r/labrats • u/AutoModerator • Feb 01 '22
open discussion Monthly Rant Thread: February, 2022 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
21
u/Elunoir Feb 01 '22
PI's verbal review of me vs the one sent to hr (annual review) do not match, she essentially blamed me for the labs shortcomings and said i caused significant delays in experiments when, i have not done so. FML applying to other labs EZ, she is personally upset with me that i cannot make cells grow faster lmao
6
3
u/30andnotthriving Feb 15 '22
Can you ask them why they would have done such a thing? Essentially they gave you lies in the verbal feedback and also denied you an opportunity to confront what they thought were the issues!
13
u/713Kilo Virology Feb 01 '22
Got a free bench top centrifuge from a lab shutting down, awesome right? Except that the motor for the lid lock is functioning weird. Pull off the upper cover and wouldn't ya know it, there's a resistor on the board with one lead broken off so there's not enough power to the lock motor. Time to finally stop putting off buying a soldering kit for my own projects I guess.
4
1
12
u/Cipher1414 Lab Ghost Feb 05 '22
Well, I snapped a P20 in half today so there's that
5
u/myslothisslow Feb 05 '22
Been there, sorry.
5
u/Cipher1414 Lab Ghost Feb 07 '22
It's alright! The tip box slipped right as I was jamming the tip on it and I ended up slamming the thing into the counter and snapping it in half. My manager was super cool about it though.
4
u/notimerunaway2 Feb 15 '22
It happens. I’m in charge of the pipettes where I work (120+) and the p10 get abused most often, in creative ways. For a pipette breaking the tip is a work hazard.
1
2
u/Medchemist_turns_mad Feb 06 '22
whats p20?
7
u/Cipher1414 Lab Ghost Feb 07 '22
It's a pipette that measures up to 20ul. I went to put a tip on it but the tip box slipped and I ended up slamming it into the counter and breaking it in half 😂
2
10
Feb 07 '22
Straight up have no fuckin clue what I’m gonna do if I don’t get into PhD programs. I’m so burnt out on industry and every day I daydream about just walking out of my company and driving as far as possible from Boston. I don’t know how much longer I can do the same fucking assay over and over and treated like I can’t think for myself because I don’t have a doctorate yet (guess MS isn’t good enough). Should I get a job in academia? Should I just leave this industry all together? Don’t know wtf to do boyos and girlos.
9
u/Repulsive_Bug Feb 09 '22
What makes you think PhD is any better? Genuinely asking
9
Feb 09 '22
Being able to pursue my own research interests and learning a new facet of biology. I’ve applied to do computational biology/machine learning. The only thing that keeps me motivated really is intellectual curiosity and the need to keep learning about the subjects I’m interested in. If I’m not asked to challenge myself in my work and not asked to offer anything more than the same experiment over and over it’s impossible to be satisfied with my work.
That’s just me, but also since I’ve joined industry it’s become apparent that I’m going to have to slog through years of mundane work I’m not passionate about to get to the same place a PhD can get me. You aren’t trusted to really think if you don’t have a doctorate unless you spend like a decade working up the ladder. Plus, industry at least in Boston, feels like a game to executives and higher management. They play with ideas and money ignorant of the effects poor execution has on workers like me. I’ve been lied to about compensation and hiring practices, I’ve been laid off from a job only a few months after starting because they weren’t up front with the fact the company was struggling, and I’ve seen greed worse than I’ve ever imagined.
That was really long winded but those are my honest reasons for doing so. The burnout is real.
1
u/Repulsive_Bug Feb 09 '22
I appreciate the response! I also work in industry but our HR dept. has been amazing & transparent. It’s a small-ish company & the upper management makes themselves approachable to anyone. But I totally share your sentiment of leading the projects & make executive decisions on the direction of the experiments. I’m just dreading of being a poor grad student for 5 years 😩
1
Feb 09 '22
Yeah I definitely am nervous about the pay-cut but I've applied to mostly affordable areas (excluding in San Diego) so hopefully it won't be as bad as trying to live off grad pay in a big city. The other option is going to europe to do it if you don't want to spend 5 years in the program, but I think most PhD programs there require you to have a masters lol. It's a shame that the pay is so low, but I guess everyone would do it if it wasn't.
