part 2

Dear advisor,

So, I was feeling bad about blaming you for how much I'm floundering, but we were supposed to meet today to go over the talk that I will be giving next Wednesday to hundreds of people, with your name on it, and you just blew me off, even though I told you about the new result that potentially invalidates what I wrote in my abstract and that I didn't know how to structure the talk so it's at all coherent. I can edit the slides until Wednesday, but I have to print my poster tomorrow. Why are you not worried?

Yes, I said it was fine to meet with another post-doc before me, since I was in the middle of editing a figure. I should know by now to get in first if I want to actually meet, but I thought the talk would be important enough to get your attention.

Maybe I should take it as a vote of confidence that you think I can just pull some slides together at the last minute... At this point, I seriously doubt I'll be looking for a job with anyone who'll be watching the talk, but I hope for your sake it's not a complete embarrassment.