My grad student on Wed. sent me an urgent panicky email with some of her "data" attached and her effort at analyzing it. She wanted me to look it over "when I got a chance." But because she was clearly freaking out, she was hoping it would be ASAP.
I was in meetings and didn't get her email until Wed evening. Told her I'd look it over Thursday and get back to her. By Thursday AM she had talked herself down from the ledge and figured things out for herself. But she wanted to meet with me on Friday. I told her I couldn't come to campus, but she could come to my house, which is about 12-15 minutes drive from campus. Then I put her on my schedule and structured my Friday around that.
By Friday mid-day (one hour before our meeting), she decided that she really didn't need to meet with me yet and what she should really do is keep working on her proposal.
She is a very nice person. And clearly anxious about the things that made many of us anxious in grad school. She thinks she is doing me a favor by canceling our Friday meeting. But really, I wish she wouldn't make the appointment in the first place.
I think what I will do is have her make most appointments during my office hours once school starts. She is free to cancel those, but she must call me to cancel. And any meeting outside of office hours she is obligated to keep, except under a real emergency.
Your solutions sound workable. It's frustrating to schedule around people who cancel. Trying to teach son that one when he isn't in the mood for his guitar lesson! Mood, schmood. You're going!
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