Hi,
I'm a 3rd year PhD student in enviro science. My supervisors are fabulous but I keep having run ins with another staff member who has a long reputation of treating students like s**t. He doesn't tolerate any mistakes, lapses of memory or, (and this is what I'm targeted for) untidiness in 'his' lab. At first it was just a couple of small things that I got over relatively easily but the latest run in was over some glassware that broke in a shelf while I was using another machine. I couldn't find the glass bin so I decided to leave it till the end of my cleaning to have a really good look for it. Anyway he came in while I was on the phone, found the glass yelled and swore at me, started cleaning and sweeping telling me glass was everywhere including computer keyboards (it wasn't). I told him what had happened and grabbed a broom but he just dismissed me saying he'd already cleaned it up. When I told him I couldn't find the glass waste bin he yelled & showed me that it was under the desk (behind other equipment). Then he accused me of leaving sample rings everywhere (they were all on top of a small freezer) when I went to take them off he accused me of scratching the freezer that he had paid for out of a grant he got. The impossibility of scratching a metal freezer with plastic coated sampling rings made me realise that whatever I did in that lab from that moment on would be wrong. Now I am totally terrified of going in there again but I have to run more samples. I've told my supervisor but she says I have to deal as he's never going to change. I feel silly being this scared over one incident. How can I get over this and get my samples done?

Unfortunately this is a relatively common problem. You could inform your head of school, but chances are they already know about his behaviour. Best strategy is probably avoidance - use the lab when he's not around ie evenings and weekends. And don't leave things lying around to give him the opportunity to shout at you.

Don't you need to take some personal responsibility for your own actions too? You must know that leaving broken glass lying around is a health and safety problem, and that if another person was hurt because you did not clear it immediately then it would be the lab head who gets the blame from the university for permitting unsafe practices. I'm not surprised he was angry to be honest, even if he went over the top.

There's really little excuse for not knowing safety first when working in a lab. That aside I'd say keep your head down and get your work done as quickly as possible without giving him any reason to target you further.

It's true that you should have cleared up the broken glass immediately (and asked someone if you didn't know where the sharps bin was) instead of leaving it while you took a phone call... but even though you were in the wrong, there's no excuse for a staff member yelling and swearing at a student like that. He could have reminded you of the importance of lab safety without doing it in an aggressive and inappropriate way.

I encountered someone like this too - he actually started doing weird things like loosening the caps on my centrifuge tubes while my back was turned (supposedly to check whether I'd follow the correct procedure of double-checking them before putting in the centrifuge - fortunately I saw him doing it so I wasn't fooled!). This person wasn't my supervisor or anything to do with me, he'd just got it into his head that I wasn't fit to be in the lab after seeing me make a minor mistake on my first day. I would sometimes get to the lab and stand outside too scared to even go in, and just go back home feeling sick with anxiety.

Unfortunately you get people like this in academia, and it's very difficult as a student to do anything about it, especially if they're an academic who brings in lots of funding (or support staff who've been there for 20 years or whatever). So I have to agree that the only way sometimes is to keep your head down and avoid him as much as possible. But it shouldn't be that way :(

I don't think yelling is the appropriate response and understand this person's actions can be intimidating. Having said that, you find that academia is like the world of work everywhere, you have to work with people whose behaviour can be difficult at times.

I would approach this person directly, (when they are not busy or distracted) and just apologise for not cleaning up the glass immediately and clarify that you intended to but were distracted by the phone call. Then just finish with saying that it won't happen like this again.

Don't try to be friends or look for any specific behaviour or response from this person afterwards, just move on.

And my other thoughts would be not too worry too much about their thoughts about you or their behaviour in general. Your own supervisor will be supportive of you and that's the main thing.

Just acknowledge that this particular response of yours was probably not the best at this time, you won't do it again and then focus on your own plans and tasks.

I agree with Pjlu!

An apology goes a long way - even if the other person was in the wrong also.

I think it better to get your work done as quickly as possible and try to work when he is not around and try to be more safe in the lab.