{"id":431,"date":"2008-12-18T23:00:12","date_gmt":"2008-12-18T23:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/2008\/12\/18\/happy_christmas\/"},"modified":"2008-12-18T23:00:12","modified_gmt":"2008-12-18T23:00:12","slug":"happy_christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/rpg\/2008\/12\/18\/happy_christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Happy Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Working in science has its ups and downs. One downside is that the pay does not appear to be equivalent to that in other sectors where there is a requirement for an equivalent level of training and effort. This is, They tell us, because maybe that what we do is really not all that important, or because we enjoy<\/em> and therefore should be happy to be paid less well. A logical fallacy, but not one I’m interested in addressing right now.<\/p>\n

\nAnother ‘unfairness’, if you like, is the pressure to work long and unsociable hours. I’ve worked in places where starting at eight in the morning and finishing at six pm, without<\/em> much of a lunch break, was seen as slacking. Oh, and I should have been there at the weekends, too. The hollow laughter that greeted various EU directives on the length of the working week was not only from the medics.<\/p>\n

\nThis pressure is keenly felt by those in the profession who have spouses and children. “Don’t you,” They ask, “want to succeed in science?” (I’m not convinced<\/a> that working every hour God sends guarantees success anyway–time management skills are possibly more important). And maybe, then–if it costs my family and my life–I don’t want to succeed. It shouldn’t be like this. The whole ‘work\/life balance’ question should not even come up, but the whole scientific work ethic seems to be opposed to having a family, or even ‘downtime’.<\/p>\n

\nPerhaps this is the real reason women leave science<\/a> more readily then men: they’re smarter and realize what’s important.<\/p>\n

\nI have worked in departments where taking your full annual leave entitlement was seen as slacking off. To such an extent that here in Australia, where even the boss organizes sporting events in the middle of the working day and, today for example, the entire lab is skiving off down the beach for a Christmas barbecue, I still feel guilty about putting in a leave request. I hadn’t realized just what an effect this has had on me until I joked by email that a friend taking Thursday and Friday off in the week before Christmas was ‘slacking’. I was brought up quite short when she chastised me, and I apologize for my attitude.<\/p>\n

\nGo home. Have time off. Chill out. Take the weekend off.<\/p>\n

\nAnd have a very happy Christmas, one and all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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