Life Musings

I've read a variety of postings from a woman who was very unhappy with her job. If I recall correctly, this have become better for her, but I won't swear by that.

Here's an excerpt from one post in which she poured out her heart.

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A couple of years ago, I got my first job as a lab tech. Before that, I was an animal care tech. My experience with the research animals got me that job.

I was very grateful to be given the opportunity to do rasearch, even though I was going to school part-time to get my BS. For three years, I managed a four strain colony of mice, the lab accounts and ordering, did necropsies, collected tumors, processed those tumors for pathology, cell culture, cyro-freezing, and flow cytometry. I provided these tissues for the PI, a post-doc, and three fellows! They all thought that animal handling was "gross" and didn't want to do it, but they needed the bits for their research. When their big research paper was finished, I fought tooth and nail to get an authorship. I was the one coming into the lab at 6 am to thaw and prep cells for flow. My photos of the necropsies were in the paper. And I did all of this making less than standard starting tech pay because I didn't have a degree!

I got the authorship, but it was a hollow victory. Since I take classes part time, I tried to use the paper as a way to get academic credit for my work. My advisor basically said, "That's nice, but your GPA is too low to qualify for an independent study program." All those early mornings and late night in the lab took time away from my studies.