When I had entered this environmental micro field I was told that there were a plethora of job opportunities; however when I graduated 3 years after that, mysteriously all of those "opportunities" had dried up or had been filled. Not wanting to go further on to get a masters degree, I decided to try my luck looking for work. After 6 months and probably over 100 rejection letters in my post box, I finally found a job at the Manitoba Cancer and Research Foundation doing work in molecular biology and cancer research. I was looking for a job at Molson's to become a brewmeister (I studied fermentation in my microbiology courses) but a woman who was a molecular biology major took that job and left me with the dregs. I hated it. Let me rephrase that; I despised the job. Spending day after day, hour after hour staring at petrie dishes, swabbing, recording little fungal growths by the mm was horribly boring to me. The other people working in the lab as lab techs and research grad students all seemed to have one thing in common: introverted personalities. I couldn't take it and after six months left to find a job that seemed much more promising in terms of money and people-related sales work.
My next job was working at a hazardous waste disposal company in Winnipeg. A month after beginning, the promised territory, minimum $40K in salary, safety boots, goggles and the company kind of fizzled away. I found that they didn't have the money to actually dispose of the chemicals that were collected and would just transfer them around the country between Winnipeg and Calgary just in time to avoid the inspectors. By law we had to get rid of it, but in reality they couldn't afford to pay the transport and disposal charges down in the States.
On one occasion (I had bought my own safety boots, lab coat, goggles and hard hat) we were lifting a leaking can of toxic goop with a crane to put it in a larger can. The crane let go, the can dropped, the goop shot up into the air like a pressurized geyser and poured all over the guy who was supposed to give me some of his territory but never did.
To this day I don't know if he is still alive or not, but he told me one time that when he was young he and his buddies used to have "mercury races"; they would drink mercury in school and record the time it took to pass it out in their stools. Go figure. After he told me that I stopped asking why he didn't wear safety equipment at this job.
One month later with a paycheck for $400 (Canadian) and a pair of safety boots I quit. After seeing that geyser I decided I didn't want to become another cancer statistic at 50.
One month later with a paycheck for $400 (Canadian) and a pair of safety boots I quit. After seeing that geyser I decided I didn't want to become another cancer statistic at 50.
Happy Valentine's Day from the future!
I love you!
Cam
Stay tuned for Part 3: Breaking Up is Hard to Do
you are so smart!!! I love you!
ReplyDeletehappy VD dear
ReplyDeleteMUAH!
glad your kisses dont glow!
LOL
Isn't it weird what humans sometimes create as byproducts? (uhh, the toxic goop, not the ... mercury race. yikes!)
ReplyDeleteSorry you had to even work with that kinda thing - very scary!
Jaime - It was a great experience! I learned exactly what I did NOT want to be.... dead!
ReplyDeleteI love you!
Hmmm glow in the dark kisses could be fun... :D
ReplyDeleteGlowing in the dark would take all the fun out of "feeling one's way to paradise".
ReplyDeleteWhat?
I'm glad you quit that job before you got gooked up with toxic stuff.
Yes, Mavis.. I agree.. never understood a condom that glows in the dark, too. Although it might make for good video of a dance.. LOL
ReplyDeleteIt would give the name "Nerve-Anna" an entirely different "feel"!
ReplyDeleteMavis - I NEVER use this term, but "feeling one's way to paradise."?? LMAO! You are one WONDERFULLY wicked and wonderfully wonderful woman!
I used to have a similar job, Mou.
ReplyDeleteMy first summer home after freshman year of college was for the water bacteriology lab for the state of NY. I remember all that swabbing petrie dishes, counting cultures, then autoclaving the used dishes and the interesting sculptural shapes the stacks of petrie dishes took when melted together by the heat of the autoclave... cool.
But the foul cooked agar smell...gag!
But i really kinda liked the job as it was just the sort of environment i envisioned when i chose laboratory technology as my major.
I'm just glad you realized and moved on when you found the job wasn't for you.
Some of us stick with a mind numbing job way too long because we either settle or are too afraid to change. Been there. Done that.
Jen - I loved it when I was studying it, but really wanted to focus on the beer fermentation. So when I got the job in molecular biology, I wasn't all that happy. Thanks for your thoughts and I'm really glad to know that we have some history in common and can talk about this kind of stuff without going all "glassey eyed" on each other. I love you!
ReplyDeleteJobs are weird. It seems to me that the fun jobs ones don't pay very well and the good paying jobs are boring.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your life with us. As long as you are loving what you do now, it makes the past worth it.
ReplyDeleteI studied molecular biology well we named it ''bio expérimentale'' i got the master and as you said by the time i was finnished...not job...all the promises were gone... the guy eating mercury...well...this is crazy!
ReplyDeleteHe was! And I say that, hoping that he still is just as crazy and ALIVE!
ReplyDeleteGM - This is true! I love experiences and regret nothing (yet).
I worked at a factory and since the government refused to pass legislation to cover this sort of thing, we poured the toxic chemicals down the toilet. I also got some cytotoxic toxic drug spilled onto my skin, which I washed off, and expect to die of cancer at 45, hopefully my dogs will be dead, so i leave no survivors. They also refused to build the proper environment for the safe mixing of these drugs in the hospital. I think I will precede you to the grave.
ReplyDeletePPC - Are you living in a third world country?
ReplyDelete