So. When my final semester of grad school (this is relevant) started a few weeks ago and we were told that we had to do two group projects, I cringed. Thankfully, the final project we can do with people that we choose so that's fine. But Mr. Ed (aka my professor who talks like a fucking horse) was choosing the group members for the smaller project. Ok, still fine. No big deal.
So the groups are chosen on a night I wasn't there (of course) but I got an email that was polite and straightforward. AWESOME. I am all about setting expectations. We agreed to meet a week later after having a week to choose and research our topics. I'm just going to go ahead and tell you that our projects main topic is Instructional Technologies because that is VERY relevant in addition to the fact that we are in GRADUATE SCHOOL. In case you don't know what Instructional Technologies are, it's just the different ways to learn due to the advances of technology. Online classes, smartboards, ipads, etc. Mmkay.
So meeting number one happens and things are going pretty well. Three of us are obviously type A and the fourth girl is a little Type B but she's taking notes and shit so I didn't think much of it. I had my laptop out (a Mac) and in a lull of conversation, TypeB tells me that she's going to buy a computer the next day. Cool. The next 30 seconds went something like this:
TypeB: What kind of computer is that?
Me: (is she serious?) It's an Apple.
TypeB: ::scribbles furiously:: Where did you get it from?
Me: (this cannot be real) The Apple store.
TypeB: ::still scribbling furiously:: How much was it?
So yeah. That happened. Ok, maybe she just lives under a rock. She does openly admit that she's not very technical (please refer back to the project topic. ok then.). So I'm trying to help her out because I'm a really nice person. We had to make accounts on a website so I ask for her student username which is a combination of your first initial, last name, and a set of numbers. She starts flipping through her wallet (ohmygod, you should know this) and hands me...her student ID card. Ok. I don't even know what to say since her username is most definitely NOT on that card. And I am most definitely NOT a psychic. At that point I asked if this was her first semester in our grad program and at LSU (because we're only 2 weeks in so that would make sense, right?). Nope. Second semester in the program. Jesus help this girl.
So let's fast forward a bit. Over the next week, we send out a few emails but TypeB is apparently allergic to the Reply button since she never replies to any of them. We are down to the final week and one of the other Type A's sends out an email outlining how things are going to go. Person1 is making the presentation, Person2 is doing the introduction, Person3 (that's me!) is doing the conclusion, and Person4 (aka TypeB) is supposed to make a backup presentation. These are in addition to each person talking about their own topics. So we basically gave her a part that wasn't even needed but whatever. I find out 3 days later that Person1 actually did both the main and the backup presentation and is (rightfully) annoyed about it. She sends out a very, very passive aggressive email about the whole project. I talk to her about why she's upset and she tells me about how she couldn't get in touch with TypeB so she just did her part for her (which is bullshit; on both parts).
So I send out another email. I AGAIN outline our jobs and tell TypeB that since Person1 put everything together and Person2 was doing the introduction and Person3 (me!) is doing the conclusion, that she needs to be responsible for THE ONE SLIDE that has the definition of our topic on it. That's it. She just needs to read the fucking definition during the presentation.
The next day I get another voicemail telling me that she's just going to talk about her topic during the presentation. OH HELL NO, BITCH, SHIT IS ABOUT TO GET REAL. That was basically my reaction.
It ended up fine. I called her back, left a firm message about each of us pulling our own weight and never heard from her again. The presentation went great, TypeB did her shit correctly (for the most part), and I got a 98. Snap, snap, what!
But still. Trust no one.
I had so many group projects in grad school - I never understood the purpose of them. Unless it was teaching us how to deal with absolute morons and not kill them!
ReplyDelete