it's a bird, it's a plane, it's... water??

the following conversation occured in mike's lab today.


some guy (holding up a plastic container of some sort of clear liquid): what's this?
mike: did you smell it? i think it's water.
other guy (holding container to his nose): it doesn't smell like water.
mike (takes container and sniffs it): it smells like plastic.
other guy: so...
mike (pours out a bit onto a small dish and sniffs that): hmmm... i can't tell. check the ph. it's probably water.
other guy (checking the ph): it's acidic.
mike: huh. you should probably label that container as some sort of acid wash.
other guy: ok. (does so) (i didn't check, but at this rate the label might have actually said "some sort of acid wash")


it's nice to know that they have rigorous labeling and safety procedures, right?


i think the real lesson here is never drink anything from any container in the lab, no matter how many times they say it's water.