Does this mean I am excused

[Mike]

Purdue students and employees can get emergency text alerts sent, whenever something bad is jumping off, over on campus.

I just got a text, saying Purdue Police are advising people to avoid the area of State Street, between Pierce and Grant Streets, as a man has been crusing the area in a black car, displaying a knife.

Rawls Hall, the building where I work, is bordered on the North by State Street, bordered on the East by Pierce Street, and bordered on the West by Grant Street.

Does this mean I can go back to bed, and skip work? Heaven only knows I would jump at the chance, as I have to go over to our sister building tonight, to run a 17" scrubber, as we strip wax from a floor. There's really naught so delightful, as slipping and sliding around on a tile floor, covered in wax stripper. It has the adhesion properties of snot, spread over ice.

Tomorrow is the last day of classes, as we are now about to enter Finals Week. And some of those heathens students get so wrung out over their finals, they pull some really stupid stunts. If ever we are going to have student suicides on the campus, Finals Week is the week it will happen.

I love my job.

 

[ellis8500]

I'm a Purdue Engineer. I never worried about finals week. Spent some time at the Chocolate Shoppe and drank more at the frat house. Hated it when I had a final on the first day and the last day. Not much to do in between.

 

[Mike]

Heh, we always hope and pray everyone has finals scheduled early in the week, so we can be rid of them, as soon as possible.

It's been SRO at the Chocolate Shoppe and at Brothers Bar & Grill, all week. Last weekend was the Grand Prix, and last Thursday night, the sidewalk in front of Brothers was solid humanity, all the way down to Northwestern, at the top of the hill. Our building is right across Pierce Street from Harry's, so from up on the 4th floor, I can see all the way down the hill, to the levee. Tonight is the last Thirsty Thursday of the year, so both places will be jammed, with waves of students heading down the hill to the Neon Cactus. And, if you can imagine, the Triple XXX now closes at 11:00 PM, so they will miss out on all of that foot traffic, coming back up the hill.

Next week, we will sit out along Grant Street, on our breaks, applauding as students tote luggage toward the Union, preparing to board airport shuttles. It's our favorite week of the entire school year.

They tried killing me off, last night. We were using a pretty potent emulsifier, to remove wax in a conference room, over at Krannert. Nobody in that building has the confidence to run a scrubber, so I get to go over there for jobs like that. (I am so blessed, and so fortunate. Not!) The crew chief wanted the bathroom floors scrubbed, so we just slopped emulsifier on the bathroom floors, and I scrubbed them, as well

All the Krannert employees were suffering terminal cases of thumbs-in-rectums, so I finally grabbed the wet-vac and went into the men's room, to pull up all the solution from the floor. After about 4 or 5 minutes, I realized I was struggling to breathe, so I shut off the vac and went back out into the hallway, hacking and coughing. One of the girls was teasing me, as she went in to finish the job, but after a couple of minutes, she was calling for help. I went in the door, and it was then I could see there was a heavy fog in the air. Mary was choking and gagging, so I got her back out into the hallway, and the others set up some fans, to ventilate the room.

It turns out the girl that was meant to put defoaming agent in the wet-vac had conveniently overlooked that step. As we were vacuuming up the solution, it was foaming up, and it was getting up high enough, where the motor was atomizing it, and spraying it out a vent. And this emulsifier is some kind of nasty. For a few minutes, I thought Mary and I were headed to the hospital. They got us on an elevator and outside the building, where we could get fresh air. I'm still coughing, and my chest is still pretty tight. She and I both insisted the crew chief document the event, in case one or both of us takes a turn for the worse.

 

[choppinczech]

She and I both insisted the crew chief document the event, in case one or both of us takes a turn for the worse.

Good idea.

I just found out that some exterior gymnasium doors that I installed windows in a few years ago are full of asbestos.

I cut the eight 16X16 openings with cut off wheels, and I can remember that insulation flying everywhere.

 

[one finger john]

We could start a thread titled "and then my supervisor came over and said "I just found out that this whole area is toxic. Sorry".

 

[choppinczech]

I love it.

I'm certain no one was ever planning on mentioning that fact to me. It slipped out during a remodel abatement.

 

[Mike]

With all the older buildings on campus, there is still a crazy s-ton of asbestos floor tiles on floors. And the rules and regs on caring for those floors are incredible. (Says he who was raised in a National Homes pre-fab home, constructed with not only asbestos tile floors <that were stripped and waxed almost weekly>, but also with asbestos siding)

 

[Mike]

Well, today was physician visit #2, since the wee, emulsifier incident. And I was sent to the lab, to have blood work done. Apparently, 2-butoxyethanol is some pretty serious stuff, and it seems to be doing a better-than-average job of kicking me into touch. I reckon is just shows to go you how easily workplace incidents can happen.