Uh Oh. Trouble at Dunder-Mifflin

I once worked at an operations center that had a very small refrigerator used by shift workers to keep their lunches cold. Over time it just accumulated a lot of gross leftovers and no one would clean the damn thing out. Eventually we got a full-sized fridge and we just unplugged the old one and set it aside. With the door shut, nothing stank. But we never emptied it or disposed of it. In fact, we used to play jokes on the FNG’s and ask them to bring a soda to the supervisor and to bring it from the small fridge. It was a retching experience whenever the FNG opened the door. It sounds like this tradition was carried on elsewhere, at AT&T.

From the AP here:

An office worker cleaning a fridge full of rotten food created a smell so noxious that it sent seven co-workers to the hospital and made many others ill.

Firefighters had to evacuate the AT&T building in downtown San Jose on Tuesday after the fumes led someone to call 911. A hazmat team was called in.

What crews found was an unplugged refrigerator crammed with moldy food.

Authorities say an enterprising office worker had decided to clean it out, placing the food in a conference room while using two cleaning chemicals to scrub down the mess.

The mixture of old lunches and disinfectant caused 28 people to need treatment for vomiting and nausea.

Authorities say the worker who cleaned the fridge didn’t need treatment — she can’t smell because of allergies.

Never underestimate the ability of geeks to stink up an office.