Through the Eyes of a Stranger: Waiting Your Turn

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Clarissa

October 14, 2011

As I mentioned before, we are having our offices renovated at work. All of the teaching faculty have been moved out of our offices and new furniture is getting installed gradually.

One of the instructors at our department is the wife of our Dean. Her office faces mine. And what I find to be very surprising is that the Dean’s wife is waiting for her turn to get her office back, just like we all do.

This would have never happened back in my country. There, the offices would have been renovated based on the hierarchy of who is more important. It would have never happened, like it has at my department here, that an adjunct would get her office back faster than the Chair.

Here, however, everybody has to wait for their turn. And that makes it a lot easier to deal with the inconvenience of not having an office. We are all in the same boat, there is no unfairness, nobody gets humiliated, and the resentments among colleagues do not appear.

And I really like that.

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7 responses to “Through the Eyes of a Stranger: Waiting Your Turn”

Jennifer Frances Armstrong

October 14, 2011

This has nothing much to do with your post, but cultural differences can be mightily pleasurable, especially when one experiences them as being different from what one might have expected. Some of the great delights for me, in returning for a visit to Zimbabwe last year, were the ways in which people were prepared to innovate a system that worked in the face of a broken infrastructure. This was especially the case in terms of transport, which was mostly handled by a mini-bus system, with private operators asking a very nominal fee to take you from one city to another: $5 -$6 US for over 200 kilometres. There was also a widespread and tacit understanding as to the fact that a short journey ought to cost $1 to $2 US and a longer one as I mentioned. So, under desperate circumstances, you could hitch a lift and private citizens would take you from A to B for this small price. In one case, the couple of us were picked up after waiting for two hourse by a CIO (Central Intelligence Operative) and taken to where we wanted to be — a town two hours’ drive away. We paid him the anticipated fee of $12.

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Paul Tiderman

October 14, 2011

I think you are truly blessed that you do not have all that resentment to deal with…Congratulations. And maybe you should mention to the Dean’s wife how you feel about it. That may make her wait a little more bearable, as well.

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Patrick

October 14, 2011

But surely, someone has to be first, and someone has to be last. Is it necessary to ascribe malicious intent or favourtism just because the order is different than what we would have done? Are academics really that petty?

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1. bloggerclarissa
  
  October 14, 2011
  
  In my country, you mean? It is always very noticeable when things happen according to a strict hierarchy every single time.
  
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  1. bloggerclarissa
    
    October 14, 2011
    
    Of course, I was never an academic in my country. I was still too young for that.
    
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  2. Patrick
    
    October 14, 2011
    
    I mean at your current institution. Your statement, “the Dean’s wife is waiting her turn” implies that if her office were ready first, that there would be resentment. Unless, somehow magically all the offices are ready at exactly the same time, somebody is going to be in their new office before others. Will your colleagues look at that person as if they are receiving some special treatment? If the Dean’s wife’s office was completed first, would there be animosity among the faculty?
    
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    1. bloggerclarissa
      
      October 14, 2011
      
      I can only say how I would react based on my history and experiences, and yes, I’d be suspicious. I recognize, though, that this is part of my Soviet legacy. It isn’t easy to get rid of this knee-jerk suspicion of unfairness lurking everywhere. I’m trying, though.
      
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