We always do anonymous Chair evaluations this time of year. This year is my last so the evaluation doesn’t have any concrete impact. Of course, people could use this opportunity to write something nice. But that’s not how humans function.
Still, one person did bother to do the evaluation and wrote that I’m kind, patient and that my research is what justifies the existence of the department and the university. I’m shocked to have one well-wisher after six years in this role. It’s one more than I expected.
Yes, I’m very curious who it is but, again, knowing people, I’m certain it’s somebody for whom I never did any favors.
Clarissa's Blog 
“Yes, I’m very curious who it is but, again, knowing people, I’m certain it’s somebody for whom I never did any favors.”
Isn’t that amazing? And you’re probably totally right. Just like the students leaving me the most impassioned positive evaluations are usually students that have spent the whole semester quietly taking in lectures and doing the work, never asking for anything, rather than the high-maintenance students always asking for special treatment.
More often than not, the people asking for favors end up resenting the one granting them favors because the granter of favors is an unflattering mirror, a reminder of the grantee’s weakness and insufficiency that the grantee is often ashamed of, albeit subconsciously, after the crisis has passed. This negativity ends up projected away from the ashamed grantee and onto the granter, hence the grantees are often the ones going most viciously against the person who helped them in a time of need.
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Every single time.
When there was a search for a new Associate Dean, the only person who came to the meeting of the search committee to support our Acting Associate Dean was me. This is the guy who is killing himself to help everybody. He makes everything work. And in his time of need, nobody showed up. He was shocked that I did because he also knows the human nature and didn’t expect anybody to come.
And it’s exactly how you say. My biggest ill-wisher at the department is the person whose job I saved twice. And I’m not in the least surprised.
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