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As you work your way up in your career, there’s a chance that you might be able to travel – even internationally – for your job. This is undoubtedly a perk, even if it does come with extra responsibilities and a hefty workload while you’re there. Because only between 20 and 25 per cent of the world’s population have ever travelled outside of their home country – so if you get to travel, even for work, you’re living a privileged life.

For the PhD students in this story, their development as early career academics has put them in the enviable position of being able to travel abroad to deliver presentations at a conference about their research. Of course, this was a really exciting opportunity, particularly as, for many of them, it was their first time travelling abroad.

But then, as often happens with universities, budget constraints got in the way. Suddenly the number of researchers able to go on the trip reduced, leading to the PhD student in this story being excluded. And when they asked how that was fair? Well, it didn’t pan out well for anyone.

Read on to find out what happened.

AITA for ruining my colleagues “work trip”?

I am a PhD student at a uni. There were three of us students starting the same year, and naturally I was expecting the same treatment. Well, I was so wrong.

Obviously, everything depends on who your direct supervisor is, how is he liked and how much money he has.

I got the worst equipment of all – and old PC and I had to buy the same chair others got (I have problems with my back and while others got gaming chairs I got a very old office chair.)

Also, I was always out of every event – for both fun and work, and always got to hear about opportunities too late.

Let’s see how things have changed throughout this student’s time studying for their PhD.

This year (my last) I was transferred to another supervisor, and I am now in the centre with my fellow students and colleagues.

Recently, seven people wrote the article and we were supposed to go present it at a conference. However, they said the budget was tight so it was at first decided that only us, the PhD students, would go as a kind of reward.

But a few days back I learned that I am not going all of a sudden. At first it seemed they had good reasons (everyone had to present two articles and I was only author on one, so they allegedly would not let me).

Then I found out that who is going are two of our bosses students, one of them is only going to present one article, and another is the same as me – he only authored one article but will be presenting two. The third person is a teacher.

Let’s see how the student is feeling about this.

I found this extremely unfair since they have already told us we will go, and I really could not see the reasons why these three people were chosen.

I did not mean to say anything, but my supervisor said in front of the boss that I was unhappy with this, so I asked why was it changed this way. I did not get a direct answer and the boss stormed out with “do as you wish” (which obviously, I can not).

So I wrote him a message in which I apologised and tried to explain why I was upset, saying that I find the treatment of us students unfair in some ways. His response was that now nobody is going on the conference (it was meant to be a trip abroad – our first) and all of us will attend online.

Now I wonder if I was wrong for ruining the trip for everyone – one of the students seemed pretty angry with me. I tried and begged the boss to just let them go and said that I will be quiet and not say another word, but it has already been decided.

AITA?

It sucks that this PhD student has been put in this terrible position.

They should for sure have expected equal treatment with the other students, and the fact that they haven’t been given that is really unfair.

And now all the blame is on them? Nope, blame the boss who has suddenly decided that no one is going.

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Let’s see what folks on Reddit said about this.

This person agreed that the boss was being totally unfair.

While others think that he wanted everyone to blame the actual victim in all of this.

Meanwhile, this Redditor congratulated the PhD student for calling this out.

It’s really horrible that basically this PhD student has been publicly called out for even noticing the unfairness within their university, and as further punishment, the other students don’t get to go on the trip – so who are they going to blame? Someone from an outside perspective would say that clearly, the boss is to blame for this. But let’s be real – they won’t have been given the full story. Instead all that they know is that the exciting trip they were preparing for is no longer going ahead, and it’s all because their colleague complained that they weren’t being permitted to go too.

This is truly toxic behaviour from the boss. All it is showing the other folk at the university is that if you complain about something that you perceive as unfair, everyone will be punished, and you’ll be ostracised as a result. What a truly horrible message, and what a hostile atmosphere this will create. Shame on this boss.

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Author

Kyra Piperides

Kyra Piperides, PhD | Contributing Science Writer

Dr. Kyra Piperides is a contributing writer for TwistedSifter, specializing in Science & Discovery. Holding a PhD in English with a dedicated focus on the intersections of science, politics, and literature, she brings over 12 years of professional writing and editorial expertise to her reporting.

Kyra possesses a highly authoritative background in academic publishing, having served as the editor of an academic journal for three years. She is also the published author of two books and numerous research-driven articles. At TwistedSifter, she leverages her rigorous academic background to translate complex scientific concepts, global tech innovations, and environmental breakthroughs into highly engaging, accessible narratives for a mainstream audience.

Based in the UK, Kyra is an avid backpacker who spends her free time immersing herself in different cultures across distant shores—a passion that brings a rich, global perspective to her writing about Earth and nature.

Connect with Kyra on Twitter/X and Instagram.