fun with limewas working at a water treatment plant outside katherine in the northern territory. they'd just tried to switch to using lime to control the ph (the shit they put in water to make the mud settle out also makes it acidic) and had screwed it up. the bottom of the main settling tank ended up with a metre thick cake of netralized lime on it.
so they drained the talk and told me to climb in and clean it out with a high pressure hose. and left. i figured if i was gonna get coated from head to foot with white gack i may as well have clean clothes afterwards and stripped off - the treatment plant is 5km out of town and nobody ever shows up unexpectedly or anything, so i figured no big deal.
climbed in and started hosing away. a couple of hours pass. all of a sudden i hear the clanging of footsteps up the stairs on the outside of the tank. lots of footsteps.
now what i didn't know is the new airforce base in the process of being commissioned about 20km out of town was going to be getting its water from us. and that a bunch of airforce brass were in town to inspect the commissioning process. and some bright spark had decided to take them on a tour of the water treatment plant to show them where their bloody water was going to come from.
over the lip of the catwalk appears 15 or so uniformed airforce people plus their bloody wives plus my boss, my boss' boss and his boss. i'm there in full view, nothing to hide behind, caked in gunk and trying to protect what's left of my decency with a high pressure water hose.
ok, so that wasn't my worst job, but for the combination of bordem and sheer embarrasment (i was spotty and 19) it's been hard to beat.
(,
Tue 11 Nov 2003, 21:07,
archived)
so they drained the talk and told me to climb in and clean it out with a high pressure hose. and left. i figured if i was gonna get coated from head to foot with white gack i may as well have clean clothes afterwards and stripped off - the treatment plant is 5km out of town and nobody ever shows up unexpectedly or anything, so i figured no big deal.
climbed in and started hosing away. a couple of hours pass. all of a sudden i hear the clanging of footsteps up the stairs on the outside of the tank. lots of footsteps.
now what i didn't know is the new airforce base in the process of being commissioned about 20km out of town was going to be getting its water from us. and that a bunch of airforce brass were in town to inspect the commissioning process. and some bright spark had decided to take them on a tour of the water treatment plant to show them where their bloody water was going to come from.
over the lip of the catwalk appears 15 or so uniformed airforce people plus their bloody wives plus my boss, my boss' boss and his boss. i'm there in full view, nothing to hide behind, caked in gunk and trying to protect what's left of my decency with a high pressure water hose.
ok, so that wasn't my worst job, but for the combination of bordem and sheer embarrasment (i was spotty and 19) it's been hard to beat.