1
4
u/no1iscoming Feb 09 '22
Funny, just swap industry and academia in your post and you have my struggle in a nutshell. Im way too old to be dealing with PI's and academia bullshit. It's exhausting and the BURNOUT IS REAL!
If I were you, I wouldn't do the PhD. its not worth your time or the pay loss, esp since you already have industry experience. Just leverage that into another position (at perhaps another company/another field) and get off the bench. Also, that Boston biotech life is a grind- just change it, before you start to hate science altogether, like me.
(could also look into an 'industry Phd')
8
u/veryfascinating Feb 01 '22
I have some cells growing in a plate and one of them reached a time point so I was supposed to fix them using PFA.
Problem is I had a few plates in the hood and accidentally added 4% PFA to the wrong one. I realized my mistake and in like 5-10 seconds I took out the PFA, washed the cells with pbs and added fresh media hoping that the PFA is not that fast working. Im not that hopeful though, I don’t think the cells will survive… anyone have any insights?
9
u/ILoveDangerousStuff2 Feb 04 '22
I think you're out of luck with this one. If they survive that's as close to a miracle as it could get. But even then, I wouldn't use them in an experiment, it is unclear what the PFA did to them and using them in an experiment could result in unreproducible data and there's enough of that already.
10
u/MSE_Vol Feb 01 '22
They’re shutting down a major machine I use Friday…… and the new one won’t be online till May. It’s a massively complex piece of machinery with only the one suitable room, but fuckkkkk
5
u/_inbetwixt_ Feb 15 '22
It will probably be more expensive, but can you send the samples to an outside facility to analyze them?
2
u/MSE_Vol Feb 18 '22
It’s an EBL, I think I can get by mostly with photolith and one-off ion/sem processing. It tends to be iterative device production and there’s not a ton of EBL’s available to use. I won’t die, I keep myself busy
2
8
u/ChadMcRad Feb 11 '22
Email company general question about antibodies. Don't have order number just asking a very general question that isn't listed on the site.
"Ok, I'll forward you to a specialist who can help."
"Hi, I am so happy to help. Can I get your order number?"
Sorry, don't have it currently, can you just answer this general question?
No response
"Hi, I heard you have an antibody question, can I have your order number to assist?"
I CAN DO THIS ALL DAY I WILL CYCLE THROUGH EVERY EMPLOYEE UNTIL I CIRCLE BACK TO THE FIRST PERSON DON'T THINK I WON'T I'M A CRAZY MOTHER FU-
8
u/AzureRathalos97 Feb 03 '22
Asked to give a presentation industrially focused. Fast forward to a practice session; told my work was a box ticking exercise that academics won't be interested in.
Big sigh
3
6
8
Feb 04 '22
qPCR probes my mentor ordered aren’t compatible with our machine. The replacements are expensive so we have to go up the chain for approval and then wait for at least 2 weeks to even begin doing experiments.
6
u/flash-tractor Feb 07 '22
Dropped 4 blocks of dry ice into an open top vat of pure ethanol for a hemp extract, vat was filled higher than usual and it shot ethanol above my head like a volcano. Nearly fell in the floor it surprised me so much, then the realization of the mess and wasted $ hit me. 🤦♂️ Laughing about it now but cleaning that -40° ethanol up was a royal pain. I wrung the towels out in a mop bucket and I'm going to distill it and use it for cleaning at home.
5
u/Punkedorange19 Feb 09 '22
Just today found out that all 3 chemists had assumed the others would be making the product temperature long term stability (emulsions and suspensions) samples and none were made since November. I am currently correcting this mistake. Ugh.
