cutting-edge science

[psocoptera]

Just spent maybe 25 minutes trying to squeegee a small flood off the frog room floor and over to the corner with the drain (did not even know they made giant push-broom squeegees) followed by painfully embarrassing encounter with custodian presumably called in by flood discoverer. See, I had taken a short break from squeegeeing and had gone back down only to see wet vac sitting in the hall. Aha, I thought, custodians have kindly left wet vac for my use (my use because flood-causing mishap likely made by someone from my lab, and as only lab member around this afternoon, was Responsible Party), so I started wet-vaccing away. Custodian then comes in and we proceed to have short discussion in which due to his heavy Jamaican accent I am completely unable to understand anything he says despite him repeating himself several times. Something about a bathroom? Or vacuum? Is he saying he needs the wet vac for another flood somewhere else, and I can use it later, or that he has in fact been sent to do the wet vaccing, thereby freeing me from frog room de-floodification? He remains cheerful (or was at least smiling) but is clearly thinking that I am a moron, or perhaps crazy. Eventually a series of gestures and conversational exchanges that probably had nothing to do with each other leave him in operation of the wet vac. Moral of story: do not flood frog room, or perhaps, do not be the only person around when someone else has.