I have experienced that sort of thing as well. When i talked to my supervisor about it afterwards, she simply said:
'you should probably get more practice at being able to speak in stresful situations... you dont want to be at a loss for your viva do you...'

Thanks millions for clarifying that I am not going crazy for feeling down about this comments. I am a finalist so I only have a while left to go. I have tried changing supervisors since I'd started my PhD but due to the politics within the department. Its not fun as I have been offered my dream postdoc place but I may have to work with this person but I am doubting taking this position. Its difficult - i'm on anti-depressants to deal with it! Isn't life great! Many thanks for listening.

I don't know if i should be reacting to this in anyway or how to react to it. I think my supervisor is overstepping some boundries. During a collegue's leaving meal, my supervisor kept making remarks about my culture and how my parents have provided me with a sheltered life; eg I am vegetarian ... i don't know much about old music as my parents didnt listen to it.

Another incident was when she came into the research lab shouting at how my research questions had changed in the last 5 months and she wasnt aware of it. When I explained to her that all the documents I gave her had the updated questions on there and I changed them due to a discussion we had she walked out saying 'i dont care anymore - its none of my business'.

There have been many issues of this kind. I dont know if it is ok to be angry by what she is doing or if its what other supervisors do in other universities or departments.

agrh - ethics is driving me crazy. I am in a computing department and they have rejected my ethics form because i am working with minors - they dont know how to deal with that. My CRB is out of date - so i need my insitution to request one for me - but thtey said i have to do it myself. But i cant do it myself as an institution have to do it for you. What can i do - if this was the school of education then it would have gone through and they would have sorted out a crb. I am stuck.....

Agrh ive got to complete a cofnerence paper for a very competitive conference, my supervisor hasnt been helping (but insisting their names go on it) because she wants to submit a paper to teh same conference with her friends! Aghr but i am determind to get their reviews- going crazy - been ill for ages but must submit. Any words of advice or magic spells to write a paper by today?

Any hints and tips to getting postdoc positions? I dont know where to start! Keep asking people they just tell me to keep my eye open. But how / where?!

congrats!!! yey! yeh i got thru mine last week...! The viva was horrible though - but it was ok in the end!!!! We will finish!

ur supervisor will tell you when its the right time for you. Dont worry. Thyre aware uve got to do it!

YEYEEYEYEY IVE beeeeen upgraded thank you so much!

I have my minithesis viva thing coming up. I'm reading through what i gave in and ive missed out so much of what my supervisors told me, my references are ridiculous cos i chose the wrong endnote output format - its awful and i forgot to put my stats stuff in there. I dont know what to do. I am printing a load of stuff out for the viva to demonstrate that i can do this stuff - at the time i think i was totally exhausted which is why i didnt do it but i am suffering now in a big way. Any ideas?!

I gave my repotrt to my supervisor and she said 'well its in the right space' adn your going to ahve to make some changes. I understadn the changes part but i dont understand 'right space'. Agrh i hate it when they say stuff that isnt in english!

i dunno - think about which one you want to do. Its unfair as someone else could be written into that bid that may REALLY want to do it.

Submitted to get in to a doctoral consortium for a conference- but it wasnt good enough so they making me put in a poster instead. Apparently the standard was too high. I seem to keep getting these comments all the time. I get reviews back, act on them. But can never get very far. Its quite disheartening some times. It doesnt really matter to supervisors much, but its not them thats doing the work.Sorry for the rant. On wards and upwards.

Sorry yes was unclear. The email basically said that X amount of manuscripts were recieved. 6 were rejected for some reason or another. But mine was retained and is being reviewd by external reviewers. I honestly don't know if this is an achievement or not! I don;t know if I want my supervisors to know how its going until i get a definate answer. i know others that have submitted - the others I know are readers. I'm just a PhD so it seems unlikely that it'll get in but hey ho thats lifeeee!

Hiya - hope u are all having a productive morning! I put in an article for a journal in march and found out today that its being put forward for the last roudn of external reviews. It also said that a certain amount got rejected. I don't know whether to be happy or sad. Is this email worth forwarding to my supervisors or shall just wait until i find out if its or not. Its my first one which is why I am anxious. Agrh Mini-thesis due in tomorrow - having to sort out future work chapter.... agrh.