5
u/ThisMsJ Feb 04 '22
I just wanna get through my validation for my molecular lab. I'm scrambling between several labs to pool labs specimens, questioning my competence as a lab supervisor and feeling the pressure of reimbursement losses. I cried at my desk yesterday.
And the rage I have for ThermoFisher knows no bounds.
2
4
u/bmollie72 Feb 11 '22
The cell sorter that I've waited 6 months to finally use (4 month lockdown then christmas shutdown) now just won't work??? It won't connect to the computer and I am only hired until May before I leave the PhD student alone to get through like 100 samples by herself...I feel so bad :(
5
u/30andnotthriving Feb 15 '22
Two rants in one...
- I thought I finished troubleshooting my primer contamination issue and confirmed with with a slew of PCRs before proceeding with my experiments. Now out of the blue, the same problem started up again, and I have this feeling that a certain someone (I very specifically know who) is tampering with my samples. And I'm not just saying this, tubes are moving around in my box.... I feel like crap even thinking about something like this happening and just go back to blaming myself but I don't know....
- Does anyone else feel like their lab notebook is excruciatingly detailed..? I feel like I write down too much in every experiment, like how much I aliquoted, which tube serial number my primer came from... Which set of reagents I'm using... Is this all something we generally include in lab notes??
3
3
u/Piggapi Feb 11 '22
We are 10 masters student in a batch, 2 people are total bitches, I'm so tired of their entitled behavior, and somehow they are always accommodated, I can see the missing staircase effect in action. Last semester they bullied one of our classmates, additionally they never did the project work, the professor responsible for this asked the bullied person to clench their teeth and work. Somehow, they have all the professors wrapped around their fingers. All people can see is that our class doesn't have "integrity". Why should we even tolerate their irrational, self serving behavior? I don't understand why even professors seem to support them. Naturally no one wants to group up with them this semester and they started another drama regarding it.
4
u/geekydragon3 Feb 15 '22
Left my secondary antibody at room temperature for 3 days by mistake. FML!
4
u/Miserable-Vehicle533 Feb 15 '22
How can I warn people against joining my lab? My PI is a terrible manager and really unsupportive. The lab is so badly managed people basically cant work to their full capacity. The problem is that the hiring process is all run by my PI and sometimes we don't know someone has been hired until they arrive on their first day. The only way they would find out about the lab is if they were to reach out to someone who is currently working here. With this in mind, how can I let people know about the working conditions?
2
u/notimerunaway2 Feb 15 '22
Depending on the type of new member (student, phd, technician), any experience can be a beneficial experience. Especially when salary is involved. Don’t chase them away, but be honest with them about your experiences.
2
u/StatusQuoBot Feb 22 '22
Ask if incoming people can come visit the lab and see the work etc. see if your PI will let you give them a lab tour as part of the interview. Alternatively see if you can ask your PI to help in the hiring process, like have a lab interview. or see if you can get enough info about them like their name and previous labs or where they went to school to look them up on pubmed or facebook?
3
u/ChadMcRad Feb 16 '22
I am plagued by persistent PCR problems... I have done more complex things just fine, but literally one of the most fundamental procedures I have like a 20% success rate at best. I keep lists and check off everything that's added, try different buffers, quantify and dilute accordingly, try gradient of Tms, etc. It's completely random when something works and when it does, and I always use the types of controls my boss insists will help with troubleshooting, but nothing telling comes out of it.
3
u/highnelwyn Feb 11 '22
Incompetent vendors. Just sell me your shit don't ask me to fill in forms constantly, don't change delivery date constantly, don't make me get a quote.
1
u/notimerunaway2 Feb 15 '22
How does your purchasing work? If they don’t list a price I always need a quote to purchase..
1
u/highnelwyn Feb 15 '22
Exactly it is such a pain.
3
u/notimerunaway2 Feb 15 '22
Aha I agree. I want to order a pack of 96 well plate lids, non sterile. Not a 100K flow cytometer. Give me a price
3
Feb 16 '22 edited Feb 16 '22
My PI is a well meaning guy but unfocused and largely absent (work from home four days a week). He's far more focused on his projects outside academia and often won't reply to emails. I just finished year three of my PhD and I am finally getting good data, but it's been a slog.
