A day in the life of Bernadette Rostenkowski, graduate student and waitress.

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6.00am. Bernadette jumped out of bed to get ready for another day. Breakfast and shower before she got dressed for science. She drove off to the University for another day in the lab. On arrival at 7.45am she went straight to the microbiology department.

She spent the whole morning looking at her yeast cultures, observing the effects of different strains of bacteria. There was a break for tea at 10.45am before returning to the bacteria. At 12.30pm she went for lunch with the other graduate students in her research group, they spent the next 45 minutes talking about everything except science.

After lunch it was back to the lab to get her samples ready for a 2 hour electron microscopy session. She took lots of what to the non-expert looked like very similar looking electron microscope images of the different bacteria. When she finished her USB memory stick was full of lots more images for her thesis. After the electron microscope time was over she had a quick cup of tea before her monthly meeting with her Ph.D supervisor.

4.00pm and Bernadette arrived at the office of her supervisor, Professor Warner.

"Good afternoon Bernadette, thanks for coming."

"Hello Professor, before we get started I want to remind you that I need to leave at 5.00pm, I have to work at The Cheesecake Factory tonight."

"Yes I remember Bernadette, how are things there? I must go for a meal there with my husband sometime."

"Well I serve food to people and I get a small amount of money, this helps to pay for my graduate school."

"Well hopefully not for too much longer, I am pleased with your progress so far. You still have a lot of work to do before your Ph.D but I think that you should be done in about 18 months or so. Thanks for emailing me the plan for your thesis, have you started writing up yet?"

"I have made a tentative start on the introduction and experimental methods chapters, there is an awful long way to go."

"Yes, I thought the same when I was a graduate student, it is a rather daunting thing to write a Ph.D thesis but we all knew this at the start, it is what we have to do. I think that when you get your current projects finished you should then have enough data, then you can concentrate on writing up. Have you thought about what you want to do after the Ph.D, I might be able to get you a postdoc?"

"Thank you Professor, I think I want to leave academia behind and get a job in industry. After all this time as a waitress to pay for graduate school I want to earn some good money in the pharmaceutical industry."

"Well I don't blame you for thinking that. So how has your research been recently?"

"I have just got off the electron microscope, would you like a look at my latest images?….

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5.00pm

"Thank you for coming Bernadette, I know that you have to go now. We will make the usual appointment for next month but if you have any urgent questions you know how to contact me. Keep up the good work."

"Thank you Professor, now I need to go and serve food to people."

After her meeting Bernadette changed out of her science clothes and into her Cheesecake Factory uniform. Then she drove off to the restaurant.

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5.30pm. The Cheesecake Factory.

"Hi Penny, ready to serve food again?"

"I can hardly wait."

"Yeah me too, how was the audition?"

"Well I am not yet a movie star, so back here for another day. How was your science stuff?"

"Haven't got my Ph.D yet, so back here for another day."

"Here's a question for you Bernie, would you like to come on a double date with me, Leonard and Leonard's friend Howard?…"