r/labrats • u/AutoModerator • Apr 01 '23
open discussion Monthly Rant Thread: April, 2023 edition
Welcome to our revamped month long vent thread! Feel free to post your fails or other quirks related to lab work here!
Vent and troubleshoot on our discord! https://discord.gg/385mCqr
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u/CRISPRcassie9 Apr 04 '23
I AM SO TIRED OF FUCKING UP
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u/bookish_bacillaria Biotech Master's Student Apr 09 '23
I RELATE SENDING HUGS YOUR WAY
also I love your username! :D
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Apr 01 '23
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/71509 Apr 02 '23
I relate to this very very much. My research is going well, my lab mates are great but the job is ruining me mentally. It's forced me to reconsider academia and I am now actively seeking a job elsewhere. I hope it gets better for you!
1
u/Whentowin Apr 03 '23
As a BCMB undergrad I sometimes worry about the economics within the field. Is this an issue I should consider when thinking about a career in biochemistry?
2
u/Low-Inspection1725 Apr 28 '23
I'm in a similar situation. Today I was honestly thinking about opening an only fans to help pay bills. It may detrimentally affect my chances of getting a job in the future, but I am worried about being evicted or going hungry or my animals needing something and I'm unable to provide for them.
13
Apr 03 '23
I’m almost through my third year and I have nothing. I feel like everyone else my year is giving talks and posters and thinking about writing up their project. I feel like a failure.
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u/Toastykitten601 Apr 27 '23
Hey man, don’t give up. Some people might be flashy or like to boast about the results of their research, but just because you don’t do that doesn’t mean you are a failure. Just keep pushing on, keep some time to yourself to collect your thoughts, and pay them no mind. Wish you well!
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u/bookish_bacillaria Biotech Master's Student Apr 09 '23
why cant you give us time to complete our projects??? and when we'll have shitty theses then you'll be angry at us only. like! give! us! time! to work! we all genuinely enjoy lab work but give us the opportunity to work in peace! like pleaseee ahahahha
10
u/Cardie1303 Organic chemist Apr 09 '23
I wasted 60g of reagent that took me a week to synthesize this week because I forgot to add the benzaldehyde in the very last reaction step. A week wasted is not that horrible but I used a good amount of BF3 etherate for the first step and I will only find out on tuesday if we still have enough left for me to set up the reaction again on this scale. Seeing as orders for some reason can take up to a few months and I have a deadline I'm quite annoyed with myself.
9
u/Pleasant-Carry-3123 Apr 10 '23
I interviewed for a job in China. Made it through 4 rounds of interviews with Chinese as the main interview language (which is my second language) - I was told that I am a Jack-of-all-trade, master-of-none post interview, current status = Pending. AAHHHHHHH!
9
u/LabRatZero Apr 02 '23
To my boss: You know my background, education, and experience. Why are you assigning me projects from very different fields and trades ?
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u/Jarut Apr 25 '23
"Please be the unicorn full-stack scientist that I am not paying you enough to be"
9
u/wearyengineeer Apr 08 '23
I HATE ALIQUOTING MY TISSUE CULTURING MEDIA. FUCKING 240 TUBES AND THEY DONT HAVE THE TINYASS ONES CUZ ITS ONLY 0.15ML PER SAMPLE BUT THESE BISHES ARE TESTING ME SO BAD. IM SO CLOSE TO BREAKING DOWN IN LAB AND I HATE THIS SOOOOO MUCH. WASTE OF MY FUCKING TIME AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHGGGHGGGGHGHGGG
ANY AND ALL TIPS/HELP/PRAYERS ARE APPRECIATED
3
u/Treodeo Apr 10 '23
I’ve started uses pcr tube boxes and making aliquots in pcr tubes (either individual or strip). The last tube on a strip or a section of the box is clearly labelled.
The 1.5mL tubes take up so much space other than if you have 81 unique reagents then the additional space for labeling is convenient.
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u/1-877-CASH-NOW Financial Services Company | Professional Grifter Apr 03 '23
aLpHaFoLd
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u/HoxGeneQueen Apr 10 '23
I’m ending my second year and I’m completely mentally ruined. Like the anxiety starts as soon as I open my eyes in the morning and it’s so crippling that it’s keeping me from making real progress. I feel like a failure and partially it’s because my project is so molecular biology heavy that cloning all the constructs to prepare for doing the experiments has taken me the last six months. I haven’t generated any real data and the pressure is on. I’m not even sure I know how to find scrips to analyze the results once I even get them. I basically go home and cry every day. I hope it gets better.
