I Spilled My Grad Advisor's Coffee on Their New Laptop, Was It Worth It?
Anonymous Guilty Charmer #191 · General
So here's a story that might make me sound like an absolute lunatic. I was working in the shared office space last week, and my grad advisor walked in with a fresh cup of coffee and their brand new laptop. You know how it feels when you're really stressed about your thesis deadline and you see someone who seems completely at ease? Well, that's exactly how I felt watching them set up shop like they owned the place. It’s not even personal, honestly, this person is one of those professors who treats grad students more like serfs than actual human beings capable of contributing to their own research projects. And let me tell you, there’s a lot of passive-aggressive “suggestions” and very thinly veiled micromanagement involved in that treatment. So there I am, seething with frustration and resentment as I watch them sip calmly on their coffee. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I notice they’ve put their laptop directly under the drip line from the coffee cup, like some kind of cruel fate is playing out right before me. And in that moment, something clicked in my head. I mean, it was more like an impulsive reaction than a deliberate plan... but as soon as I saw that setup, my hand reached for their cup without thinking and accidentally sent it crashing down onto the laptop. Now, don’t get me wrong, I didn’t actually aim to break the computer. It was just this weird moment of wanting everything to be out in the open, you know? No more secrets about who’s underperforming or who isn’t meeting expectations. The whole office fell silent as they scrambled to try and fix their laptop. To be honest, it felt good to shake things up. Afterwards, I tried to act nonchalant but couldn’t completely hide my relief at the chance for a new start between us. But here’s where the real question comes in, was this just an immature way of dealing with workplace stress and frustration? Or did they deserve what happened because of how they treat grad students like me? What do you guys think? Am I really just making excuses, or is there some kind of messed-up justice at work here?