Yeah, so, I'll be the one moving bits of paper around my desk trying to triage the urgent important jobs and the not-urgent important jobs, then trying to do them while being interrupted by urgent not-important requests like this:
Prof: I know you're extremely busy but when does teaching start in semester one next year?
Me (really? This is urgent?): I don't know. It'll be around the 21st September.
Prof: Well, is that the start of semester or the start of teaching? It seems very early.
Me: I don't know. It'll be on the university website.
Prof: No, it isn't. I looked. And no-one else knows the answer.
Me: Look. Here. It's on the university website. I searched on "semester dates". Semester starts on the 21st, so teaching will start on the 28th.
Prof: Are you sure? That's very late.
Me (What do you expect me to do about it?I don't set the dates!): Well, those are the dates. That I found. On the university website.
Prof: Can you just
Me: No. I have to go to a meeting.
On the plus side, I've been treated to a variety of very welcome calming teas, and a number of staff have suggested I throw a sickie and show how much the admin team is needed. As one said, "if you all go off sick, we wouldn't be able to cope. If we all went off sick it wouldn't really matter. The students would be able to read articles and you'd be able to get on with your work. No. Wait. That sounds really bad".
