a cautionary tale sort of involving a minion

"Okay... so... I got some of that cleanser in my eye..."

It was young Mitch, tapping me on the shoulder.  Just prior to that announcement, I was enjoying another day in Lunch Lady Land - whipping up a fine batch of fajita chicken while probably daydreaming about the upcoming weekend.  Young Mitch brought me roaring back to the present.

Young Mitch was a pleasant college-aged guy and fellow Lunch Lady - a title he wore proudly despite being a cis-gendered male.  We all liked Mitch, and because of his age, the rest of us lunch ladies felt a bit protectively maternal about him.  By contrast, our middle school clientele, particularly the girls,  seemed especially appreciative when young Mitch was working the cash register.

At this particular moment, as I was fajitizing some chicken, young Mitch had been cleaning nearby when his plastic bottle of cleanser spit on him.  I turned and found him standing there with his usual mellow demeanor except for his tightly shut left eye.

I sprang into action.

"YES!... Well... uhm... YES!... to the eyewash... YES?"

I led him calmly to the eyewash station, mostly driven by that protective maternal instinct.  However, I confess that there was a small portion of me that was all, "KEWL!  We get to use the eyewash!"

Here, a couple of well-cast actors perform my and Mitch's dramatization:

As he continued to flush his eyes, we read the label on the cleanser he'd been using.  I pulled the MSDS for more info.  In short, it turns out we did everything right, except for one thing:

We forgot to have him wear eye protection in the first place 😞

A big boss came out to log an incident report.  Young Mitch left to "immediately seek medical attention" as instructed.  Our manager got in a bit of trouble for not having him wear eye protection.  Supervisor Gayle, who'd asked him to use the cleanser, got in a bit of trouble too.  They both felt bad, but thankfully, Mitch was checked out and deemed fine.

It was no surprise when, the next day, a memo about using appropriate eye protection and knowing where safety goggles are located went out to all kitchens.  We located our goggles, all shiny, still in their original packaging.

We had a few student helpers that helped out during lunchtimes in exchange for complimentary lunch.  That might make some think, "gee what great kids!", but in reality, they weren't always that great.  The day after the cleanser-in-the-eye incident, a couple of boys were arguing over something  - a girl, I think - when they were supposed to be working.  Ahh, adolescence.

Gayle heard a commotion and came around the corner from where she had been completing a technical task and obeyingly wearing the required eye protection.  Now, Gayle is quite a character.  She's got a tough don't-mess-with-me personality when needed.  She's also about five feet tall and just as wide.  This is what I saw when she came around the corner to give those boys the what for:

It's like those kids became paralyzed - no moving, no speaking.  They weren't sure what to think.  She lectured them on proper behavior during their work shifts.  They sprang into proper action while we adults were stifling our giggles.  One boy finally asked her about the goggles.

"I'm working with CHEMICALS, okay?!", she answered before authoritatively striding back to her task.

Afterward, we joked and marveled at the effective air of authority from the safety goggles.  The kids don't need to know that she was just cleaning the toilet.

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

3. Write a blog post inspired by the word: cautious