Industry labs versus student labs

In the weeks between when my TA contract starts and when I start actually teaching and doing labwork with the undergrads, I am puttering around the lab, fixing equipment. And finding it rather frustrating. I have always known in a theoretical sense how grad student labs are financially strapped and that grad students are not in general the best caretakers of machinery and equipment. But I was still quite appalled to find that nothing was in its proper place, no-one cares if things are built inconsistently without regards for standard methods that allow for ease of later access and repair, etc. The other day, I spent two full hours fuming because I could not locate a basic flathead screwdriver and had to use my leatherman. I finally found a #2 philips screwdriver, only to find that the tip of it had somehow fused into a blobule of some sort.

I was describing all of this to Dan, and he said, "Well you know how grad students are! I bet that the screwdriver tip had been melted because one of your cohorts had decided to see what would happen if it were immersed in a high-temperature flame, or something like that!"

And then, well DUH! The reason that grad students aren't so organized or so meticulous with proper building techniques is because all of that is tedious and really, truly pointless (after all, they aren't building things for paying customers in industry, as I've been used to! they are building things that will only be used once until they get trashed due to something else! so I'm just being anal out of habit, but it's probably quite unnecessary and is also really a waste of time and effort in this situation. and is this the longest parenthetical comment ever? do you remember where I was in the interrupted sentence?). What grad students have instead of organization and good lab practices are enthusiasm and energy and curiosity in abundance. It's probably something we could all use an injection of every now and then!