Welcome to the real world

Today I ventured in the 'real world'. This magical wonderland outside the rhelm of a university, where people make fun of 'science geeks', do not make 'jokes' about computer parts, and expect things to be done on time. Yes, I'm venturing into the world of retail employment, albeit in the semi-scientific form of optical dispensing.

All this is necessary of course because it is in fact rather difficult to live comfortably on a PhD scholarship. ASB's 'track my spending' spells out in a scientific language familiar to me that 'money in'  < 'money out. Hence the need for supplementary income. Whether I have the time for this remains to be seen!

Anyway... from my vantage point as 'the new girl' I was mostly excluded from cliquey humour (not IT-related) between the other employees  that I did not understand, and so was able to make some important observations.

There are many. The pace is faster when customers are in, but slower when not. 'Women's Day' litters the room, and there's no reason to feel guilty for not reading a 'Nature' article when times are slow. Where's the open plan office and my own personal computer? In the real world, there's no reason to be 'researching the internet'. No matter how busy the place gets, I'm not sure I'll ever feel like I'm truly 'working' when I haven't sat at a computer and forced some knowledge into my brain.

'Someone tells me that you're the bright girl,' says one optometrist, whilst my new peers listen on.

'You're going to find this a piece of cake then!'

Embarrassed, I mumble something unconvincing like 'oh no, there's so much to remember'.

Nothing helps one settle into a new environment more than alienating one's peers with talk of 'neurons', 'microscopes' and 'proteins'.

Don't look at me like that, I know nothing. I don't I know how to deal with an angry patient, let alone whilst the phone is ringing in several locations and others are waiting to be served.

Maybe one day in the future, it will be a relief to come and work in the real world to escape the silence craziness of academia. But for now, I crave the familiarity of my own introversion that academia allows me to indulge in.

My PhD is simple in comparison.