My evaluation with my GA rolls around and surprise, surprise the words, "You don't seem to be passionate about this" slips out of my boss' mouth. The other even spoke about how she hasn't "bonded" with me and that I don't seem to be sure that this is what I want. My inability to fake "passion" and my extreme introvert nature totally worked against me (not to mention, I'm also dealing with extreme family issues).
What made me so upset about this is that my work ethic is superb. I do everything as asked, earlier than asked, and as perfect as I can. However, in this office, personality and enthusiasm is on the same level as work ethic, and working extremely diligently and hard alone is not going to cut it. They like to talk, go out to lunch, check in with each other, while I am the type that enjoys working alone. I'm even questioning my reappointment next year.
Honestly, I don't think it's the lunches and the social events others are going to. I am sure you are doing a great job, but is it remotely possible that the other GAs are doing a
better job? Just asking. When I was a GA, I did my job
and I was doing even more stuff on my own. For example, in addition to doing my "job" as well as I could, I thought of projects, inquired about theoretical problems, tried to soak in information about my field; all because I wanted to. If you lose the spark, it's hard to maintain a productive research agenda.
