Good ol’ office fridge, be it a grand or a modest office, one is needed for bottled water and yougurt, or lunches clearly marked with the owner’s name, in a vain effort to ward off the office forager, Another problem all community fridges share,is that while everyone uses them, no one cleans them, and worse yet, few throw their own moldy oldies out, as if it’s a magical disposal. Occasionally someone will take on the thankless job, to complaints of "Why’d you throw my spaghetti away?" We all know it ceased to be food, and became green
fuzz many months or years ago.
In San Jose, one valiant worker took it upon herself to clean one of the very rankest of company fridges, and while it didn’t turn out as she’d planned, this company isn’t likely to ever forget the day. nor are the stalwart men of the San Jose Fire Dept. "Employee X" set about clearing the mold encrusted machine piled high with ancient petri dish material, by methodically placing the "food" in the conference room. She then mixed two chemicals to clean the fridge. It wasn’t said
which two, but as even we infrequent cleaners know, it’s often fatal to mix the wrong two chemicals.
The odor of the mold in the fridge, the nasty items which had been food, and the chemical potion wafted into the work area where in short order it K O’d seven employees immediately. One of the other twenty eight, all busy vomiting, was able to call 911, summoning firefighters who arrived with a hazmat team. They cleared the AT&T building, and found the culprit. A moldy, unplugged refridgerator, that had been crammed with unknown layers of moldy food by those who were now ill. It is poetic justice in a way, but I hate to think of the biohazard the quiet contents of that break room germ vault had housed.
Judging by the reactions of her co-workers in a different room,"Employee X" would be expected to be in very bad condition. Not at all, she was just fine thanks! Never before was she so grateful to have the mother of all sinus conditions from
allergies. Absolutely none of the rank smell reached her nose.
Cleaning Moldy Office Fridge Sickens 28, Hospitalizes 7 In San Jose. Hazmat Team Called