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Nick Thomas had arrived at BioQex eager to make progress with his science. After a serious assault he’d been working shorter days and only doing a small amount of laboratory work but for the past couple of weeks, he’d felt able to get back to doing full days in the lab. Whilst Nick had been recuperating his direct report Kirsty had been supervised by Bille Matheson, Nick’s boss. As Billie had many other responsibilities and another team to direct she hadn’t been able to keep a very close eye on Kirsty’s work and it showed. Nick realised that he would have a substantial task to improve Kirsty’s professional standards. Her work wasn’t exactly sloppy but she did tend to cut corners. She had omitted many safety assessment details in her experimental write-ups. Her data was full of gaps. It was a generally disorganised picture and it bothered Nick. He had high standards and he expected his colleagues to follow the rules. Kirsty was rather a loose cannon and there could be an accident waiting to happen. If that were the case, much of the blame would fall on him and Nick was keen to avoid that at all costs. He had scheduled a meeting for later in the day. His approach would be tactful but he was prepared for Kirsty to be on the defensive, she always tried to shift the blame. Nick was determined that it was time for her to take responsibility.
Nick was also hoping to get some reassuring texts or emails from his girlfriend Polly. She’d recently moved departments at the University of Persford. Previously she’d worked in the publicity department but had now secured a job in procurement, a section of finance. She’d some previous experience in finance when she’d worked in the accounts department for a small engineering company. Persford University had grown in size dramatically over the last five years. As with all organisations, budgets were tight nowadays, they were constantly under pressure to ensure they were obtaining the best deals on everything they sourced. Polly had applied for a job leading a team in procurement which became vacant upon the sudden departure of her predecessor. As is often the case when someone leaves and doesn’t work their notice tongues start wagging and it is assumed that some misdemeanour has been committed.
Nick had been more intrigued than Polly as to why her predecessor had left and despite his encouragement, she’d shown no interest in trying to find out the background. Polly said it was more important to move forward than dwelling on what had gone on before she’d joined the department. Nick was just concerned for her and wanted to know exactly what standards were operating in her section. He would continue to broach the issue in the evenings, providing she wasn’t too tired.
He headed into his lab, donning his lab coat and gloves and wandered over to his fume hood, passing Kirsty’s work area and pulling down the front of her fume hood.
‘For goodness sake,’ he muttered audibly. How many times had he told her to keep the window sash down below the guideline to ensure safety? He’d lost count. She just didn’t seem to be able to remember things like that. He looked at his work and decided what to start on first when he was alerted by a spitting sort of sound. Turning around he noticed solvent bubbling out of the top of Kirsty’s reaction. He rushed over to see what was happening.
‘Fuck!’ he shouted, ‘no cooling again in the condenser! What’s the matter with her?’
He quickly lifted the reaction away from the heat source and set the water running to cool the condenser. If he’d not been around there could have been a fire. Where was Kirsty anyway? He’d not noticed her for a while. Their chat later today would have some serious issues to confront. Kirsty was simply not concentrating, she was putting everyone at risk. She needed to sharpen up her act.
**
Bob McKewan was feeling depressed at the start of Monday but after his short meeting with their new Chief Financial Officer Mel, he felt completely despondent. He had barely listened whilst she’d enthused about how she was sure her vision would be able to launch the company into a new era. His silence seemed to go unnoticed. Mel didn’t need to hold a conversation she merely needed to have someone to talk at. He’d nodded from time to time and when she decided to pause he’d stood up and told her he would take her along to meet Jonathan Barrow, their Chief Business Officer. They would be able to talk the same language littered with this week’s corporate jargon. He had no time for that, he was a scientist and that was what BioQex employed him to be. He was now approaching sixty years old and had completed almost forty years in science. It had been extremely rewarding and he wouldn’t have wanted to follow any other career path, but at the moment he felt hollow, it was hard to push himself. Yet, he had to continue, not to do so would be a sign of weakness and that wasn’t his style. He looked at his watch and realised it was time for his meeting with Piers. They were due to discuss timescales for the upcoming clinical trial on their prototype pain candidate BQ-561. Gathering his papers he trod heavily through the office area, avoiding the gaze of his colleagues and up the stairs towards Piers’ office.
**
Kevin Rogers was in his storeroom checking his inventories. This week he was the only member of staff manning the storeroom which consisted of a general store for items ranging from stationery to protective equipment such as gloves and lab coats. As with any organisation, there was also a need for paper towels, tissues, cloths etc. and he also maintained a supply of replacement glassware, vials, and general chemicals including solvents and basic reagents. The company had considered employing an assistant to help share the workload but it was a small company and money was tight. Management had been surprised that when asked, Kevin had maintained that he thought he could manage the workload single-handedly. He suggested that from time to time they could get someone on work experience from the job-centre, that would be sufficient in his opinion.
Despite the senior team praising Kevin for his commitment to the company and his desire to work above and beyond the remit of his job they never matched it with any extra pay. Kevin however. had found a way to supplement his income and it was for this reason that he was quite happy to be the sole occupant of his storeroom. It was his domain, he was in charge and he had nobody to answer to. It hadn’t taken Kevin long to realise that many of the consumables as they were called like gloves, tissues, rolls of disposable cloths were unaccountable in the rate at which they were used. Once they were ordered and came on site they were supplied on request to the labs and no one ever questioned whether they were being used at a realistic or a rather too rapid rate. Thus Kevin had spotted an opportunity. Many of these items were now used in small companies like garages, the mechanics all wore disposable gloves nowadays, used paper towels and disposable cloths. Post-it notes were another highly saleable item, and his list was growing month on month. As long as he wasn’t too greedy he saw no reason for this to change. At first, he felt a bit guilty but then this dissipated as he felt the company owed him a bit extra. No way could he afford a flash car like some of those in the car park. His was over twelve years old. Without this extra bonus money, he and his wife wouldn’t even be able to afford a summer holiday and it was far from a luxurious one. They usually managed a couple of weeks in Spain in a basic apartment, having to cook cheap meals. The more he thought about it the more he felt he was entitled to this supplementary income and he did not feel guilty in the slightest.
