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Note: This post has the potential to be disturbing, but considering the kind of things health professionals see at work on a regular basis, probably not. Either way, you've been warned.
So, the hospital where the Sturdy Nurse used to work had an extensive pneumatic tube system winding between all the floors. It's very much like the kind of tubes they use at banks: put whatever you need to in the capsule, push the button, and off it goes. At the hospital, you could request diapers, medicines, prescriptions... just about anything that wasn't breakable. Put it in the capsule, put the capsule in the tube, and off it went to the far corners of the building.
One night, the pharmacy shunted over a prescription, and Sturdy Nurse went over to retrieve it... only, the capsule had arrived slathered in some pinkish liquid. Puzzled, he put on gloves and took the capsule out, and he and some coworkers were wondering over the dripping capsule when a call came in from the pharmacy.
The tube system was going to be shut down because it seemed that a squirrel had gotten into it. The pharmacy suspected this because they had received its head right about the time Sturdy Nurse's floor got a capsule smeared with ichor. Another floor received a leg, and others got the tail and several chunks of innards.
The fun part was how the tube system had to be cleaned. Maintenance filled a 2-liter soda bottle with a bleach and water mixture and put the cap on loosely, then spent the next couple of hours sending it through the system sloshing out bleach and water until the rest of the squirrel got washed out and until the water stopped coming out pinkish.
This raises the question of just how it is that a squirrel can get into a closed pneumatic tube system. It's the South, yes, and the entrance of wildlife into environments in which they are not well-suited is not unheard of. But a closed pneumatic tube system?
So, the hospital where the Sturdy Nurse used to work had an extensive pneumatic tube system winding between all the floors. It's very much like the kind of tubes they use at banks: put whatever you need to in the capsule, push the button, and off it goes. At the hospital, you could request diapers, medicines, prescriptions... just about anything that wasn't breakable. Put it in the capsule, put the capsule in the tube, and off it went to the far corners of the building.
One night, the pharmacy shunted over a prescription, and Sturdy Nurse went over to retrieve it... only, the capsule had arrived slathered in some pinkish liquid. Puzzled, he put on gloves and took the capsule out, and he and some coworkers were wondering over the dripping capsule when a call came in from the pharmacy.
The tube system was going to be shut down because it seemed that a squirrel had gotten into it. The pharmacy suspected this because they had received its head right about the time Sturdy Nurse's floor got a capsule smeared with ichor. Another floor received a leg, and others got the tail and several chunks of innards.
The fun part was how the tube system had to be cleaned. Maintenance filled a 2-liter soda bottle with a bleach and water mixture and put the cap on loosely, then spent the next couple of hours sending it through the system sloshing out bleach and water until the rest of the squirrel got washed out and until the water stopped coming out pinkish.
This raises the question of just how it is that a squirrel can get into a closed pneumatic tube system. It's the South, yes, and the entrance of wildlife into environments in which they are not well-suited is not unheard of. But a closed pneumatic tube system?
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