We've got some properly spectacular stuff this time around, but let's kick off with an old favourite. Clinical waste (in bright orange bags) had to be treated as if even the outside of the bag was contaminated, you had to carry it to the bins with a gloved hand, and clean anything the outside of the bag bumped in to, and so on. On the other hand, cardboard boxes in which deliveries came could be thrown into recycling bins. Unless, of course, they'd touched anything contaminated...
Well, I mean, it's not as if the bag was huge and bright orange was it? Nah mate, nah. The trolley is "where the cardboard goes", never mind if there's anything else in the trolley at the time, that's "where it goes". It's not at all possible to, say, put the empty boxes on the filing cabinets next to the trolley, if there's something contaminated in it. That's not "where it goes".
One of my first jobs in the morning was to take bottles and flasks, belonging to a place called the Media Kitchen, for cleaning. Actually a bunch of the ones I took from the N- lab turned out to belong to one of the researchers there, so they were supposed to be kept seperate from the general media kitchen stuff. I found this out THREE YEARS after starting. Nobody had thought to mention it at all when I was being trained. Anyway most of her delicate and expensive round-bottom flasks and things had been smashed by then. The glassware from the room where they were used was put in a big blue plastic box that was under a bench. Did fuckers gently and carefully put the glassware in there? Nah, did they fuck. They laid down the delicate flasks on their sides, then later somebody would come along with a heavy 1l Duran bottle and just drop it in, without even looking.
Anyway, the Media Kitchen was on the second floor, which meant it was preferable if I could take the glassware up there all in one go, on a trolley, in the lift. It was an old-fashioned lift with manual doors, which meant it didn't work if some fucker had left the doors WIDE FUCKIN' OPEN when they got out, and just wandered off. So this morning I go to the lift and not only is it WIDE FUCKIN' OPEN, somebody's filled it with fridges, and wandered off. Yeah thanks for that, fuck-for-brains, nobody else needed it, did they?
What's this in a recycling bin? It appears to be a bunch of kitchen waste and old ketchup and food remains, delightful. Let me transfer it to one of the light blue non-recycling bins...
And what's this in the non-recycling bin? It wouldn't be a bunch of cardboard and somebody's kids' books, would it? Fuckups upon fuckups. They can't not fuck up. As seen in previous entries, the recycling and non-recycling bins were about 2-3 paces from each other, they just actually are that fuck' lazy.
Hey, remember in a previous entry where I posted a close-up of the "no garden waste" warning on a recycling bin, and then a follow-up picture where somebody had slung half a fucking tree in one? Well they went one better this time, and slung a WHOLE fucking tree in one of the bins.
This time it's actually the correct bin but, well, that couldn't have been left rotting, and providing a habitat for animals, in a remote corner of one of this place's capacious fields, could it? Rather "letter-not-spirit-of-the-law", there.
The dixies! The metal bins where waste contaminated with category 2 biological waste (animal diseases which have been genetically modified, so could possibly infect humans) go! When they're full, they get put in a big autoclave for steam-sterilising at 138oC for 30 minutes, melting the plastic into a big mass. Of course, that's disposable, waste plastic and not, say...
A PLASTIC BEAKER WE COULD STERILISE, WASH AND RE-USE. Nah mate, nah, this fucker was finished with it, so in the bin it goes. It's "where they go", after all. I gaurantee if you go on this place's website, they trumpet a "waste reduction policy" and a "commitment to the environment". Yeah, some proper fuck' commitment there, eh?
You think this shit's bad, you just wait. Oh just you fuckin' wait...
A mostly-airtight sealed bottle of volatile liquid, on top of an old benchtop autoclave which gets hot while in use. What a genius you are.
"What happens to the dirty glass bottles?"
"They get put on the trolley and taken up to the Media Kitchen for cleaning"
"So they get put on the trolley?"
"Yes"
That was no doubt the extent of the "training" this thick fucker received. No mention of the plastic box they go in, so they don't get violently vibrated against steel and broken, of course. So, first of all, some thick fucker fills the trolley with contaminated glass bottles...
AND THEN ANOTHER FUCKER PUTS CLEAN CARDBOARD ON IT.
Fuckups upon fuckups. There can never be just one fuckup, some other thick piece of shit has got to pile extra compound-fuckups on top of it. Which one do I deal with first? Will somebody else add a third fuckup (clinical waste on the bottles, anyone?) while I'm dealing with the first? They can't not fuck up.
