Lesson of the day
February 9, 2009
When speaking with someone who is fighting their way up the triage/revise/resubmit ladder: do not complain about all the crappy grants that have been dealt with in your study section in recent weeks. Also, do not implicitly seek sympathy for your task of writing critiques that remain marginally polite and find several points to laud in the triaged proposals.
This is doubly so if you have received positive grant news yourself.
DrugMonkey 
February 9, 2009 at 1:48 pm
???
You were whining about study section in front of some poor unfunded schmuck and he/she got upset?
If so, what did you expect?
Granted, I totally do not envy anyone on NIH study section lately given that 90% of applicants will see your name on the roster and be unhappy. You’re better off just pretending there is someone else that shares your name and institution, and that you think said person is a dickhead too.
LikeLike
February 9, 2009 at 5:48 pm
Don’t worry, DM. I forgive you for calling my grant a long, tortured prose-filled assfest on who-gives-a-fuck from a dickweed know-it-all-who-I-would-like-to-buy-for-what-he’s-worth-and-sell-for-what-he-thinks-he’s-worth. I didn’t take it personally. I always have the -A2…or the R56….or the sedatives and the pencil in my neck.
LikeLike
February 9, 2009 at 7:53 pm
Well, I always know that the grants *you* are talking about are not mine, so I like hearing about them :-). Actually, though, sometimes it is useful to hear about the silly things other people did, so that you can think about whether you did them, too, in the privacy of your own mind.
(But, since we think you’re the offender, and not the offendee, I guess we’re should congratulate you on the good grant news? congrats! In these dire times, I’m adopting a new policy of saying nice things to scientists whenever I can — I think it’s “Be Nice to A Scientist Year.” )
LikeLike
February 11, 2009 at 1:11 am
Re: #2 by Treefish:
Thanks for this, Treefish. I laughed ’til I cried.
LikeLike