Life of a Lab Rat

As the regular reader of this weblog (both of you) may have picked up, I arrived in Sydney and therefore started work at the Maze not so very long ago. I did go through the very useful "Oh, you must be new here, I'm XXX, who are you?" phase — useful because I had an excuse for not knowing who anyone was — but that honeymoon period was brought to an abrupt end when I gave a departmental seminar just a couple of short months into the job.

Because my name was all over the department on seminar notices everyone learned who I was. And I was lucky enough be able to put importantsenior names to faces because my host kindly said the names of those who asked questions (and my thoughts were along the lines of "Ah! The assistant head. Right. I'll make sure I remember him"). Problem is, I never forget a face, but have a lousy memory for names. So when I was introduced to a group of ten or a dozen people I'd count myself lucky if I could remember the names of two of them. Usually I can bluff my way through the first couple of meetings with someone new to me until I get their name into the rather disorganized filing system that is my memory, so people don't often see the turmoil I'm actually going through.

But aside from that, one rather ego-stroking upshot of giving a seminar early on is that the senior staff know me, and always say "Hello Black" when we pass in the corridor or on the stairs. That is nice because it makes me feel like someone (I'm not sure who, exactly, but anyway). The problem of course is that non-senior people also know me, people who do not have their photos on the name board downstairs. And these are the people I actually might want to work with, or steal reagents from, or — heaven forbid — take out for a beer.

I am very much an introvert (see here, here and here for more than you could ever possibly want to know about me), and as time passes it is even more difficult for me to say "um, look, I know we exchange greetings every day, but who the hell are you, exactly?"

After our SelectaHead™ meeting one of the other attendees introduced herself and on learning my (real) name said something along the lines "Oh! You're —— ! Who sends those emails!". Which was something of a revelation. She apparently started here about the same time or a bit later than me; I knew the name but not the person because we share a pigeonhole and I often see post for her. Unfortunately the happy coincidence that resolved our mutual ignorance is unlikely to be repeated for the other nameless faces I know.

So if I say 'hello' to you but look slightly embarrassed when you pass me on the stairs, please understand, and forgive me. And then I shall offer to buy you a beer. Or maybe even come and steal some reagents from you.