Thanks so much for your editorial1 on lab techs! As a lab rat, menial, lab slave, etc. for 20 years, I got incredibly tired of the demeaning attitudes by the supposedly better-educated grad students, postdocs, and professors. I was always professional in my work and gave 200% at all times. I can't tell you how many times [that I] or my other lab techs saved their butts when they would mess up an experiment or even worse, a clinical sample. I was once even nearly killed when a grad student blew up an oven because he wanted to dry off the ether from his assay faster! When I was laid off from my last job, no one got paid, as the 'menial' wasn't there anymore to hand in time sheets. Oops!
We are the heart of the lab. We keep people civil. We are the keepers of the long-term memory. ...
