Quick re-cap: I work in organ transplantation immunology research. This department is part of the University’s med/grad school. We share a building with a private non-profit (PNP) diabetes research center. This year, two of our department’s senior scientists have left for better jobs. The head of research for the PNP, The Spineless Bastard, has made life very difficult for the remaining transplant research staff.
This building is on our new campus. The arrangement between the PNP and the U was that one floor would be strictly for University research. The U floor was the last to be completed (rumor has it that funny financing was used to finish the floor). The U was anxious to get researchers moved from the old campus to the new, so the transplant department was temporarily housed on a PNP floor. By the time the U floor was done, our senior researchers announced that they were leaving. The Bastard declared that the Transplant Department no longer existed and that he wanted to use the floor to recruit people for the PNP. The remaining Transplant staff (including me) took this declaration to the Dean of Medicine and insisted on moving to the U floor. While we were moving, The Bastard complained to the Dean that we were taking up too much room – he wants half of a floor he has no claim to. (This is still up in the air. Right now, we’re crammed into about half the space we had before and wistfully look at the empty bays beside us.)
The Bastard wanted the equipment that the departing scientists were leaving behind. Technically, this stuff is co-owned by the researcher and the U, the PNP has no claim to it. Before they left, I had the departing eggheads sign University forms that transferred this equipment to the remaining transplant staff. After we moved to the U floor, The Bastard saw that all of the equipment was gone and reported it stolen. I was responsible for the property transfer and the move, so I had to show all of our paper work and try to contact the former senior scientists to have them vouch for the transfer. (The seniors were never good at replying promptly to messages of any medium. Now, with new responsibilities, they’re even worse.)
Now this: Staff has to have an annual review before getting the annual cost of living increase (3%). The School of Medicine administrators decided that the Transplant department doesn’t have anyone senior enough to do the staff reviews, so The Bastard should do them. The deadline is noon today, and Bastard has been putting us off for weeks. (He may resent the extra work. We resent being reviewed by someone who has openly tried to eliminate our jobs.) Its not a huge pay increase, but it’s the only one we get. Once the deadline passes, it takes a lot of paperwork to get the extra pay, and it would be delayed for at least a couple of months.
I don’t care about the money. Hell, I’ll happily pass it up just to avoid being in the same room as the Bastard (did I mention that he had a couple of sexual harassment complaints filed against him?), but the U requires a completed annual review. Don’t be surprise if you see this headline: Respect Researcher pummeled by Unstable Employee.