Why am I being paid minimum wage!?

[AKHMERICA]

Well for those of you that don't know I am a part time lab assistant at my school and I get paid minimum wage. It's not bad considering it's a pretty fun job! I get to play with bacteria and acids so I can't complain.

But today was pretty scary...

I was making some gels for protein electrophoresis and one of the ingredients is acrylamide. And for those who don't know, acrylamide is a nuerotoxin...

Anyway... as I was making these gels, somehow as I was pipetting the acrylamide, it squirt out of the top of the pippette tip and into my eye. (And I know what you're thinking "Why weren't you wearing safety goggles? Well, my instructor said that I wouldn't need it because it would be almost impossible for some of it to get in my eye unless I did it on purpose.)

Suffice to say, I freaked out. For those of you who are wondering how a neurotoxin feels in your eye, it doesn't feel like anything at all. Just water. That's what made it kind of scary. But thanks to my quick thinking I remembered there was an eye wash station and booked towards it. I literally stood there rinsing my eye out for a good fifteen minutes. The water was pretty cold, but I digress.

So in the end, I got my eye rinsed out really well and I was told by my instructor that I shouldn't die from the acrylamide but I should get my eye checked. So I headed to the eye doctor (I don't know the professional name so don't judge.), and I was told that since I rinsed my eye out so soon it should be fine.

Well that's the end of my life-threatning story. Thanks for reading

[JosieDively]

Glad you are ok!

[Major_League]

Originally Posted by AKHMERICA

Well for those of you that don't know I am a part time lab assistant at my school and I get paid minimum wage. It's not bad considering it's a pretty fun job! I get to play with bacteria and acids so I can't complain.

But today was pretty scary...

I was making some gels for protein electrophoresis and one of the ingredients is acrylamide. And for those who don't know, acrylamide is a nuerotoxin...

Anyway... as I was making these gels, somehow as I was pipetting the acrylamide, it squirt out of the top of the pippette tip and into my eye. (And I know what you're thinking "Why weren't you wearing safety goggles? Well, my instructor said that I wouldn't need it because it would be almost impossible for some of it to get in my eye unless I did it on purpose.)

Suffice to say, I freaked out. For those of you who are wondering how a neurotoxin feels in your eye, it doesn't feel like anything at all. Just water. That's what made it kind of scary. But thanks to my quick thinking I remembered there was an eye wash station and booked towards it. I literally stood there rinsing my eye out for a good fifteen minutes. The water was pretty cold, but I digress.

So in the end, I got my eye rinsed out really well and I was told by my instructor that I shouldn't die from the acrylamide but I should get my eye checked. So I headed to the eye doctor (I don't know the professional name so don't judge.), and I was told that since I rinsed my eye out so soon it should be fine.

Well that's the end of my life-threatning story. Thanks for reading

So you deserve more than minimum wage cause your a dumb azz?

[monkeymcgee]

Seems like your instructor needs some lab safety training.

They're your eyes--if you are working with dangerous stuff, I'd wear protection if I were you.

[TheHeel]

4.0 Yardale

[Zerokruel]

You really should have the proper PPE worn at all time. Your instructor should have his head examined, and his bosses should look at what kind of liability he is.

Where I work - if something like that happened, people would be suspended and or terminated for not having their PPE on. I get your situation is probably a little different - but it's pretty serious.

[vwnut13]

Sue him! .

[bigcwd2000]

Bummer man. Glad to hear you weren't seriously hurt.

[AKHMERICA]

Originally Posted by Major_League

So you deserve more than minimum wage cause your a dumb azz?

Yes lol jk. No I never realized how dangerous this job could actually be if things go wrong. And that fact that I'm being paid at minimum wage the whole time lol. But oh well A few college degrees and I'll be where I need to be

Originally Posted by TheHeel

4.0 Yardale

South Park reference?

Originally Posted by monkeymcgee

They're your eyes--if you are working with dangerous stuff, I'd wear protection if I were you.

Originally Posted by Zerokruel

You really should have the proper PPE worn at all time. Your instructor should have his head examined, and his bosses should look at what kind of liability he is.

Where I work - if something like that happened, people would be suspended and or terminated for not having their PPE on. I get your situation is probably a little different - but it's pretty serious.

Yeah, I'm not gonna hide the fact that I'm at fault here as well. I need to learn that my instructor may not always be right I'm your classic seventeen year old, I do things before I think

And Zero mind if I ask where you work?

[Zerokruel]

I work in a food processing facility (OLAM), however we have some fun stuff for clean up and boiler care: Anhydrous ammonia, Sodium Hypochlorite, and about 15-20 other chemicals that Ecolab provides us.

