Garfield

Greetings patient readers.

Since this is Friday, I will keep the post short. It seems that Jaba has been trying to hire himself some competent people. So... he hired an intern. That seems to be a term they use here in Silicon Valley for somebody with a degree (who may even be competent), but no work experience, and hence should expect to be treated like crap. Anyway, they hired this intern and immediately placed her under the tender loving care of the Chihuahua. Please check previous posts if you forget. (I only wish that I could.)

The intern seems kind of cat-like to me. She has the same all knowing, self assured attitude of a cat that is quizzically watching you as you do something stupid. Looking at you as if to say "What are you thinking? You know that I could do better, if I could be bothered". Needless to say, Garfield immediately gravitated toward the Sarcastic Brit, and uses his office to hide from her "boss".

This is a typical discussion:

Harbinger: Why do your co-workers ask me to fix things that are not broken?
Garfield: Because they have no clue. They are biologists, after all.
Harbinger: Biologist is not synonymous with incompetent.
Garfield: Really?
Harbinger: One of my friends is a "biologist". His hobby is building torsion catapults that hurl ten pound pumpkins the better part of a mile.
Garfield: That's nice. He obviously doesn't work at the Mecca.

Of course, I'm not so sure about this one. Garfield has another job offer. When she went to Jaba to see what he would do to try to match it, he offered her a chance to work more closely with the Sarcastic Brit and I. Apparently, we are being used as bait. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I told Garfield not to fall for it... run while you can. She was at work today.

P.T. Barnum wins another round.

OSHA 12

Good evening. It seems that even at the Biotech Mecca, history repeats itself. This is the sequel to OSHA 11. It seems that despite the new location, old habits die hard.

The local fire department was in doing our inspections for various safety issues. This is a good thing, I suppose, except that they keep finding chemicals that are not properly stored, and paperwork that isn't properly done.

Somehow, Jaba managed to get talked into being the safety officer for the company, so he gets to deal with the fire department. I believe that the conversation went something like this.

Safety inspector: You don't have your permit for handling biological waste yet. You can't legally handle most of the chemicals that you are using until you get your license.

Jaba: How long does it take to get a license?

Safety inspector: 90 days.

Jaba: Is it faster to transfer the license from the old facility to this location?

Safety inspector: Why yes it is. Unfortunately, you never bothered to get a license at the old facility.


It seems that permits are not the only place that the Mecca is trying to skimp these days. It would also seem that we are testing the rules on squatter's rights in the state of California.

It would seem that nobody bothered to allocate space for instrument manufacture. Added to this was the fact that the engineering lab in the new facility is about half the size of the space in the old facility and you have problems. How do you overcome such a lack of planning:

1) You fire enough engineers so that everybody can occupy the smaller space
2) You send the used car salesman in to negotiate a lease on more of the building.
--He tells the landlord that the company will lease more space in his vacant building
--The Landlord lets you move in since the space is free anyway and you obviously need the room right now.
--You move your stuff in and then tell the landlord that you are planning on paying him in stock.
--You don't mention that the company is basically out of money and that the share price tanks every day.
--You refuse to sign the lease.
--You don't bother to move your stuff out of the lab.

Presto, you have just increased your floor space by 50% without it costing a dime. Great work. I wonder if the landlord tenant rules for evictions apply to commercial real estate.

Of course, I would expect no less of a company where the directory of finance says things like "Oh, we will pay our vendors. Just, not right now."