Arrrgh. My supervisor is generally great. She knows her stuff, she's very quick to mark work and give feedback, and she's genuinely a very nice person- most of the time. Yet when she gets stressed she can be so rude to people. She doesn't think twice about firing off a really impolite email to people who have annoyed her (it doesn't take much to annoy her) and whilst normally that isn't my problem, it becomes my problem when she sends off rude emails on my behalf or sticks my name at the bottom of them. This has happened a couple of times in relation to teaching (I am the TA for her module) because someone has refused to cooperate with her for whatever reason, and now she has sent a nasty email to my second supervisor because he took a couple of days to reply to an email of mine. I mentioned that I was waiting for a response form him, and she said she would email to see if he would reply to her quicker, but she sent him a really nasty email telling him off for not responding to me immediately, which was absolutely not what I had in mind. Now she's had a nasty email back from him and is blaming me for expecting him to reply straight away (which I didn't, and I wasn't complaining about it). I have had many a conversation with others where I have stuck up for my supervisor because she has a reputation as a bit of a dragon, which I feel is mostly undeserved, but sometimes I can see where everyone else is coming from....I just hate being dragged into it, I don't want a reputation like that!

Has anyone else experienced this or does anyone have any advice? I feel like emailing my 2nd sup to apologise for this but something tells me I might be better just to keep out of it altogether....

Cheers people, KB

just stay away and be friendly to your second supervisor. act like you don't know about it. then the day he raises it.. say you have never sent such an email. that will be an indirect by very effective hit on your supervisor without causing you any harm.

if i were you, i would pop in happily into my second supervisors office to ask a question and act like i don't know about that email and hope he brings it up. if he does, i play my card. lol. i love drama.

good day.8-)

Oh dear, keenbean, that is a bit off!
Why on earth is she signing your name to an email she's written in the first place? I take it asking her not to sign anything you haven't viewed is a no-hoper?

I think Jojo's suggestion of stopping in on your 2nd supervisor asap is a good one, then you can sound it out and either just be nice, or deal with the issue if it comes up. I'm sure your second is well-aware of the first sups nature and will hopefully understand that the aggro didn't really come from you.

mmm...I'm not too sure. It might look a bit cocky if you just smile at him when you walk past etc, pretending you know nothing about it. He already thinks that you were behind the email complaint.

To be honest, I would go in and ask if you could have a private chat, explaining the whole thing, how you feel etc.

The trick is to behave as if you are actually asking him for his advice about the situation.
He will feel so flattered that you saw him as someone who is important enough and trustworthy enough to speak to about the issue - AND it would subtly let him know that you didn't have anything to do with the woman's rant. Chances are, she probably already has quite a bad reputation herself, so it wouldn't be too difficult for him to see who was REALLY behind that email.

I agree with Cobweb. My Supervisor has said that I have to use her as an excuse to get things done e.g. "XX is on my back to get the photocopying done admin man - please do it now otherwise she'll kill me" or "XX wants this done now - nothing to do with me!"

Yeah, I think you guys are right...I will say something to him when I get the chance. I just don't want to look like I'm bitching about my primary supervisor and shit-stirring. To be honest, they have a bit of an interesting relationship anyway- that is no secret- he knows what she can be like so I think he will probably tell me not to worry about it. I should have been a bit clearer- she hasn't ever put only my name on emails she has written, she always puts hers as well. Even so, I don't like her adding my name to an email when I really don't agree with the sentiment, and I have previously had to go round apologising and making amends because she has been rude to people in the department. I just don't want to be associated with that sort of thing, it isn't nice and I hate bad feeling. Why can't she just keep it buttoned when she's in that sort of mood?!!! Thanks for the advice guys! KB

be careful.

i once had a private chat with the director of research about my supervisor (which she didn't respons to) and then shortly my director of research went on maternity leave and weeks on my supervisor followed suit on parental leave. turned out they were carrying on. be very careful before you chat to anyone about someone else that you know the relationship between these people!

sigh.. i've learned too much from my phd experience.

Hi Keanbean, I'm with Jojo on this one. You say your supervisor has done this to you before, so I'd bet big bucks that she's done it to many other students/underlings; her colleagues will be aware of this trait, along with all the others they seem to know about, so I'd just leave it and not get involved, unless the issue is raised, or if your second sup is off with you. Possibly your rsecond sup is feeling for you right now, and this is the sort of thing that ps him off about her. Or you could just make it clear you appreciate him next time you see him, something like 'I'm lucky to have someone as helpful as you on my sup team' or whatever. It's totally out of order for your sup to have done this, but it's my guess your second sup knows it wasn't motivated by you, also your sup could feel undermined if you went out of your way to counter the message she sent.

Good luck:-)