Grease me up!

To this point, I have been treated very well by my Dept. Chair when it comes to workload. I have essentially been given 1.5 years without having to teach an undergrad class (with no teaching at all in my first semester) and my "service" requirements have been very light. Even though my teaching load is still light through the fall semester, I can feel the hammer dropping on the service side. It's been subtle, but people are starting to "suggest" committees, advising, etc. I've been evasive thus far, but it is becoming *known* that I am still not teaching anything to the undergrads. Whenever anyone asks what I am teaching this semester and I tell them, I always get the same reaction. First surprise, then some statement about how easy I've gotten it, then some sort of "good for you" even though I can see that their really thoughts are more along the lines of "you suck."

I'm not going to apologize for either my negotiations, nor my continued discussions with the Chair that have resulted in my current teaching load. I know it'll ramp up eventually but the further I can push that off, the better. And if these grants start to get funded, that will buy me extra leverage for keeping my course load minimal.

But, service. That's a different beast. It's more difficult to account for per se and I have a feeling my colleagues will, consciously or unconsciously, endeavor to make up some of that perceived work gap with service duties. I successfully dodged one University-level committee this morning because it conflicts with a current obligation, but I wonder how long I'll continue to be the greased pig at this country fair.