I know I have complained about my part time job at the university before, but I am still extremely frustrated by events. They didn't pay me for 2 months, but at the beginning of Sept a cheque for June finally came through. By the time the money had come in and I could technically start working again, I had already planned to be out in the field for 10 days so made no progress on my work.
Since being back at work for 2 days I have been catching up on the project, including on emails from another participant. I set up a meeting with this participant so we could talk about the project direction and make sure our work was along the same lines (there are several of us all working on pieces of a larger project).
That meeting has since been co-opted by the project manager to include a full group meeting, complete with us each presenting a written progress report. If I had not set up a meeting, and been courteous to let the project manager know of the meeting, then no such presentation would be taking place (i.e. no presentation of my non-existent progress). To top it off, I feel like such a whiner, complaining that I only started back to work on this project after not being paid for 2 months, because apparently everyone else has enough income coming in that they worked for free during this period.
I have written my resignation letter on email. I doubt I will send it for another few weeks, and will likely finish off the current task, but I have had enough. I get frustrated at every turn of this project, and am tired of academia in general.
What irks me the most is the lack of respect for my knowledge, and continual butt kissing of the higher academics that must go on to appear cooperative. I am a polite person by nature but when the respect is not mutual I have a pretty short fuse.
I had stayed on because: 1) I like the project, and 2) needed the security of part-time work while starting my business. The latter point is moot now, and I am beginning to like the project less and less!
Mike