Any supervisors, trainers, handlers, or receivers of chemicals have to go through a Hazwoper training every year here. I think I've done the class probably 4 times and will be doing it my 5th in two weeks.

[Clarka3]

the instructor told you not to worry about eye safety. wow. his ass should be fired and your education should be free.

always wear the damn goggles.

[tnarg]

Originally Posted by Zerokruel

I work in a food processing facility (OLAM), however we have some fun stuff for clean up and boiler care: Anhydrous ammonia, Sodium Hypochlorite, and about 15-20 other chemicals that Ecolab provides us.

Any supervisors, trainers, handlers, or receivers of chemicals have to go through a Hazwoper training every year here. I think I've done the class probably 4 times and will be doing it my 5th in two weeks.

Aka a meth lab

Don't sugar coat it

[Zerokruel]

Originally Posted by tnarg

Aka a meth lab

Don't sugar coat it

Heisenberg ain't got S***T on me!

[Gibberish]

Labtech Bukake lol

[iBLeeDBaTTLeReD]

Originally Posted by AKHMERICA

Well for those of you that don't know I am a part time lab assistant at my school and I get paid minimum wage. It's not bad considering it's a pretty fun job! I get to play with bacteria and acids so I can't complain.

But today was pretty scary...

I was making some gels for protein electrophoresis and one of the ingredients is acrylamide. And for those who don't know, acrylamide is a nuerotoxin...

Anyway... as I was making these gels, somehow as I was pipetting the acrylamide, it squirt out of the top of the pippette tip and into my eye. (And I know what you're thinking "Why weren't you wearing safety goggles? Well, my instructor said that I wouldn't need it because it would be almost impossible for some of it to get in my eye unless I did it on purpose.)

Suffice to say, I freaked out. For those of you who are wondering how a neurotoxin feels in your eye, it doesn't feel like anything at all. Just water. That's what made it kind of scary. But thanks to my quick thinking I remembered there was an eye wash station and booked towards it. I literally stood there rinsing my eye out for a good fifteen minutes. The water was pretty cold, but I digress.

So in the end, I got my eye rinsed out really well and I was told by my instructor that I shouldn't die from the acrylamide but I should get my eye checked. So I headed to the eye doctor (I don't know the professional name so don't judge.), and I was told that since I rinsed my eye out so soon it should be fine.

Well that's the end of my life-threatning story. Thanks for reading

If the potential for injury/exposure is there PPE should be worn at all times no matter how small the risk is. That's like a drivers ed instructor telling you the risk of you getting in a car wreck driving down the street isn't that high so you don't need to wear your seatbelt. Totally unacceptable!

Do your parents know this happened? I'd be ripping someone a new azzhole if that happened to any of my daughters!

[iBLeeDBaTTLeReD]

Originally Posted by Gibberish

Labtech Bukake lol

[dherm360]

go into class with an eye patch tomorrow

[vc15jrich23]

Originally Posted by iBLeeDBaTTLeReD

If the potential for injury/exposure is there PPE should be worn at all times no matter how small the risk is. That's like a drivers ed instructor telling you the risk of you getting in a car wreck driving down the street isn't that high so you don't need to wear your seatbelt. Totally unacceptable!

Do your parents know this happened? I'd be ripping someone a new azzhole if that happened to any of my daughters!

Even if it is their own fault? When messing with chemicals like that you should make your own decision on if you want to wear safety goggles or not.

[Stats]

Your instructor and the school is at fault! They should have filed an injury report. This is completely unaaceptable. You should get it checked out by a doctor in case there are any issues that come later.

[gussiethebussie]

well ok then

[Gibberish]

Originally Posted by dherm360

go into class with an eye patch tomorrow

[jlzinck]

If your instructor told you it was OK not y=to wear safety goggles then he/she should not be employed as of tomorrow.

[AKHMERICA]

Hehe loved the bukkake joke!

Anyway in the end, I've realized that it's both me and my professors fault. I mean he really shouldn't have said that I didn't need to wear goggles but on the other hand I'm an idiot for not wearing the goggles anyway and that was a severe mistake on my part.

But boy have I learned my lesson. It's all fun and games until someone gets acrylamide in their eye.

[LBSB333]

Originally Posted by Gibberish

I would also like to +1 this original comment.

Glad you are okay! As far as the pay goes, I never understood it either. My buddy made more than minimum wage for his campus job to sit at a desk and do his homework.

[AKHMERICA]

Originally Posted by Stats

Your instructor and the school is at fault! They should have filed an injury report. This is completely unaaceptable. You should get it checked out by a doctor in case there are any issues that come later.

Yeah I got checked up by a regular doctor and an eye physician and they've given me the thumbs up. I should be fine since I flushed out the acrylamide so quickly. Thank goodness!