Monday, February 20, 2012

the fix-it fairy

I have never been the most conscientious person about cleaning up. My personal space is usually in disarray (my desk has been taken over by piles which have started to grow together into one tremendous mess) and I'm not obsessive about cleaning every bit of crud from my sampling equipment.

However, I do have some standards. For example, I do clean up after myself. Unlike, say, in the following radio conversation:

coworker: "Hey, Short? There's all sorts of nasty gack on everything we're pulling out of the well. Tubing, pump lead, water level indicator..."
SG: "Ok. Do you have enough paper towels to clean off the stuff as you pull it out?"
coworker: "Paper towels?"
SG: "Yes. To wipe the gack off before you roll everything up or smear it on the ground."
coworker: "Well, it's already smeared everywhere."

An hour later, there's a trail of goo from well to the rental truck and the coworker has disappeared to do...something else. So who is going to clean up the mess? Because I'm not seeing any cleaning fairies out in the field.

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