Random Story – Taking a nice walk at work

This is just an odd little story from my life.

Years ago, I worked at a lab for a company that makes metal working fluids.  Yes, it was as exciting as it sounds.  Over my years there, I worked in a couple different labs.  In one lab my boss would tell me to run such and such tests on some samples, and then he’d do his own work.  And a lot of the tests I ran for him required twenty minutes or so to get everything set up, and then it would run for half and hour and then I’d repeat everything for the next sample.  And while the test ran, there really was nothing for me to do. 

Instead of just sitting in the lab twiddling my thumbs, I would find things to do.  Like I’d check our supply of soap and paper towels and then go to the other end of the building to the supply room.  And then I’d check on our supply of various chemicals, and then I’d go back to the supply room to see if we had any. 

The way the building was laid out, there was sort of a main hallway that went from the offices, past a bunch of labs, to the supply room.  But there was also a back hallway that went by fewer labs and saw less traffic.  So sometimes on my trips to or from the supply room, I’d go back and forth in the hallway where nobody could see me.  Sometimes I could go back and forth five or six times before someone else would wander down that hallway and I’d be forced to continue on in whatever direction as if that was where I was going.

Anyway, at some point I noticed that the floor tiles were one foot square.  I counted how many tiles there were in that back hallway, and worked out how many times I’d need to go back and forth to walk a mile.  And there were days where I did walk over a mile, just going back and forth in an empty hallway.  There were parts of that job I didn’t care for, but I guess there were perks.