Ether Binge

Newspaper Headline Reads: Murder Weapons found: empty ether bottle and pestle to blame.

Seriously, I'm not sure what I did in my previous life to deserve my current co-workers, but it must have been really bad. There is one in particular, whose name shall remain secret, not to protect the innocent but because just the mention of his/her name sends a rush of anger through my veins.

Today he/she was using ether (keeping in mind I work in a lab and the use of ether is common) out in the open air. Not in the hood where it belongs but out on his/her bench top where it was free to taint the air in the entire lab. I don't know if I am unique in my extreme sensitivity to ether or not, but within minutes I had a raging headache and mood to match. Not only does ether smell bad and give me a headache, but it is a known carcinogen. After being told to take the ether in the hood where it belongs, he/she continued to use it on his/her bench top which is where it is currently sitting.

Prior to the bench top use of said chemical, my co-worker threw one empty bottle into the garbage without, I repeat WITHOUT, letting it air out in the hood. For all of the non-science people who are reading this, and I'm sure there are thousands since it is so popular, a hood is an area that has airflow that carries the dangerous fumes out of the building without them circulating around the lab.

Me: "hey (insert name here) you need to let the ether bottle dry out completely in the hood before you throw it away."
He/She: "it's just ether"
Me: "it needs to dry out first."
He/She: "it's just ether"
Me: "I'm well aware of that. Are you aware that it is explosive and if it were to be crushed in the garbage truck it could explode?"
He/She: "It's just ether"

Say ether one more time.

Perhaps he/she had already huffed too much of said ether and was already too woozy to function properly. By this logic though, he/she needs to be huffing it every day.

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