This is the third episode in the series "Mystery of the Missing Research".
Previous episode: Not Moving Forward
Nobody explained
much to me about anything when I first got here. For a little while, I thought Kurt
was the Head of our entire Institute, which has around a hundred people, most
of them men. On the second day, Kurt introduced me to a guy who I assumed just
happened to be standing around in the secretariat, with something along the lines of,
“This is the big man who knows everything”. It was a bit puzzling as the “big
man” was only a little taller than me (I am not tall!) and himself did not
expand on the everything it was about which he was so knowledgeable. He showed very
little interest in me but did join us for lunch, where by chance I sat next to
him. I was very polite and tried to engage him in conversation, with very
little success. He did mention that he used to live in Paris and had done his
PhD there, whereupon I told him I had also studied for one semester in Paris,
but he showed literally no interest and did not respond. Looking back, I guess
he was wondering what kind of a secretary studies in Paris!
A couple of
weeks later we had a meeting with the entire Institute and this guy was
moderating it. Afterwards I googled his name, Hagen Eichner, and found out that
he was actually the Head. Of the whole Institute. Bingo, there was a photo of
him in a gown and everything. Boy did I feel embarrassed that I didn’t know he
was actually the boss! According to the bio he is going to be 48 soon. He is
smartly dressed and very clean-cut, but apart from that I have ascertained
nothing about him at all. It didn’t help that he wasn’t interested in me at
lunch. I kind of closed down after that.
Anyway, it was a
real stupid moment for me when I realized who he actually is! but it also shows
how completely uninformed I am here. Lots of people have been here for decades
and some have never been anywhere else. And many of them have never even worked
outside academia or the public sector! It’s like a living museum of people in
some ways. I guess they don’t realize that when you come in as an outsider, you
really know nothing at all – especially
regarding their established structures and relationships, their norms, their
mores, and their customs, their hierarchies and their etiquette.
And Professor
Hagen Eichner is utterly unremarkable, as far as I can make out. Seriously, I
don’t think I would be able to pick him out of a line-up at the moment! I would
say he is bland. His looks have made no impression on me, he is not tall and
his voice has no particularly descriptive characteristics. His attire is cool
but flat. I have not yet heard him laugh. This is not someone who I would think
of as particularly fun or interesting. So far, he has treated me as if I do not
exist.
In fact, I think
Professor Eichner is cold as ice.
Hagen is one of
the main characters in Wagner’s Götterdämmerung.
He kills the hero Siegfried. He stabs him in the back. This has not yet evoked
any negative emotions in me when I am in the presence of Professor Eichner.
Next episode: A Full-Time Job
No comments:
Post a Comment