5
u/LabRatZero Apr 12 '23
My boss is aware of my biology background at my biology department, yet keeps giving me engineering Papers loaded with Greek letters, and projects. WTF am I supposed to do?
2
u/Jarut Apr 25 '23 edited Apr 25 '23
grrr... that's not cool. Sounds like they want you to be something you're not. I hope you're ok, it's a tough position to be in.
You didn't specifically ask for advice, so disregard this if that's not what you're looking for:
If you're keen on taking your training in that direction (and if you're not, make that clear now!!) I would start pestering the boss for resources: send me on/pay for XYZ course, introduce me to ABC mentor in X department who can help me with this, I need 123 time to understand this stuff, so don't ask for anything else at this point.
I say this because I come from a healthcare/stats background and moved to wetwork (and most people in my lab move in the other direction). I had to be very clear and kind of demanding about what I wanted and needed supervision over. Worst comes to worst... go talk to people who can help, and ask for forgiveness later. After all, if they want you to be a unicorn biology-engineer, they need to support you properly!
Best of luck xx
2
u/LabRatZero Apr 30 '23
thanks, this honestly feels like political maneuvering to for my boss to be able to say his dept had a hand in X. I have this silo'ed project which i then insert myself into the appropriate departments, with their full workloads, and go "look what i did"?
6
u/squirrelygirl76 Apr 17 '23
work in a clinical hospital lab in a large city and have worked in field for over 20 years. We recently had a change in management and the new head of the department ordered salary surveys and looked at the records of each employee and we received salary adjustments based on our experience, education, certification and years of service. I am receiving a 33.33% raise! As you might guess, I'm near retirement and the end of my career. I love what I do and worked in my field for many years. While I'm thrilled with the raise, I'm frustrated with the timing. Laboratory workers are woefully under paid.
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u/Sof_a_doc_tah Apr 13 '23
I legitimately am considering getting a lobotomy to stop my anxiety so I can FINALLY PICK UP A GODDAMN MOUSE. Like come freakin on I know how to do it but I just get to the moment and my brain freezes Ugh. I’m so sick of feeling not good about myself and that I shouldn’t be in science because I can’t do my in vivo work.
3
u/birbirbird Apr 04 '23
Why you no working my equipment!!! Also I'm 100% sure the rep from equipment company didn't fix our equipment right, and I spent a lot of effort to prove to them the case and begged them to come back to fix it, all I got is silence. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh I hate my life so much and it's not even my fault
4
u/bbyte00 Apr 13 '23
I shouldn't be a Lab Supervisor but Corporate refused my refusal for a promotion. I'm not even sure if I'm doing this right, can't even analyze data outside of the written instructions. They're not even looking for technical trainings to help us. Can't quit, i need money. Being poor and stupid sucks.
3
u/ArtisticPomegranate0 Apr 14 '23
I have a presentation next week or the week after and don’t have anything to show. My last one was 4 months ago. We created an action plan for me, but I haven’t made good on that action plan because I find it difficult to coordinate all my people and what I need to do. I feel like a burden when I’m constantly asking questions
3
u/PisceswithaPassion Apr 18 '23
I'm graduating from my undergrad research program in May, and I have no data to present at graduation. Also, I don't know where I'm going to work after this. All my options for labs after this are not great. I'm stressed out.
1
u/Jarut Apr 25 '23
If you're looking outside academia, do you have any stats/tech-adjacent skills?
I know it says women in the title but at least the event I went to was pretty inclusive of everyone.
Sending solidarity vibes. The future is scary because it is so fluid... but I would encourage you, if you are able, to take some time to wallow in your success: congratulations on making it to graduation :)
3
u/Bisphosphate Apr 04 '23
My institute has a financial incentive to find your own funding- an extra ~$5000 per year for your salary. My award will expire soon after 3 years of enjoying this bonus. Taking a pay cut in 2023 on top of the already mediocre post-doc salary? Nah, not feeling that.
