This shouldn't have come as such a surprise, as they also gave all the female employees dead roses last year. (Below is the picture from last year's post.) Last year I thought that maybe they'd been killed by frost in delivery, as it was quite cold, but this year it was really mild, and the results are as bad or worse. I can't wait for next year!!! (Perhaps then they'll escalate to dead animals to ensure we get the message...)
In other news, seven academics who received PhDs from shady US universities such as Stanford and Cornell, have been charged with impersonating a doctor. This is because of some Nazi-era legislation that says that only PhDs granted from EU universities carry with them the honorific of "Dr.", unless the state formally allows for it. These seven academics include three directors from the Max Planck Insitute for Chemical Ecology, which is right next door to us. The law is ridiculous of course, but the offence is actually a crime, and carries with it a maximum sentence of one year in prison. The Max Planck Society has hired a law firm to defend the accused, and to try to change the law, but in the meantime we're told to refer to ourselves with "PhD" following the name, along with the degree-granting institution. So my business card would have to read "Julia Marshall, Ph.D., Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada". A bit long, really. The whole obsession with the titles is a very German phenomenon, and people here with a PhD usually make sure everyone knows it, by including "Dr." on their buzzer, mailbox, and all identity cards. I'll be sure not to pick up the habit.
2 comments:
somewhat poetic this thing of having death roses... but better don't think in occult messages...
SO, as EU memebr I'm still Dr.? That's good, because is very useful to have it on my Bahncard :P
I didn't realize that the Nazi's made special rules for EU citizens ;o)
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