triplicate

In wild dreams, I get through whole experiments without snags. In waking life, not so much.

Like many academic labs, ours lacks a manager to ensure smooth sailing. The result is pretty much what you would expect, and favors those who are self-seeking by nature.

In lieu of a manager, we each have specific jobs that serve the lab broadly. Mine is to order all reagents and supplies, and I've got a form for eliciting the necessary details:

• Who are you?
• What do you need?
• Who sells it?
• What's the catalog number?
• How much do you want?

Niggling as it might seem, my absolute minimum is answers to the first two questions. Some will happily divulge their identity, but the minority must be harangued.

The binder where we keep the orders has been falling apart progressively. I got a new binder, and decided on a mascot:

 

For much of the movie, the audience is under the impression that Roz is an irritating bureaucrat who wants to keep Mike Wazowski from getting laid. At the end, we discover that she is the mastermind of a sting operation. Hey, does her sweater have a seed-stitch border?

Comments

[Liz]

*excellent* mascot - assume you make liberal use of 0ne of her lines, too ("your stunned silence is very reassuring.")

and the scarves are Gorgeous!

and OMfreakinGAWD congratulations on acceptance in Nature, that's great! well, more than great! but I can't think of a better word right now! yay!!!

Take care, o double helix :)

[Lucia]

Brilliant mascot! Favorite line: and I DON'T want to see any paperwork on this.

[ihatetoast]

i loved roz! yup. what a turn around. nice grandpa guy the baddie; grumpy sourpuss granny the goodie.

and a movie with steve buscemi, my hottie.

[heather]

excellent choice! You are being *too* nice to let people get stuff by just answering #1 & #2...as I fill out my order forms for next year's classes.

[Dorothy]

Sounds like a fairly basic form. Pity some of your lab mates consistently outsmart themselves with it.

I liked Roz in the movie. She had a sharp wit and a quick mind.

[Kate]

I am the ultimate lab manager... honestly, this place would go to pot without me. That being said, I have a sign (somewhere) that says "if you didn't write it down, you didn't tell me. If you didn't tell me, it didn't get ordered. If it didn't get ordered, then I don't know where it is..."

I have had labs call me up to a year later asking me "where's the...?" and "how do i...?" My lab now, knows better... ;)

[Julie]

What a great mascot! Being lab manager (ages ago now) definitely brought out my alterego, I was so organized and tidy I recognize myself. When I left they were calling for weeks to ask where things were. Perhaps I coddled them?