postdocs -- apology

[aloisia schmid]

In article <ravena-1508970634300001 at ravena-ppp.caltech.edu>,
ravena at cco.caltech.edu (Karen Allendoerfer) wrote:

> In article <5t0qm2$57p at gap.cco.caltech.edu>, ravena at cco.caltech.edu (Karen
> Allendoerfer) wrote:
> 
>  Sometimes I think that if I don't get a "real
> > job" that I actually might make a good (and even reasonably happy) lab
> > manager or technician (although people might consider me "overqualified").
> 
> I want to apologize sincerely for the way I wrote this.  In this sentence
> it looks as if I think that lab manager/technician isn't a "real job."  I
> don't mean it that way at all.  I know we've been through the requirements
> for technicians and lab managers in other threads, and all the technicians
> and lab managers I know are very hard-working, competent people, and are
> certainly in real jobs.  It was late at night, and I was using the term
> "real job" in an ironic sense, as in the narrow expectations that some
> people have about what you can and ought to expect if you have a PhD. 
> That's no excuse though for the dismissive way that it sounds, though, and
> I'm sorry, again, to anyone who might have been offended by this.
> 
> Karen Allendoerfer


Dear Karen,

     As a former lab tech myself, I wasn't the slightest bit offended.  I
think it was clear what you meant and I don't think people here are all
that quick to take offense.  

                              Alice