I spent most of this afternoon pulling my hair out (figuratively, not literally) due to extreme lab setup problems. To make a long story short, when I got to work this morning our lab tech had done absolutely no setup for my lab, and she did not even know what lab we were scheduled to do today (I had given her a detailed setup sheet a week ago; it was clear she had never read it). After I gave her another copy of the setup sheet she said she'd get the lab ready on time, and I heard nothing else from her the rest of the day (I had to prep for and give a leture before lab).
I headed over to lab as soon as I could after lecture (which was only 15 minutes before the start of lab), and found a number of things severely wrong. Take, for instance, the table of gymnosperms: gnetophytes (e.g. Mormon tea, Welwitschia) were completely absent. It is rather hard to teach a lab on gymnosperm diversity if the diversity is not present ...
Suffice to say that my student helpers, another lab tech, another faculty member, and I spent the first 30 minutes of lab frantically re-setting up the lab while the students waited outside. As a result of the delay none of my students were able to complete the lab, so this setup problem will throw the next few weeks of my lab schedule into semi-chaos.
My students were absolutely wonderful about the whole thing: they didn't complain one bit about the wait, and most of them just sat outside reading over the lab (they're so dedicated!); I couldn't have asked for more from them.
I can't say the same for my lab tech ...
(I think I'll retract my claws now and go watch some Due South to cheer myself up)
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