主题：【原创】一个老实男生的故事 -- 故园湾里

That works in general case. However, honest won't go wrong in a long run. Several years ago, in my previous group, my boss kicked one postdoc off, a Turkey lady. The fight between this lady and my boss was very fierce. The lady charged the boss to the department chairman, and Dean of the Institue. Finally she even sued the boss in the local court.

So, when that lady was looking for a job, none of other group members, Yankees, Indians, were willing to, or dare, write any recommendation letters for her. Their excuses were pretty funny: they didn't know each other very well in terms of scientific expertise - they used to talk together so much in the last half year, and hugged so well in parties. Moreover, the reference letter is simply for a postdoctoral position, not for applying a faculty position. At that time, I was the only guy who dare write a recommendation with high risk, though the letter objectively reflected her talent as well as personality while no mention why she left the group. Luckily, her future boss, a guy in South Africa accepted her. Actually, this lady is really talented as well as motivated. Later, she was nominated as National Women in Science Award of South Africa in 2005.

The funny thing is later, after two years, in one Gordon research conference, it happened that South Afrian guy also attended this conference, and shared a room with my boss. It seemed these two belonged to the same type of person, and they became friends very soon. They had an overnight talk in the first day. Certainly this Turkey lady became their topic for her uneven performance. Also no doubt, the South African guy told my boss about the recommendation letter sent to him by me.

In the breakfast time of the next day, I met my boss in the Buffet dining Hall. My boss took his breakfast, seated himself beside me at the same table, and started the dining conversation. He said he didn't sleep at all last night, because he met Oz's (Turkey lady name) African boss, and they had an over-night talk. They chatted a lot about issues like how to run a group, and how difficult to hire a right employee. Suddenly, he stared at me, and asked me, "Did you write a recommendation letter for Oz?" I froze for a couple of seconds, and responded his staring with another one. " Don't panic". Then I answered, "Yes. I simply want to give her a chance." "Take it easy. Dont' feel this is burden." Boss tried to make me at ease. "I won't punish you."

What happened was later, he put me on the category that people are extremely objective and honest, and let me check his work frequently. Also, my impression about boss changed a lot: he is mean but he is objective also.