When working in the Industry Goes Wrong: Geotech

Peter Mooncrest Sandoval (PMS, as indicated by the initials recorded on the borehole logs recorded on 2/25/06 [Exhibit A]) performed poorly on the tasks assigned to him, which eventually led to the termination of his entry-level geologic consultant position at a Geotechnical firm.

On the night of Februrary 24, 2006, Peter was preparing a homemade meal for his girlfriend (let’s call her Sylvia) of six years. He returned from work that Friday evening and began preparing a 3-course meal; he was planning to propose that night. During the meal, Sylvia announced she was leaving Peter for another man. She got up and left in tears mid-meal, and ran to her car parked across the street. As she left, two very important events took place: (1) Peter’s Yorkshire Terrier, Mustafa, rushed out the door to chase Sylvia, and (2) Peter also got up to follow her, and in a distraught and hurried motion he accidently placed the corner of his napkin over a pomegranate-asparagus candle.

Event 1 led to Mustafa being killed in a brutal hit-and-run accident involving a blue sedan. Peter had to watch this take place, scarring him further. As he tended to Mustafa in a hopeless effort to save his only stable friend in the past 10 years, he failed to notice the repercussions of Event 2: the smoke rising from his recently purchased 2 story ranch style home. He had been planning to buy this home since his sophomore year of college. The flames spread quickly and engulfed the entire first floor in minutes.

The fire department arrived shortly, but in their haste they re-ran over Mustafa with their 25-ton fire truck. Peter could only watch as he could not warn the driver over the piercing call of the sirens. Only the cast iron salt and pepper shakers that Sylvia had given him for their 4th anniversary endured the inferno that had destroyed not only Peter’s house, but also his dreams. It was at this time that Peter received a phone call on his flip-phone Motorola that he was required to work the following day, which happened to be a Saturday.

Peter slept in his car that night, attempting to use work as an escape from this nasty turn of events. His rear passenger side window was left slightly open and a small family of raccoons slipped into his car and urinated on his PPE and shoes, and the rancid stench that followed led to a lack of sleep and further sobbing.

As you can see, Peter’s night was one to be forgotten, and his behavior and mistakes made in the field on February 25, 2006 were due to a shattered emotional state and severe lack of sleep. Perhaps his one true mistake was allowing his determination and desire to please to keep him from telling his superior about his situation. Instead, he attempted, to the best of his ability, to sample the two boreholes assigned to him.