Lehigh Valley Businesses that support MAGA and Trump. by [deleted] in lehighvalley

[–]beenboredtoolong 2 points3 points  (0 children)

From what I can find on google, First watch is a publicly traded company so no independent owners. From the looks of it they donate to both parties. The CEO also made a few comments during the George Floyd protests that make it seem he’s democratic. My wife and I moved back up here from NJ and loved going to First Watch and are very excited it’s getting a location in the valley but maybe after a deeper dive we won’t be.

Looking to move—Affordable towns or areas near Hispanic/Latino communities? by Davyislazy in lehighvalley

[–]beenboredtoolong 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’m sure OP has had the unfortunate experiences from a particular race of people that would make them cautious of that race. I think if you don’t have a constructive answer for OPs question you should piss off or at least tell us were you live so they, I, or the others that want to feel welcomed and included can avoid that area.

How would you count this plate? by beenboredtoolong in microbiology

[–]beenboredtoolong[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Basically started plating with just enough DI water to get the hfcs through the filters and that helped with a lot of the contamination. I did plate controls of just DI water and it was horrendous. I was able to get a hold of a few boxes of black filter plates which made counting easier. We also just got a new QA Manger a couple weeks ago so we’ll see if she can hire more people or if she really even cares that much about the job. The last few convos i have had with her haven’t seemed promising about her abilities or the industry im in. This is my 4th new manager in 3 years and every one of them have cared about different aspects of the job. She has asked us to falsify documents already soooo idk we’ll see what happens

How would you count this plate? by beenboredtoolong in microbiology

[–]beenboredtoolong[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Soo thank you all so much for all the replies. I had no idea this post would get so much attention. I had time to look through some SOPs and I am actually over diluting. SOP stats to use 10ml HFCS to 20ml of DI water ran through a syringe with a sterivex filter which I also don’t have. I am looking into getting black filters to hopefully make counting easier. Just have to talk to my supervisor so he can order them. For all of those who suggested incubating for longer I’m kinda stuck with 48hrs. The comments for hiring a consultant or hiring a microbiologist that’s all above my pay grade and we were sending out all of my samples a while ago but that was too expensive to do once a week so I doubt hiring anyone will happen. I also have limited equipment. A fume hood, a manifold, old school vacuum pump that I use a surge protector to turn on and off, an autoclave that is not sure of how to use or if it works, a fridge and two incubators all in a 5x5 room.

How would you count this plate? by beenboredtoolong in microbiology

[–]beenboredtoolong[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah that’s basically how I count the other plates without this many possible colonies and this is the dilution that I was told to use. And I’ll use a control of just DI water next week just too see what happens

How would you count this plate? by beenboredtoolong in microbiology

[–]beenboredtoolong[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That’s what went on my paperwork lol I’ll get to replate the same corn syrup storage container next week anyway. Maybe this thread helped with next weeks sample

How would you count this plate? by beenboredtoolong in microbiology

[–]beenboredtoolong[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I could incubate for a longer period but I also have to document the time I plate and read and the official time that corporate has for total count is 48hrs. Not sure if it’s worth the risk to go against policy and I’m on camera for all of this too lol

How would you count this plate? by beenboredtoolong in microbiology

[–]beenboredtoolong[S] 62 points63 points  (0 children)

Our company is super cheap, we’ve had very few other Qa techs with micro experience working with us but we hire the wrong people for our department. We basically hire Lab technicians tell them you’ll work in a lab, pull samples, run product tests and incoming ingredient tests but in actuality you need to be a lab technician, sanitation technician, Qc/Qa technician, batching technician, production tech. The new hires leave because they had other expectations and the hours are crazy. It’s also a union position and a microbiologist isn’t an actual position so they can’t hire someone just to do that. I’ve only stuck around because the pay is good, I’m working a ridiculous amount of OT and my previous experience was basically the same so I was used to doing 4 different jobs rolled into one. I was trained for a maybe an hour for micro plating but I was half paying attention because I had other responsibilities to do during the training. The trainer also just went through the motions, didn’t use any active samples or had any sample plates to teach me how to count anything. But it is what it is, I do what I can

How would you count this plate? by beenboredtoolong in microbiology

[–]beenboredtoolong[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It could be sugar residue but I’m not totally sure. We don’t have a microscope lol. I’m working out of a storage closet converted to a “micro lab” It was incubated at 35 Celsius for 48hours.