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IT workers: Speaking truth to douchebags since 1977

Dr. Mouse

While at university (studying engineering), we kept a log book during our labs. One lecturer had told me that our lab books were for our use only, and to use them to ensure we remembered what we were working on.

I then changed university, and carried on using my lab book in the same way. During one particularly frustrating lab in which I had made a fundamental mistake at the beginning and wasted 2 hours trying to figure out why nothing worked, I vented my spleen on my lab book. The comments I wrote were not particularly suitable for work, nor were they something I would want anyone else to read.

Imagine my horror when the lecturer announced "Remember to hand in your lab books"!

Too embarrassed to say anything, I sheepishly handed it in and left. The next week, I received it back with good comments all the way up to my... colourful language. It was then that the lecturer explained something that this university made clear from day one: that lab books weren't just for your own use, but could be used by an employer to help others continue your work if (for instance) you fell ill (or, in his words, got hit by a bus).

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