Lab Gremlins

Continuing on the theme of superstitions in the lab.

Like I said, I had a favorite sharpie marker. Fine point, blue, permanent. Perfect for labelling microtubes, centrifuge tubes, and solution bottles.

And those sharpies were always disappearing. Around the lab, we joked that we had a “lab gremlin” that roamed the place at night, stealing people’s sharpies and mixing up their perfectly sorted microtubes.

Seriously, those sharpies would not stay put! I would label them, using color tape, and scribble my initials. That helped, for a time.

I bet those gremlins had a nice fat stack of blue sharpies. I bet they had a mountain of sharpies stashed some place underground. I suspect they also had quite a few pairs of scissors.

Some day, archeologists would be digging through the old university site, and they’ll unearth a pile of objects (would sharpies degrade after a thousand of years?), all with my initials. They’ll probably think it’s a tribute to some ancient source of power. A proof, that we, humans, are a superstitious lot and have made a shrine of every-day objects, piling them high and letting them lie there, covered in dust.

 

I think those gremlins may have followed me home. Because sometimes, my favorite pair of scissors will mysteriously disappear.