Sunday, April 5, 2009

I Hate Being Ignored

JLK's outbox (not actual quotes):

To: MRU Psych Dept Admin
Subject: Psi Chi

Dear MRU PDA,

      I recently received your email regarding Psi Chi inductions. I intended to pursue Psi Chi membership at MRU, but the timing of my psychology courses did not allow me to be eligible until this past December when I graduated. Am I still able to join, or is it too late because I already have my degree?

- JLK

(Sent over a month ago. Still no response. Deadline for Psi Chi inductions has passed.)


To: Professor X
Subject: Grad School Update

Dear Prof. X,

       I hope all is well. I recently checked the status of my application at Southern U, and it appears that they never received your letter of recommendation. I recall seeing a "received" status back in December when you confirmed with me that you sent them all out. Did you receive a confirmation email from the submission system that you could forward to me? I am concerned that they never reviewed my file because it was incomplete. Blah blah blah, other people have received word from SU, blah blah blah. Thank you again for writing on my behalf, blah blah blah.

- JLK

(Sent over a month ago. No response. Also no response to a follow-up email letting Professor X know the status of all my applications including SU.)

To: Grad Student Mentor
Subject: Manuscript

Dear GSM,

       In order for me to complete my portion of the article manuscript, I need to know if you are intending to include all of our data. At the conference, we only presented part 2 of the study. Are we including part 1 in the submission? Also, when would you like the draft completed by?

- JLK

(Sent 3+ weeks ago. No response.)

To: Rockstar Professor/Research Advisor
Subject: Research Project

Dear RP/RA,

      In your book, _____, you mention that no one has examined Z within framework Y. I would like to pursue this experimentally and I have an idea how it can be done. A recent review of the literature did not bring up any contributions to this issue. Do you know if I would still be able to do this at MRU, and if so, are you willing and able to serve as a guide to me during the creation and execution of the project? I would not require funding, but I would need access to resources A, B, and C at MRU. Upon completion, if the findings are relevant and significant, I would like to aim for submission this fall to Journal W or Journal S if you think that is a reasonable goal. 

- JLK

(Sent 3 weeks ago. No response.)

I know that my email is working just fine. I'm starting to think that people look at the sender in their inbox and say, "Eh, not this chick again."

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hate it too. Call them. Don't leave a message. Keep ringing until a human picks up. They HAVE TO deal with you. And you have to be sweeter than pie while thinking about the many ways you want to string them up by their testicles.

Comrade PhysioProf said...

I'm starting to think that people look at the sender in their inbox and say, "Eh, not this chick again."

More likely is that some or all of these people are just e-mail ignorers in general. Many people use ignoring e-mails as a filter to weed out less important intrusions on their time, figuring that if something is really important, they will at minimum receive a follow-up e-mail, or even a phone call.

Psych Post Doc said...

I agree with your other comments, and want to add that this time in the semester sucks. I bet that people are looking for any way to ignore adding one more thing to do to their plate.

I think calling is a good idea, but maybe not the last person. However, asking if you can follow up with a phone call or in-person meeting might not be a bad idea.

Good luck.

Isis the Scientist said...

I gotta go with the Prof on this one. I have started largely ignoring my email. I realize this sounds crappy, but it is easy to get caught up in a day spending hours on email. If someone needs me that bad, they'll call or catch me somewhere. I am really, really bad at spending hours typing responses.

Candid Engineer said...

Ignoring emails is shitty, period. I, for one, do not send emails for fun. I want a response. Follow-up if you have to- say, Hey Jackass, I never heard back from you!!!11!! What gives???

Toaster Sunshine said...

Show up with a cookie. Then they'll have to listen to you, and be quiet, while you talk and they eat it. And the time to eat a cookie is about the time needed for a paragraph or two of good talking on your part.

No one ignores cookies. And if they're douchebags about it, bring them another cookie later that has laxatives baked into it.

leigh said...

i totally suck at teh email lately... between my 90 students, my pile of stuff to analyze, the pile of stuff i SHOULD be writing, and etc etc etc, if it's something i can let go for a while, i will.

then, despite my best intentions, it falls under the new emails i keep receiving and i forget about it.

it's nothing personal against anyone, really. i do like the cookie idea. i would totally listen to someone if they brought me a cookie. :)

online pharmacy said...

I'm completely agree with you I hate to be ignored, kill them all with fire hahaha

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