The fridge at work has been smelling awful for a long time, when I went in today, it was so bad that the entire shop literally stank and you couldn't tell the stench in the fridge anymore for the odor permeating the entire place. Towards the end of the day, 'Thal decided to once again clean the fridge. This time, he took it in his head to actually take the shelves out and REALLY clean it - that's when we found it. The reason for the stench. The odorous villain. The... Black Mold.
Seriously.
And it wasn't just ANY old black mold, the thing was HUGE. The entire bottom of the fridge was covered in the stuff. So of course, what's he do? Does he immediately clean it? Of course not, he has to show everyone first, and then he drowned it in a combination of bleach and this biologic digester stuff we have. Of course, then comes the actual cleaning it part... this is the guy at work who's always showing off his muscles and being all like "strength of ten men" nonsense... I don't think I ever mentioned that this guy once chickened out on helping me fix a rake that happens to be used for cleaning up dog crap on property, even though I'd bleached the crap out of it before working on it, and 'sides, it's not as though there isn't a bathroom sink right next to the shop well stocked with anti-bacterial soap... Anyways, so, I'm there, and, of course, he once again chickens out on actually doing the work part. He's okay with spraying the crap down and starting the job, but, once the real work needs done, he wimps out. He's like, "hey, you've got gloves, come wipe this stuff down"... Ah well.
Funny thing is, both he and the other maintenance guy he's always going around with were all gagging and putting up a show about the bleach and mold and everything, and I'm just standing there trying not to laugh. Well, anyways... So I get in there and kneel down and start cleaning the crap, while the two guys are going on and on about how nasty it all is... After a while, we get down to the tough bit, oh, and I figured out what it was that started the crap growing - someone spilled milk into the bottom of the fridge, there was still a layer of what was definitely milk once upon a time. Anyway, we get to the real hard crap and I'm like, we can't get the rest of this out with these paper towel. The other guy is like, can we scrape it? The idiots then try to scrape it up with a trowel. Seriously...
I'm all, we need to get some kinda brush with really hard bristles, like metal or something, and the guys go hunting and finally find something and, instead of handing it to me and letting me take care of it, the older guy has to be all macho and do it himself... all the while gagging and complaining. It's seriously all I can do at this point not break out laughing at their ridiculous antics... They're expending more effort on complaining about it than actually taking care of it.
We finally get it all cleaned up and the guys haul the mess of paper towels and some shelves they didn't want to bother cleaning to the dumpster... And I'm holding myself back, trying not to tease them about how silly they were about it all, or to point out that the entire time, I didn't once gag, or whine, or put up any sort of fuss about the problem... And then 'Thal's all like, "I just saved everybody's life"...
...
Silly boys... OK, yeah, so he was the one who finally found the mold... but... it's been there for at least almost a year... it was already there when I started working there last June... Well, at least now we know why everyone else there's been getting sick all the time... Wonder how the heck it is that I seem to have been immune. And wonder why the hell no one ever bothered REALLY cleaning it. Actually, 'Thal was SUPPOSED to have cleaned it MONTHS ago. Right... since he was supposed to, and appeared to have done, and bragged about it, I didn't even think about checking to make sure it was actually done right... I should've known better.
Comments
Biohazard
If that's the state of the work fridge, goodness knows what the rest of the kitchen's like!
At my workplace, the kitchen area is kept pretty tidy - but then again we are public sector so heavily dominated by females. On the other hand, we've got a food waste disposal bin which is usually overflowing with teabags (and the exterior covered with tea stains - not to mention the half wall behind it!) plus brightly coloured wheelie bins to collect various items of recycling. It seems as though most haven't got the hang of rinsing out plastic milk bottles before putting them in the recycling bin, so it's a good idea to not breathe when opening the lid...
Our other problem is teaspoon hoarders - those who don't remove the teaspoon before taking their mug to their desk, and forget to bring it back with their mug when they return for a refill... (and yes, we have had several "teaspoon amnesties"!)
As the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind!
not really a kitchen
We don't really have a "kitchen", there's just a fridge and microwave sitting in a corner of the shop. Luckily.
The office staff are all female, the regional manager who doubles as our complex's manager and her two leasing agents... The leasing agents are both... well, I know I sure couldn't do their job, handling the phones all day and selling leases, but still... They won't pick up even so much as a finger to do anything else around there, ever. They sure can complain though... well, not so much the heavier set one, but the skinny one is... well, she's a stereotypical "skinny bitch", pardon my french. The heavier set one is okay... just... won't do anything above and beyond.
My boss is cool though, she'll get down in the dirt when she has to, but she's usually too busy running things.
And the cleaning crew... Well... I think we all know that story already, we call them the "Wrecking Crew" remember...
And the guys... well... they're guys, 'nuff said.
I really don't get the posturing of 'Thal... does he really think anyone's going to buy it? Spend even ten minutes with the guy and you know he's just full of it. "It" being, well, you know.
Oh, and yeah, I was telling them we really should just get rid of the fridge because we don't really know what else might be lurking in there, and the one guy is like "but it still runs" and the other is "we just soaked it in bleach, it's all good"
...
Abigail Drew.
It's true
I've found that men talk, women do.
Sorry guys, that's my experience based on 40 years in business. Why is it that the top person in the team I ran for more than 10 years was female?
S.
Well...
The older maintenance guy does do... he's usually all over the place doing pretty much everything while 'Thal makes noises and pretends to work. He just likes to complain -while- doing.
I've made a joke about it with him, every time I see him, I'm always asking him things like "having fun yet?" and "so... ready to go home now?" The latter because for a while, he was constantly saying he was ready to go home.
And I don't exactly -not- talk, I just don't waste my time complaining constantly, instead I joke around about it. And we do have the two leasing girls...
I dunno, maybe in your work it's "men talk, women do", but here, it's six of one, half a dozen the other whether it's the men talking and not doing or the women. It depends on the person, individually, not the gender divide.
'Thal would certainly seem to fit your stereotype, and I guess I do too, even if my birth certificate and ID say otherwise. But the leasing girls... the older maintenance guy... heck, even Nummy who they finally got rid of, btw, he "quit" last week. He didn't talk OR do, he just slacked off and bragged about getting away with slacking off.
Abigail Drew.
We had one like that before
We fed it old pizza and sour milk, and when my room-mate and I moved out, we left a note on the "Care and feeding of Earl." I suspected it of eating my yogurt so that it might have some culture, but as I never saw it actually reading, I can't actually prove it.
Wren