Hood room woes.

We are having issues with the hood rooms again. Why can't the Center just leave things alone. First the rooms where shut down on Monday to install electronic locks. This was so only people with ID badges with permission to enter the biohazard rooms could gain access. Okay, that makes sense. However, on Tuesday when we came in that's not what happened. There were plastic black knobs where the lock used to be - the actual lock was removed. In its place is this black knob. Now it is impossible to hold anything while opening the door because it takes two hands. With one hand you have twist the black knob, which seems to be spring loaded, hold it in place, and open the door with the other hand. And as for only allowing certain people to enter, there is a huge sign on each door that says, with an arrow, "Turn to open." The lock is also flimsy also. Remember, the whole point was to make the room more secure - I wiggled it, and the lock fell out of the door, in two pieces. It just balances in the door.

There were also new additions on the inside of the room as well. We know have magnetic pipette holders that attach to the hoods. Which was a good idea, except where they placed them. I was, of course, focused on setting up my assay. I slide up the hood shield and Wham! The pipettes go crashing to the floor. And we just had them calibrated a couple days before. They placed the pipettes too low so the shield slammed into them. Another brilliant move.

There were also these plastic acrylic holders stuck to the hood. And I mean stuck! They used super adhesive tape to stick these things on. Can you guess what they are for? Not gloves, which would make sense. They were holders for kim wipes. All of us said the same thing - who the hell uses kim wipes around here in a hood. The only thing we use them for is to clean coverslips and microscope lenses. Which aren't in the hood. The bad part was where they put them. When we sit in the chairs they are above our heads. Mo cracked her head twice, I cracked my head once. The corners are very pointy and hard. It pisses me off, if they want to add things to the room fine. Give them to us to put where we want. They don't use the room, we do. Quit changing things to make it 'better' when they don't even use the place.

Well, I should actually be talking in past tense. The holders are no longer there. I was talking to Geeka about them and how FD, Mo and I were trying to figure out the best way to get them off. She suggested ethanol. Well, Friday evening Mo and I soaked them in ethanol, we used our squirt bottles. After a good dousing and shaking they came off. In pieces. The plastic directly attached to the adhesive is the only thing remaining. The lab manager of the Center will probably be pissed. But she was stupid enough to put them were we would crack our heads. I feel a little guilty at breaking them, because I don't know how much they cost. But boy, was it satisfying to break them.

I wonder if anyone will mention the missing kim wipe holders?