I made it 15 months in private industry. I thought I grasped caring about the bottom line. I underestimated the extent to which being good, fair or even marginally viable would be in conflict with the profit margin. The weekends of actually being off were nice, the clean space on the surface of my home office desk was nice, obviously the gigantic Christmas bonus that put the lovely curtains up on my windows last winter was nice. The actual work was, on a good day, horribly boring and on a bad day, frightfully unethical. I lost sleep. I lost weight. I lost hair.
I'm back in academics and beating my head against the brick wall that protects the fantasies of the 'flakes from harmful exposure to rays of reality is actually a lot easier to live with than putting crap in a box and stamping it guaranteed before shipping it out to some poor unsuspecting schmoe who can't make out the legalese in our catalog descriptions.
I thought I'd be stressed out with grading and that another Christmas would come and go before I was ready - but my first holiday back in academics is the happiest Christmas I've had since about the 4th grade (and that was the year I
got this -->
Love,
Wombat
Welcome back from (or is it to?) the dark side.
ReplyDeleteHey! It's Wombat! Hi, Wombat!!!! I'm sorry the industry thing didn't work out (money sounds nice, but, yes, ethics and interesting work do matter, as do being able to health, sanity, etc.). But I'm delighted you're back here, and not finding the reentry into academia too painful. Maybe call it a sabbatical? Or a participant-observer field study? Or a dream which, oddly enough, managed to leave behind curtains?
ReplyDeleteWelcome back!!
ReplyDeleteHello Wombat!!!!! So glad you are back, and here's hoping the new perspective might make you feel the college misery a bit less. You'll have to keep us posted. Maybe we all need a stint in industry to make us appreciate our darling little snowflakes!!!
ReplyDeleteHappy to have you around!
Welcome back Wombat! Yes, definitely, keep us posted about how your re-entry goes... I'd love to hear
ReplyDeleteWB Wombat! I am so stealing "protects the fantasies of the 'flakes from harmful exposure to rays of reality"
ReplyDeleteWombat!! Hooray! I'm so glad your return is happy for you. It's good to have you back.
ReplyDeletePlease tell us more.
ReplyDeleteCurtains really are bloody expensive; 600 thread count duvet covers too.
ReplyDeleteWhatever makes you happy, Wombat, go for it!
Welcome back!!
ReplyDeleteGlad you're back and, as Bella said above, a new perspective can come in handy!
ReplyDeleteWelcome back to the misery, Wombat! We have missed you. :)
ReplyDeleteWombat, now you can tell your students, "Students, I worked in the industry. I know the industry. The industry was a friend of mine. Students, you are not ready for the industry."
ReplyDeleteThis.
DeleteWelcome back, Wombat!
Indeed. I have to fall back on "I know people who work on the industry" (of course, when one teaches writing in multiple disciplines, it's hard to claim experience in them all anyway).
DeleteWow! The 'bat is back! Excellent....
ReplyDeleteWe welcome you back Number 6.
ReplyDeleteNumber 2 is in his Eero Aarnio chair under the Green Dome. Don't run or the Bald Man will announce Orange Alert and Rover will be sicced on you.
[Does that weird hand gesture.] Be seeing you!