Hi all
I was volunteering for one of my lecturers this summer by sorting out some missing/messy data for him, with the hope of then being taught to use the more exciting software he used to do the initial study (can't be more specific here).

He mysteriously wasn't around all summer - other lecturers were asking me if I knew where he was (as they didn't and were concerned), but he was responding to text and G-Mail (not his college e-mails) so that's how we communicated.

He's not the best teacher in the world (more of a researcher, and rather maverick and unreliable but with good publications) and so it was quite difficult not being able to ask him questions face-to-face about the gaps in his data and so forth. For this reason I made very slow progress and spent most of my time messing around with Excel and SPSS. I felt quite embarrassed about this but suggested to him that I continue to help him during term-time this autumn. I never got to the point where I could learn the glamorous software (!) and this was really the goal for me - something for the CV.

Yesterday I went in to see another academic, my actual dissertation supervisor, and he informed me that the first guy has been fired for misappropriation of research grants. Apparently the locks on his office door were changed (which might explain why he's not been around all summer).

Anyway, I'm now rather disinclined to continue volunteering for him. He no longer has an affiliation or access to the glamorous software so volunteering doesn't have the quid pro quo that I was hoping for. But over the time I've known him we have built up a friendship and (get this!) on Monday I saw him at an event he'd agreed to help me out with and he was behaving entirely normally with other students and academics... he said nothing about what's been happening and he knew I was going into college yesterday to mess around with his data some more.

I think the guy's in denial, I'll be sorry not to see him again, but it would be insane to keep in touch with him and keep volunteering for him now he's an (ahem) 'independent researcher' (ie unemployed). But now I have to send an e-mail telling him I won't be volunteering any more and that's basically 'cos he's been dismissed. Kick a guy when he's down. I'm sure he's culpable but it's going to be one hell of an awkward e-mail...

:-(

ouch, what a horrible situation! but yes you are right, it won't do you any good to continue to work with this guy, so you just have to bite the bullet and tell him! i would try and include something along the lines of how grateful you are for his help/the experience you gained (however you can dress it up!), and how it is regrettable you can no longer work together, etc.. this will hopefully soften the blow a bit! and good luck - i don't envy you one bit :-(

Thanks Smoobles!
Have decided to put off the e-mail writing till the weekend when I'm a bit less busy and have time to phrase things tactfully... such is life I suppose!


Ogriv(up)

Oh dear, well I suppose it happens......

I'd be careful what was written in that email and not commit yourself i.e. 'I shan't be volunteering for you because Joe Bloggs said you has misappropriated funds' could land you in sticky stuff.

Perhaps something along the lines of your previous voluntary work has not met your career objectives so you've decided to move on.

======= Date Modified 17 Sep 2009 11:45:16 =======
Hi Ogriv,



Sounds tricky... Are you sure he's been fired? How reliable is your dissertation supervisor? There is a chance that he has duff information.



Anyhow, since you're not getting much from the voluntary work, if I were you, I'd quit anyway, because it is not benefiting you, and is taking up your own valuable research time.



You could use the start of a new term as the excuse, and say something like 'Unfortunately, I will no longer be able to work on project xyz. I'm so sorry to have to renege on my promise to continue volunteering for you during term time, but I have since found that my existing work load and schedule are, in fact, already full to capacity. I sincerely hope this doesn't inconvenience you; I wish you the best for this worthwhile and interesting project; and thank you for all that I have learned during my time working for you.'



Hope this helps. He should, really, be grateful that you volunteered at all.

======= Date Modified 17 Sep 2009 11:44:28 =======
sorry, another double posting, don't know why...

Hi all
Hmmm, I think my dissertation supervisor is very reliable as I have come to know him as a cautious person (unlike the chap who was dismissed!) My supervisor says an e-mail went out to the department earlier this week. However the gory details of the misappropriation of funds are understandably being kept quiet, I think.

I think it's right, however, not to refer to any of this in my e-mail terminating the volunteer work. It's just as you say, I have to refer to how I don't have time and it's not furthering my objectives (which contradicts an e-mail I sent to the dismissed guy just 3 weeks ago!)

It will be strange to be this formal and cold with him, as I am accustomed to a more informal and friendly relationship. This is the nub of the awkwardness, but there's no getting round the fact that the context of our relationship was an academic environment. If we can't any longer operate within those bounds, then it has to come to an end. Weird.

Thanks all for your advice.