"What do I do with this tissue paper? How about I chuck it in the dixies which are quite clearly used, in this lab, for plastic pipettes and plastic pipettes ONLY. Yeah, that's what I'll do, make it some other fucker's problem."
It's not like a clinical waste bin is RIGHT NEXT TO IT or anything. Unreal, unbeleivable levels of thick and idle are just everyday ocurrences on figshit picks!
"What do I do with this clean, empty dixie? Put it on top of one of the full, contaminated ones? Yeah that's it, that's what I'll do. Make it some other fucker's problem"
Well, I mean, it's not like the pile of empty, clean ones was huge, obvious, and only on the other side of the tiny room.
Unbelivable levels of thick and idle.
"What do I do with these glass pipettes, which are dry sterilised? Put them in the dry sterilising cans, of course. Then what? Put them in the dry steriliser? Nah, that's in another building, however there is a steam-sterilising autoclave right in front of me. Yeah, that's what I'll use."
Yeah nah, the fact they OBVIOUSLY have a different kind of tape on them, not autoclave tape, doesn't mean anything then? The lids on these things were a very close fit, after being steam-sterilised they took WEEKS to dry. Let's hope no fucker needs to use any, eh? Let's hope the system can cope with a couple of cans being taken out of use for WEEKS, eh?
Actually it could, the Media Kitchen had HUNDREDS of them, but it's the principle of the thing
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Disposable plastic gloves, which are used to safely handle contaminated things! Tissue papers which have been used to wipe up things which don't look food-coloured! A disposable plastic pipette with what might be blood in it! All thrown into one of the clear "ordinary office waste" bins (which means somebody left a "dirty" lab and entered a "clean" office carrying all that shit, and if they were carrying something they couldn't have washed their hands, either), and then put in the recycling bin! The mind fucking boggles, it really does.
Alright, you want the mind to carry on boggling? OK, here's the thing I told you to wait for, and this one's fucking amazing, I promise...
Right, so, those disposable gloves come in cardboard boxes, with a little easy-tear flap on top you easily pull out, to access the gloves. Now, what do you suppose would happen if somebody tore off that little flap, but it started to rip in half instead of coming off neatly?
Why, they'd just put their finger under the rest of it, and pull it out, of course, wouldn't they? That would be the obvious, sensible and logical thing to do, right?
Hah, yeah, what fucking page are you reading, again?
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There's that "commitment to the environment" again.
Yeah, that's right. You're actually looking at that. I swear this isn't photoshop or AI. This actually happened.
They THREW IT AWAY. A new, clean, full box of expensive sterile gloves. They THREW IT AWAY. Just because the little flap on the top didn't tear off completely perfectly, they THREW IT AWAY.
IN THE CONTAMINATED CLINICAL WASTE BIN. SO I CAN'T EVEN TAKE IT BACK OUT AND PUT IT SOMEWHERE ELSE.
I remind you again that this is a thing that actually happened, with photographic evidence. One of the top five leading educational and research establishments in the country. One of the top ten in the world.
Words actually fucking fail me.
Now, do doubt there's people reading this page who think I'm being unessescarily petty in calling out shit that happened in my old job. No doubt there's people who used to work there at the same time, and recognise it from the photos, who remain convinced they did nothing wrong. Whenever I'd confront them at the time, they'd always talk shit around what they'd done. They used "the usual" autoclave cycle, they were "very busy". Yeah yeah none of that shit. Justify this.
Go on, you fucking stand there and explain to me how you aren't in the wrong here. I'm all ears, I really am.
Couldn't have used one of the ample number of sockets UNDER the bench, then? Nah, let's have a cable stretched around the bench, to some big piece of equipment stuffed under it. There's about a 98% chance whoever put this old machine into use, and plugged it in awkwardly, didn't use that workstation. Doubtless they chose the workstation of somebody they KNEW was away that day. Doubtless it was justified with a "well, it had to go somewhere" when the poor fucker came back and suddenly found they had no leg room and a cable awkwardly stretched across their workspace.
Mind you, I beleive this is the place where the bloke who CAN'T EVEN SPELL HIS OWN FUCKING NAME worked, so fuck him. That crusty disgusting beaker is still sat there, too.
"Right, that's the contaminated glass and plasticware from one lab collected and ready to take to the Media Kitchen. Let me just go and see if there's any in another room. It'll only take 5 seconds, what's the worst that could happen? Somebody will chuck clean cardboard on the dirty glassware? Nah, I'm only going to turn my back, it'll be fine."
