Lab rants...

Why in the world can't people put broken glass in the broken glass container and pippette tips in their proper waste container? Why must they insist on mixing the two? Not to mention regular trash? Are they trying to see how durable my hands are? Do they want me to bleed? At least they are not treating the chemical spill kit as a waste basket anymore. It is the little things...

A related rant, why in the world is the trash taken out only twice a week at SnobU? How much money goes from our grant to cover overheard? How much money does SnobU have in its endowment? Labs generate waste, we try not to. We try and recycle what we can but we still generate loads of trash. We can not have our trash bins overflowing in lab especially when a state inspector is coming. When I started at SnobU, the waste was taken during the week everyday. Usually done at hours when no one was in lab. Now, it is Tuesdays and Thursdays mid-morning while people are working. Our floors used to be cleaned at night/early in the morning. The last stop was our lab so when I got in really early I could see the facilities worker at work trying his best to get our floors nice and shiny. I watched him work very hard with a poor piece of equipment SnobU provided. He was always trying to come up with better ways to get the floors clean with the out-of-date equipment, it was impressive especially considering how little SnobU was paying him. Since his shift ended after his kids were already off to school, he would call them every morning and talk to them. Now SnobU has hired out. They have nicer equipment but they insist on cleaning floors around 5pm to 6pm. There are a number of people still working in lab at that time, it can be a hassle. If you do leave, you have to be very careful otherwise you might slip on the still very wet hallways as they start for some reason in the hallways and in front of the doors out. Got to love a university run like a corporation-less service at the same/higher price. Got to pay the execs what they are "worth" after all.