As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been teaching in my department for four years. Yet, most of the tenured or tenure track faculty don’t acknowledge my presence, make eye contact or say hello to me when they pass by me in the hallways. The people who truly care to know how I’m doing are the receptionist and another fellow adjunct instructor with whom I share an office. My guesses regarding the reasons behind this aloofness are: 1) the faculty in our department lack basic social graces (no reifying stereotypes of mathematicians intended) or 2) they are deathly afraid of catching the adjunct bug. I sometimes feel like wearing a T-shirt saying “I promise, I won’t bite and turn you into an adjunct if you look me in the eye and say hello to me once in a while. I’m a human being. Acknowledge my presence. It’s the least you can do.”