Feels like I haven't really worked in a real lab for the entirety of Covid, as I'm the most bench-scientist person (everyone else is mostly computational, they were WFH the entire pandemic) so I've been here pretty much alone the entire time. My PI keeps saying he will hire more bench-science focused PhDs or post-docs but to date just keeps hiring more computational people.
I'm not really lacking for funding or support from people in other labs, but I really miss having colleagues to talk to. I feel like Covid has reduced my love of science and excitement to do a PhD down to just needing to get out of academia as soon as I can.
3
u/Tiny-firefly Feb 18 '22
Supplier is backordered on a item one of my scientists needs for their run that starts next week. I'm frantically trying to track down other sources on campus (industry. We have several buildings with different research areas) and I think we're SOL unless this one person responds.
2
2
u/Mindless-acadia103 Feb 12 '22
Hi guys, So my 5th yr senior is a hoarder. I'm in my second year, today i confronted her as she keeps all the autoclaved stuff with herself although we don't do that in our lab and keep everything in a common place. She started shouting at me and started blaming my batchmate for not taking responsibility in lab and said because of her she has started doing this. Should i have not said anything? She also calls me up at odd hours for help and makes me sit with her so she can bitch about the seniors. If i try to put on headphones to avoid her, she'll keep shouting over it till i respond. Really tired of all this, my PI says atleast she doesn't keep complaining like you all. What should i do?
3
u/notimerunaway2 Feb 15 '22
I advise to let her hoard. Assuming there are enough materials, keep your own stash with your team. Don’t engage when she becomes demanding or abusive. Let her learn to function in a lab environment where there is no teamplay or support. The PI sounds unhelpful, don’t bother them with something you need to learn to ignore.
1
2
u/Zoralliah_Author Feb 18 '22
First time as first author! Planned and carried out the experiments, analyzed the data, created the figures, wrote and revised the draft... Sent it over to my co-worker (who has received weekly updates on this project and been given plenty of opportunities to give feedback for the last FOUR MONTHS) and he returns it to me with at least two suggested experiments to perform and has completely re-written the paper. Exactly one sentence of mine made it through to the new version. I was so demoralized I couldn't touch the project for a week.
1
u/ok_computer_339 Feb 23 '22
OUCH. That's gotta hurt.
You don't HAVE to make all of his suggested changes, you know. Try to take an impartial look at his revisions. I know it's hard to be impartial when you have invested so much of your time and energy over months, but remember the hardest part is done. You are SO close to submitting the paper to a journal! Take a deep breath. Look at his suggested changes and keep only the ones that add value to the paper.
2
Feb 23 '22
My primary antibody won’t work 😭 It’s the most important antibody I have and I don’t know what else to change to make it work 😭😭😭
2
u/ChadMcRad Feb 28 '22
I keep getting mutations in my sequences and I'm unbelieveably behind schedule as it is. But I discovered that around my mutations are amino acid sequences that read "QIT" (quit) and "SAD," so while my advisor is chewing me out in front of everyone at our lab meeting I can at least make myself laugh while sobbing by highlighting that on the slide.
1
u/bringmeagene Feb 15 '22
Does anyone have an eppendorf table calender and can send me the link/qr Code for the valentine kakuro? :)
0
0
1
1
Feb 23 '22
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/AutoModerator Feb 23 '22
Due to your account being too new, your post has automatically been removed. Please wait 48 hours before posting on the sub. Throwaway accounts are not allowed, and will not be used unless extenuating circumstances exist. We will not be granting exemptions to this rule, please do not message us asking to allow posts or comments.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
36
u/ziltoid101 Feb 02 '22
Just a reminder to be kind to your undergrads and masters students. I've seen some people that I'd consider to be usually nice people be pretty nasty to people they're training. Don't forget that you were once in their shoes!