PORN: Professional Opinions Really Needed!

Okay. So I admit my Setamol addled brain couldn't really come up with something original and inventive. Pah. Anyway, seeing that a sizeable percentage of you bloggers and readers are professionals (or something like it) I'd like to pose a little question. I'm currently angry at someone, and would like to know if it's justified. Don't hold back, just tell me what you think, okay?

Here's the deal. A month back I was absorbed into a research group for a short term project (I won't bore you with the details). Anyway, since I was busy that time, I couldn't really attend the meetings thus was quite out of the loop for a little while. There are 4 researchers involved in this project: Y, the project leader, S (a female colleague), myself and O (a male colleague). A necessary characteristic of projects like these is that the allocated budget be less than RM 5000 (yeah so ask me again why our research is so crap) and therefore out of that amount, apparently RM 1000 was to be divided among S, O and myself (this I found out later), to purchase equipment such as thumbdrives, etc.

A few weeks ago, after a particularly long presentation session with the students, myself and O bumped into S at the parking lot. She asked us if we were inclined to use our halves of the budget anytime soon. At that time, since I had yet to receive a full briefing on the extent of the project, I tentatively said not yet, but she was free to use hers. Bear in mind that in our (mine and O's) thinking, we'd have no problems even if she exceeded her allocation by a hundred or two since we thought she'd have to justify her usage anyway.

A few days ago I attended a proper meeting for the first time (where S was absent all of a sudden). As Y outlined the scope and methodologies, she also remarked offhandedly that there was still the issue of the RM 1000. Of course, now that I had the full picture I said I'd only be needing about RM 200 to purchase a thumbdrive. Imagine my chagrin when Y informed us that S had already used RM 990 for her own, leaving only RM 10 (up to this day I still have no idea what she used it for).

Which brings us to the question of the day: am I justified to feel somewhat angry, or is this all irrational? I admit I DID imply that I didn't need the money YET, but that was based on incomplete information at the time. I guess what riles me is not that I didn't get to use the RM 200 (I can still afford that). What DOES rile me up is the fact that S took the liberty of using up 99% of the budget without even telling us what she was going to do with it.

So throw me a bone, folks. Tell me what you think. Am I just being a sour puss because I missed out on using the budget, or is this uncomfortable heavy, angry feeling what I'm supposed to feel? The fact that she magically didn't turn up for the meeting didn't sit well with me and O as well. And let's not even get me started on how I had to single-handedly kick-start the bleedin' research (since obviously no one had any idea how to even begin). Bah.

I now await the wisdom of my peers.