# Really mundane: Work Worry **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 31, 2006, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-mundane-work-worry/366744 "2006-07-31T17:45:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mouse\_Maven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@Mouse\_Maven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mouse_Maven)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-mundane-work-worry/366744/1 "2006-07-31T17:45:15Z")
The head of the department I work for is being “actively wooed” by a Canadian University. This is a little anxiety provoking because the Department Head (DH)financially supports the research my boss, Dr. P, does. If the DH leaves for the great north, my lab loses a major funding source. A decision will be announced tomorrow. I really hope he stays, but I won’t be surprised if he goes. This university has really messed things up for their researchers: > **[Search Results for “ci\_3977639” – The Denver Post](https://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_3977639)** What does that mean for my coworkers and me? We’re not sure. Last year, one researcher gave his staff only two weeks notice that he was leaving. We hope that we have a couple of months to find new placements. Mr. Maven and I have been talking. If my lab loses the DH’s money and can’t find other grants, I may request to be cut back to a part-time position and go to school full time to finish my BS. I loathe the idea of being a 30 year old college student. The financile strain will be tough, but a degree may open more doors for me. Right now, I’m borrowing trouble. Thanks for listening to me ramble on (again). ---
**Author:** ![taxi78cab](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47c2d/32.png) [@taxi78cab](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/taxi78cab)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-mundane-work-worry/366744/2 "2006-07-31T21:36:54Z")
No advice. Just good luck and keep us posted on how it all turns out. ---
**Author:** ![Mouse\_Maven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@Mouse\_Maven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mouse_Maven)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-mundane-work-worry/366744/3 "2006-07-31T22:25:44Z")
Thank you. 🙂 Tomorrow I will either be happy we dogded this bullet or singing “Blame Canada”. Got to love research, if its not one things its another. Please, bring on the gigantic mutant monster that destroys the town! Maybe that will bring in more grant money. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-mundane-work-worry/366744/4 "2006-08-01T06:14:06Z")
**Mouse\_Maven** , are you the lab tech in the forefront of the picture in that news article? How _you_ doin’? Seriously, maybe you should look into getting that degree either way. It’s tough, I know, but there are lots and lots of “nontraditional” students these days. I go to school with a number of students in their late 20s and 30s. I think the job insurance will be well worth it, but JMHO. Either way, Godspeed. ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-mundane-work-worry/366744/5 "2006-08-01T07:12:45Z")
I will chime in with mybest wishes for the best outcome, also. But please do allow me to echo what fetus **said**. This is avery good idea. If you have tuition bennies, use them. Even if you don’t I can only say that I quit work for almost 2 years to finish my BS degree, and while it was surely a struggle with a child and my wife mainly supporting us in poverty for that period, it worked out wonderfully in the end and none of us have ever regretted it. Go for itt!!! ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-mundane-work-worry/366744/6 "2006-08-01T07:15:46Z")
(Ahem) What I MEANT was something like “even though we had a child, and my wife was mainly supporting us…” We, uh didn’t put our two year old to work supporting us, also, honest! ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-mundane-work-worry/366744/7 "2006-08-01T09:54:42Z")
My best students when I was a TA were the nontraditional ones. At some point they’d realized their brains were for thinking, not just some filler for the space under the hair. Whatever comes out of this, you know you have our best wishes, **Maven**.