I Suck At Facility Tours

It's not often that I get to do something different at work. And by different, I mean something other than sitting in front of a computer all day creating software solutions for clients. But it just so happens, Monday was that day.

On Monday, I was one of a select few in my team chosen to go on a company facility tour. Too bad I suck at facility tours. Truth be told, it was my first facility tour... ever.

The facility is located in Braintree. It was the company's first waste facility. As the company has grown, there have been other larger facilities. But Braintree was the first.

Interestingly enough, I grew up on the South Shore. I never knew that there was a waste facility in Braintree located near the Quincy shipyards. I must have driven by it many times growing up. And truth be told, the street signs for the facility are so hidden that unless you're looking for it, you probably wouldn't even know it was there to begin with.

Needless to say, it was an interesting tour particularly because it gave me insight as to one of the many things that my company does. Having context is great, especially for a software developer such as myself. I get to understand the reasons why an application is designed as such.

The most interesting part of the tour was when a group of us were led into a bay containing drums upon drums of hazardous waste. If seeing drums of waste weren't interesting enough, there was a facility worker in the adjacent room about 10 feet away. The worker was decked out from head to toe in protective gear, gas mask, gloves, etc. He was quite visible as there were no doors... just a door way. But there he was, doing something with a drum in his protective clothing. And there we were, dressed in regular clothes with nothing but a hard hat and goggles.

Of course, we were assured that we were completely safe. Regardless, it just looked odd. If we were exposed to radiation of some sort, I am hoping to get a cool super power. We'll see.

Super powers aside, it was a nice informative tour.