CC requested that I post this story.
Background: I am here doing this postdoc at big university in the True North. I went to school at the state U. of you-guys-know-where. Down the road from state U. is a super fancy private U--so fancy that the professors are knights. Right now, I'm finishing my postdoc year. They are interviewing postdoc candidates for this position next year. There are 3 of us postdocs. We have to meet with each of the postdoc candidates. Our boss told us to try to sell them on the idea of taking this postdoc, so that's generally what we try to do in the meetings. We are not in any way involved with the selection process. We tell the candidates this at the start of every meeting.
The other day, a postdoc candidate from big fancy U. (hereafter b.f.U.) came through here. We had our meeting. Like I said, there are 3 of us postdocs. Two are chicks and one is a dude. My impression was that the guy from b.f.U. generally only made eye contact with the dude (my fellow postdoc and comrade), and wouldn't look at the two chick postdocs. He also wouldn't let me finish several sentences and contradicted a few things that I said. We also had this exchange:
Me: You are from (town near state U. where I went), right? I used to live there!
B.f.U. dude: Oh, right--?
Me: I went to state U., but I lived in [town where b.f.U. is]--I really liked it.
Me thinking: now I can reminisce about me and CC's lovely house in that town and our garden. Happy feelings.
B.f.U. dude: Oh, right, you went to state U.
Me: Yeah, but I lived in...
B.f.U. dude: Right, state U., they have a really good German languages program. And a really good philosophy program, I heard.
Note: I did not get my degree in either of those departments.
OK, so I have always hated the idea of b.f.U. and those fancy private schools, and loved my public school, and also secretly feared that they were all much better than us. So I am a little biased at the outset. But I found the guy obnoxious.
A few days later...
Boss of all of us post docs: Hey YSA and [other chick post doc], what did you think of the guy from b.f.U.?
Me and other post doc: Oh, we did not go to his job talk.
Boss: I know that you did not go to his job talk because I was there. I am asking you what you thought of him.
Other postdoc: [silence.]
Me: Uh.
Boss: ?
Me: Uh, he seemed nice.
Boss: That's not very enthusiastic!
Me: [trying to do the right thing] Well, you know, I went to state u. and he goes to b.f.U., we have an ancient rivalry.
And, here is what I am like. I am like: Who the fuck would ever have thought that I, I, a grad of state U., would someday be in a position to utter a disparaging word in the context of a big job search about a b.f.U. student??? Who would have fucking thought, eh???
Take that, you arrogant motherfuckers!!!
(OK, and also, I feel bad, sort of. But sort of glad. You know how that is?)
5 comments:
Hmmm, an Ancient Rivalry, eh? It sounds like that guy was an ass-hat.
Though I feel like you should have told the professor that information, I suppose it wouldn't have had any effect. Because, as we all know, prestigious institutions aren't demonstrably capable of educating their students any better than state institutions. Nevertheless, it would seem that prestigious institutions make it easier for same students to find jobs.
So if you informed the professor of his ass-hattiness, his thought process probably would have been something like, "hmmm, candidate A is an ass-hat. gee, I suppose one of the other candida... WARNING! PRESTIGIOUS UNIVERSITY HAS TAKEN CONTROL OF YOUR BRAIN! YOU WILL GIVE OUR STUDENT PRIORITY! LIKE THE MOON, YOUR INSTITUTION WILL BENEFIT FROM THE REFLECTED BRILLIANCE OF OUR STUDENT!"
so it's all moot.
omg, you should have seen me go medieval on a prospective student from a different b.f.U. They wanted me to have coffee with him because he wants to work with my adviser. Dude said "I don't need to study anything that has to do with race, gender, or sexuality because I did an independent study on that at other b.f.U."
Douchebags abound in our field. It's sad when they're douchebags with pedigrees that will open doors for them.
I think I would have said a bFU to student from b.f.U. I concur with both Tom and Ms. Cheese who refer to b.f.U. student as an ass hat/douche bag, respectively. I then would have appealed to the sensibilities of many in the True North and implied that b.f.U student had "issues" with "diversity" and women in hopes of overriding the PUMM (Prestigious University Mind Melt) by engaging the ADLI (Appearance of Diversity Love Impulse)...bwahahahaha!
Also, b.f.U. is a hot mess. HOT MESS!
I have a question. Your post-doc is for sexuality, right? Or something new and exciting, not "And when this monarch died, he was succeeded by his son. Now, let me spend 45 minutes discussing this man, as this is the ONLY thing you need to know about this entire country" right? What the hell is a student from b.F.U. applying for a post-doc like that???!!! They can't even talk about separate spheres!!!!
oh, woe to bfU. if you hadn't live there, I would think that there's something in the water. Maybe it's special asbestos in their bfBuildings.
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