To make some extra cash while in grad school, I applied to be a TA for an ECON 101 class. Before the Christmas break, I wrapped up the interview for the job with Mrs. Sugar & Spice: a sweet lady in her mid 50s, a professor well respected in her field. I had a good feeling about it and got an email congratulating me that I’d been accepted along with the class syllabus and a schedule of TA office hours I was expected to help out with. Merry Christmas to me I thought!

Fast forward to a few days before the new year, I got an update from a faculty email address, that Professor Sugar and Spice was no longer teaching this class because of a medical emergency. I was bummed because I was excited to work with her and hopefully gain a mentor. The email listed, a newly hired Adjunct Professor from the School of Business will be stepping in - Mr.DaddyLongLegs. A quick faculty website search yielded zero results for him, and without a first name I couldn’t do much snooping. I was in a foul-ish mood, Economists hate Business school profs, especially if they are in finance. The surname DaddyLongLegs already sounded like he was in finance. Ugh.

I get an email from him the day after, introducing himself politely as Adam DaddyLongLegs, and asking if we could meet at his office on the first day of school. Thankfully the first ECON 101 class wasn’t scheduled until later in the week so it gave both of us some time to get prepared. Between the craziness of entering my second semester of grad school and holiday family drama, I didn’t have time to stalk Mr. DaddyLongLegs on LinkedIn before my own classes.

I had a packed schedule in school on the first day, so I dressed for comfort and to brace for the city’s winter. I was sporting some tight jeans, a cute sweater, a huge red scarf around my neck and a thick wool coat to keep me warm. I slipped into some knee high boots though, thought maybe I should look a bit sophisticated for when I meet my new boss. First impressions and all.

I walked into his office after lunch, rushing there after my own seminar had run a bit long. His door was closed, and I knocked twice before entering. He was typing away rapidly on his computer and said one moment, “please take a seat. I’m just sending one last email”.  I took that time to check him out, he was maybe 35 at most. Brown hair, styled with gel and clean shaven. Thin lips. Broad shoulders and muscles filling out the light blue shirt he was wearing, top button undone. Long fingers, no wedding ring. He smelled good, kind of citrusy and smokey. His suit was hung behind him on a coat rack along with a sweater vest, screaming “Finance Bro”. I fucking knew it! Ugh.

He finishes typing, and mouths sorry and gets up, extending his hand to me, saying “Hi I’m Adam, nice to meet you Ms Grad Student”. I shake it politely and say nice to meet you too, Mr.DaddyLongLegs. He’s tall, I observe, and I look like a child next to him. After the initial pleasantries, we get right into it talking about the syllabus and what he’s looking for from me this term. He fesses up this is first time teaching this class, and its his first term as an Adjunct Professor. He’s open to suggestions to improve things as we go. Syllabus is pretty cookie cutter since it’s a first year class, and he’s not made any major edits to it. He’s added in a few “networking sessions” where he’d be bringing in some of his buddies from the industry to speak to the students right around midterms. I ask him about this and he says gotta give them something to aspire to before exam season. I think what a jack ass, but don’t say it out loud. He gives me a few tasks to get the class website up and running and says let’s setup a recurring zoom meeting once every two weeks to check in. He mentions that I don’t need to always sit in on every class, but if I’m available for the first day it’s a good idea to drop by so the students can get to know me on the first day and I can give them an intro about TA hours etc.

He then asks me about me, I keep it brief and tell him I’m from the east coast, worked in abc industry before coming back to grad school and plan to stay in school to do a PhD in Economics. He nods and says that’s very cool and asks more about my research. He sounds genuinely interested. We wrap up with some pleasantries again, and a solid game plan for the first class on Thursday.