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[crisisfan]

Hello everyone,

I'm new on the board so I thought I would introduce myself - a social science postdoc in the UK. Now to share: Recently, I volunteered to attend a big university run strategic event on behalf on my department as no one else seemed to want to go. The event seemed to be about discussing ways forward to get money and developing ideas for research agendas. So I said my bit and indicated what I honestly thought about things and tried to indicate where I thought social science could contribute. I was under the impression that the event was an ideas forum and was a closed shop and a chance to find out what people thought. This turns out to have been a mistake of epic proportions!
A few days later I have reason to speak to my head of department who then says 'you might want to shut the door.' I am then told that a number of 'senior colleagues' had been less than impressed and were asking 'who is...?' It appears that I had a developed a bad case of foot in mouth syndrome and had been a little too honest and forthright for my own good. This created a poor impression of the department which forced my head of department to spend a morning smoothing ruffled feathers.
I guess the twin morals of the story are when you are the junior person keep your opinions to yourself at University events as your chance of offending or irritating someone important is very high and don't ever be mislead by informality in academica.   
However, I will say that the feedback I got was a constructive ticking off and you need to hear these things so you don't make the same mistakes in future. I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has a similar story and what do they think. Personally, I think I was a bit of an idiot and that I need to learn a few lessons on this one about the hidden undercurrents.   

[locutus]

Well one of the popular sayings around here is STFU. I don't think you need to remain totally silent, but it's always a good idea to know what you are getting into when going to big meetings and such. Especially if you are a "too honest" type of person and especially if you are in a new situation. If the more senior folks have been around a lot longer than you there's likely to be lots of history lurking under the surface that you don't know about. Tread lightly, as they say.