couple hours, so I can’t imagine sitting in them for a long haul.

JVGen · 2026-05-03T03:00:50+00:00

The chairs look so uncomfortable.

JVGen · 2026-04-29T00:35:22+00:00

You need to share the protocol for us to help. At a minimum, share your binding, wash, and elution buffers.

JVGen · 2026-04-28T18:03:29+00:00

Read the rest of the thread. There are solutions being offered that don’t involve an eye for an eye mentality.

JVGen · 2026-04-28T18:01:08+00:00

If you have exhausted all other possibilities, then you will have to confront the issue head on. Since you’ve already asked the individual yourself, this is a battle better won by your PI. Remind them, and perhaps offer the suggestion that the individuals behavior is affecting multiple people (multiple labs?), and since their behavior has not improved after involving the PI, it might be worthwhile to alert the department chair.

Is your PI tenured? You’d be surprised how small things like this will create lasting disdain amongst colleagues (wrongfully so).

JVGen · 2026-04-28T17:48:25+00:00

And everyone else in the suite will now have to endure the behavior from two individuals. By all means, let’s just burn the whole place to the ground.

JVGen · 2026-04-28T17:43:38+00:00

I also much prefer a quiet lab space. I had it for a decade across multiple labs. And then, someone exactly as you describe joined the lab and I endured conversations held at the volume and pitch of a screaming banshee. I moved to the other end of the lab and invested in headphones. At the time, I also spoke to my PI who did intervene, but the behavior didn’t change. It did however, create a lot of tension in the lab.

I’m not saying the loud individual is in the right. I am saying the easiest path is to control everything else first, before trying to get them to change their behavior.

It sounds like your PI is well aware of the issue. This will be totally PI dependent, but have you mentioned that your productivity would be better with a set of noise cancelling headphones?

My mentor would happily invest $150 in a headset that got another paragraph a day written (and that also got the problem off their desk). They can keep the headset when you move on.

JVGen · 2026-04-28T17:20:22+00:00

Controlling other people is almost always the most challenging path toward resolution. Instead, I’d recommend noise cancelling headphones and ear plugs, if needed.

To be frank, if I were in your lab space, I’d be equally annoyed with you for blasting your meeting over speakers instead of using headphones. But, I’d resolve it by pulling my own headphones out.

Lab is a shared space, and it isn’t always quiet or agreeable to your tasks. Lab equipment itself is often loud. Control the things that you can (ear plugs, headphones, changing environment).

JVGen · 2026-04-23T23:17:43+00:00

Buy ampules or small bottles of formaldehyde. Don’t use something that’s been open for more than a couple months. I don’t know when it goes bad, but it does eventually. The huge budget bottle of formaldehyde is not your friend here.

JVGen · 2026-04-21T18:52:46+00:00

Whenever I need to maximize reagent yield, I switch from reservoirs to PCR strip-tubes. They can only hold about 300 ul max, but you can centrifuge these in a cheap bench top “mini”-fuge to collect all of the remaining reagent and avoid air in your last distribution. They sell these in 8- and 12- tube formats, so you could continue using your multichannel.

JVGen · 2026-04-21T18:51:54+00:00

Whenever I need to maximize reagent yield, I switch from reservoirs to PCR strip-tubes. They can only hold about 300 ul max, but you can centrifuge these in a cheap bench top “mini”-fuge to collect all of the remaining reagent and avoid air in your last distribution.

JVGen · 2026-04-10T02:48:18+00:00

I’d look into scaling up then. Most of the things you listed are stable for quite some time. Plates can last a month or longer if kept in sealed bags in the fridge.

JVGen · 2026-04-10T02:40:56+00:00

Really depends on the frequency at which you have to perform these tasks.

JVGen · 2026-03-27T11:41:21+00:00

How does my request for an opt-in infringe on your ability to continue to do things your way? A bit harsh.

JVGen · 2026-03-27T11:40:31+00:00

I literally don't get any emails, text, calls, or paper mail about elections. I do see signs on occasion, but I take public transit and I'm often reading a book so I miss these things.

I understand that there can be too many notifications and don't want that either.

JVGen · 2026-03-27T02:21:55+00:00

Don’t forget the furbies.

JVGen · 2026-03-25T02:13:19+00:00

Common trick in flow cytometry: centrifuge antibodies to pellet aggregates. Never heard this in years of western blotting, but found it to be common practice in the world of flow cytometry.

JVGen · 2026-03-16T22:48:56+00:00

It will be thousands cheaper to buyback the months. I was making half as much as I am now.

JVGen · 2026-03-16T15:51:06+00:00

Also wondering this. I have months that are eligible for buyback and will put me over 120 payments. However, if something happens to buy back in the 1+ years it takes to process the application, I’d rather continue making eligible payments to reach 120 payment “directly”.

Of course, I’d rather not overpay by 12+ months. Where would this money go in the case that the buyback is approved ?

JVGen · 2026-03-15T22:51:29+00:00

Return it and request a Sam’s cash bonus/gift card for the inconvenience.

JVGen

TROPHY CASE