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So what happens after a mixed autoclave run? Why, whoever opens it takes their own stuff to the drying cabinet, but the other person's? Nah just leave that there, perhaps dripping into the top air vents on the autoclave. They actually are this thick and idle. They'd have their names clearly labelled on the stuff they took to the drying cabinet too, so it was obvious who'd done it. They were PROUD of being thick, idle fuckups.
Also "No Grill", as in the 400oC dry steriliser. They had to specify that a fabric labcoat in a paper-and-plastic bag shouldn't be cooked at 400oC. I bet there's a fucking amazing story there. Hopefully some cunt got fined for a vexatious callout of the fire brigade.
What's this I smell before I see, laying on the floor?
Why, it wouldn't be a rotting dead rat in a bag, would it? Shouldn't such a thing be put in a freezer? Ahh, but they're so busy, you know. The freezers were so far away.
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Box with some crystalline residue in the bottom just left laying about. A plastic box at that. If I remember rightly, this was in a place for leaving cardboard. Never mind, eh? It's "where boxes go".
Looks like there was a pizza party in the main canteen. The main canteen best accessed through a door to the left of this picture. What do we do with all this cardboard when we're finished? Chuck it in a light blue non-recycling bin, of course! What's that we walked past to reach said bin? It wouldn't be a dark blue recycling bin, would it?
Yes, it's yet another story of these "so busy" fuckers making more effort to fuck up, than they'd have made if they did it properly.
'Ere, look... somebody who had liquid to autoclave actually made sure the temperature probe was in the same volume of liquid! Amazing! They did something right. They also pointlessley left the normal temperature probe bottle in there for no reason. They can't not fuck up.
Another dead animal left to fester at room temperature.
I, uh, don't remember what was going on here... drops of water on the floor? I guess my suspicions were aroused, because, half an hour later...
Agar for autoclaving! Without the water added! The way it's supposed to be! But look at how the dry powder has stuck all around the sides of the bottle, it looks like the bottle WAS wet...
Don't tell me somebody fucked up, realised they made a mistake, and fixed it! Without me having to tell them!
It turns out that some of the people attending this top-ten-in-the-world educational institution... are capable of learning things! Amazing!
Going paperless; scum.
Printing papers to announce they're going paperless; really fucking stupid scum.
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Not a fuckup, just kind of funny. Plastic "giant clingfilm" was stretched over scaffolding while some work got done, and it rained a bit...
A glass pipette put in the dixie for plastic pipettes. Yeah once these get autoclaved and melted, it'll be such fun to have bits of broken glass randomly sticking out. Never mind, these fuckers won't be the ones handling the waste, so why should they care?
These upright grey things with Virkon in (a liquid that smells wonderful when it's first made, then becomes a nasty brown sludge after a week) are where the glass pipettes are supposed to go. But, you know, it was such a vast, huge, gigantic, insurmountable distance further away...
I need two sets of these centrifuge tubes! I can see an open box containing more than two sets of these centrifuge tubes! What do I do? Why, I open a new box, of course!
What's that? I should use up the old box first?? Well why didn't you tell me that? Or at least write some sort of notice, on the lid of the box that would be right in front of my eyes when I bent down to it?
Ahh, the autoclave where you have to set the temperature and time when you run it. Or just mindlessley hammer "start" until it runs, and claim you used "the usual" cycle if ever confronted. Then wonder why you get infection problems in your incubators, conclude there must be "bacteria falling out of the air conditioner", and build a huge comedy cardboard baffle. What fun we had with that.
Once again, somebody's pressed "start" once, which has taken them to the screen for picking the temperature and time... and then just walked away. They pressed "start", so it must have started, right? No thought to, oh, I dunno, use their senses to take in information, process what is actually happening, and base a logical decision upon it, then? Nah, these are only researchers at one of the country's leading institutes of science and higher learning, we can't expect those kinds of incredible mental feats out of them.
The specified cycle for plasticware was 115oC for 10 minutes, with assisted cooling. The cycle for glassware was 121oC for 15 minutes, with assisted cooling, and the cycle for media was 121oC for 15 minutes, with unassisted cooling (actually, I think this one didn't have an option for unassisted cooling, never mind)... so WHAT IN THE FUCK is being run at 120oC for 10 minutes? I guess that's "the usual" cycle, eh?