Beware of the Graduate Student

As kids, a trip to the zoo is like steroids for our imagination.  We walk around in wonder and awe of the incredible animals – Where did they come from? Do they ever sleep? Why does that one seem so cranky? What’s that smell?!

And then we become graduate students and it all makes sense…

Something happens to graduate students around the third year.  And that something usually isn’t pretty.  Continued experimental failure together with the looming pressure to one day graduate brings out the primordial beast in us.  As the student develops into a senior student, the animal instincts are on full display, often fighting over their property [tube racks, pipetman] and marking their territory [with masking tape].

The senior student can be lured out of their den, usually by free food or drink.  Like watching lions feed at the zoo- it’s fun, but it’s also dangerous and tossing scraps to them is strongly discouraged.  The laboratory environment is no place for wild attacks, so for the safety of everyone involved, we’ve taken measures to alert labmates and visitors of the inherent danger in interacting with the senior student species.

Simply download, fill out and post the sign to make your lab a safer environment.  And please – Be Careful!

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Click here or on the image below to download a blank graduate student warning sign.

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For other LabLibs, see:

The Passive-Aggressive Instrument Note

Let Chuck Norris Protect Your Bench

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