Small Elephants Sometimes Forget

My lab ran out of gloves last week.  That was expected - we were running through so many with pump repair, it was only a matter of time.

My lab partner and I found a pair of reusable rubber gloves in a bucket somewhere and started using those.  They quickly got covered in oil but as we worked with different chemicals to clean off pump parts, we had no choice but to pull them on again, rather than risk damage to our skin.  

The gloves are still usable but they are so dirty and greasy and oily that you can't do anything without leaving brown smudges on everything you touch.  And trying to use those gloves to clean something? 

Forget about it. 

So, today, I started trying to clean up the lab and get it organized for the continued pump repair.  I carefully wrote a list of things we needed: gloves, o-rings, a stainless steel plug for the vacuum chamber, shop cloths, and degreaser.  Then, I went up to my office to order the materials.  

As I typed in gloves, I suddenly remembered that there was an unopened box I had received over a week ago from a supplier.  I already knew it had bolts in it that we did not need any more so I just left it, under my desk.  

However, suddenly, looking up gloves on the online ordering page, I had a feeling of déjà vu.  Had I already ordered gloves?

I leaned down and retrieved the box and opened it.  Sure enough, I found the bolts but also two boxes of nitrile gloves.  

At that, I just wanted to put my head in my hands and just cringe at my forgetfulness these days.  But as you can see, my hands are too dirty.