The power of controlling lab purchases
Liaising with suppliers is more than just following orders
We stood our lab storage space, silently evaluating five hefty cardboard boxes stacked in front of us. One had been hacked open. Stirrer bars spilled out onto the floor. The remaining boxes – as yet unopened – would also contain several gallons of rattling stirrer bars. My PhD supervisor folded his arms. I looked slightly sheepish.
‘I’m sorry. I honestly thought I was ordering five packets of stirrer bars.’
“Well,’ my boss conceded, ‘at least we’ll have some extras.’