After
doing data analysis the time finally came to write manuscripts. By
that time, my supervisor was already very annoyed by the slow
progress of my work, in spite of his talented leadership. He told me
that I better start to write two manuscripts at the same time, in
order to speed up a progress. But the absence in me of a talent for
simultaneous writing, forced him to agree on an alternative approach.
I was supposed to send him immediately every bit of manuscript that
was ready and he would improve my scribbles.
Well,
I am not complaining about his lack of work on my first draft: it was
only half done when I sent it. But my second draft I have sent to
him 16 (sixteen!) times.
However,
my supervisor did not find time to read my manuscript and send his
feedback for the next 1.5 years. When he finally sent it back after
his edition, there were all together 311 changes: 256 of which were
deletion of double spaces, mistyped letters and words, and 55 were
formatting changes. Figures and tables were not even opened; there
were no comments on structure, no scientific comments at all. The
sight of these changes at last set my mind in a proper mode and I
decided to seek help from real professors.
My
supervisor was not evil, he was simple lazy. But does he have a right
to be lazy? Does supervisor has right not to do his job? Can charming
smiles and a good nature of a supervisor compensate a damage that his
sloth causes?
The
end of the story was pathetic: after all these long hours in the lab,
battles with statistics and tortures with writing, I was simply
fired, fired without notice and without explanations. My supervisor
probably thought that if he stops paying me, than I would leave
Sweden and nobody would know about his inability to work.
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