3
u/Lantrans Apr 20 '23
Got accepted into a masters program and everyday now is a test of my patience not to quit my job on sight. I wish I had known back in August of 2022 that CRO work wasn't for me
3
Apr 21 '23
[deleted]
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u/Jarut Apr 25 '23
"I can't find it"
"It's almost expired"
"Shipping lines are disrupted/war is happening/semiconductors are like hen's teeth"
bro this is SALT
(Thank you for being on top of organising things, friend. There's one in every lab, and we need you dearly, lest we drown in expired saline.)
3
u/Thoughtfulpipetter Apr 21 '23
I just feel like I’m working on all these projects and I can’t get anything to move forward. I’ve been in my phd lab for 6 months and I still don’t have any date :/
2
u/Jarut Apr 25 '23
6mo!! That might feel like a long time but it's really not. Are you settling in OK? Do you have too many disparate projects that you need to ask a mentor about how to prioritise, or does everything just feel really new?
Hope you're OK. Hugs if you want them. xx
3
u/Jarut Apr 25 '23
healthcare data is the WORST
You ORDERED A TEST
It went INTO THE SYSTEM
It is RENAMED an UNKNOWN NUMBER OF TIMES for reasons YET TO BE DETERMINED
Results MAY BE INCLUDED IN THIS SHEET or maybe not
but you won't be able to backtrace results because the units might use Greek letters in an ASCII-only database so here's an error, fuck you
also, none of your datetimes will line up, and there is zero documentation available
THE ELDRITCH HORROR GODS THEMSELVES WOULD BE NAUSEOUS LOOKING AT THIS NIGHTMARE
3
u/wearyengineeer Apr 25 '23
This rant brought to you by weary engineer who works with surgeons with god complexes and think thry know everything about everything when in fact, they DONT. Wont listen, dont care and breathe dpwn your neck wanting you to fail so they can prove that they're right. Everyday is a struggle, i love my work but HATE working with these so called collaborative lab. Once again, cannot wait to publish, graduate and leave. This concludes the rant.
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u/christyodoule Apr 20 '23
A lab from another site sent me all their study samples for me to run assays on them and it is a disorganized mess! Half of the samples are in 1.5ml tubes and half are in 0.65ml tiny microcentrifuge tubes. They also divided their shipments in half and sample tubes are split between two sets of boxes. Just a nightmare. I’m now having to sort through everything and figure out how to properly organize the boxes ugh
1
Apr 21 '23
[deleted]
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u/christyodoule Apr 21 '23
Thank you for the validation! It’s taken me HOURS to sort through everything :/
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u/KittyCatLuvr4ever Apr 27 '23
I’m in a master’s program that costs me nearly $20k a year and I’m halfway through. I’m also a lab tech in academia making under $18 an hour. I love my lab but I’m going to talk to my boss this morning about how broke I am and hopefully either get a raise or support looking for another lab to work in. The numbers aren’t crunching anymore 😭 My boss is really nice and has asked me to give them a heads up if I’m ever thinking of leaving, so here I go. Wish me luck!!
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u/Apprehensive_Crow500 Apr 29 '23
Working on the dissertation now and I wish everybody would leave me alone for at least a few weeks. Like just don’t talk to me. I barely process anything anyone is saying to me yet they continue to go on and on. It doesn’t matter if I explain what I’m doing and need time, they continue to just talk and talk and talk. I constantly lose my train of thought and don’t feel like I’ve been able to think deeply about anything lately. UGGGGHH I can’t wait for this whole PhD to be over
23
u/figurespeller718 Apr 05 '23 edited Apr 05 '23
I finally quit my undergraduate research job!!!! I was so burnt out and resentful after many negative interactions with my PI that for the last few weeks, I would drag myself to the lab but sit there and not be able to do anything.
It wasn’t always like that, I used to work extra hours because I loved research so much. I have to keep reminding myself that I was a great student, even though my PI was never satisfied since last summer, when I asked to work part-time to study for the DAT for dental school and she wouldn’t let me. She also wouldn’t let me take winter break or summer break off. I cried in the office so many times. She made me feel SO worthless and stupid.
My PI would take out her anger on me over the smallest things. I eventually learned to avoid her by sitting in the hallway when she was in the lab. There was a point where my experiments kept failing due to factors outside of my control so I was troubleshooting every step, and she would complain that I was delaying her grant submissions and that I wasn’t making enough progress.
Now, I have SO MUCH FREE TIME!!! I can pursue hobbies, and I’m feeling so much happier. And I got into an out-of-state dental school and I will never have to see my PI ever again!! This is a victory rant!! Sorry if it doesn’t belong.