The Incinerator Incident

How hard is it, really? Put trash in, add gas, light match, clean out when done, repeat. I EVEN WROTE IT DOWN!!!! IN FRENCH!!!! I GAVE A CLASS ON IT!!! COME ON!!!
I was warned before coming out that there were issues with the incinerator. They said I wouldn’t be happy; they TRIED to fix it, but saw it was no use.
I had no words when I saw it (none I can repeat here). Apparently, the hospital staff had been skipping the final, and most critical step, of ‘clean out when done’. So they would make clandestine trips to put trash in the incinerator, WITHOUT cleaning, burn, and put more on top, and burn, and CONTINUE to pile it on. Until finally, it was overflowing with biomedical, hazardous, waste. Needles, bloody bandages, broken glass, EVERYTHING, ALL OVER THE PLACE…..I was not in a good place, mentally, and I lost it.
I called a ‘senior staff’ meeting to find out what in the h**l had been going on. The sisters told me the staff FORGOT how to use it …..REALLY??!!!!! They were glad I was back so I could fix it, and by that, they meant clean it out, REBURN the partially burned refuse, and construct yet ANOTHER pit for the sterile waste. Back to square one.
I thought about it for a minute, and said NO. Not only was I NOT going to fix it, I offered to level it and take the barrel back to the house. Needless to say, the nuns, well, everyone was taken aback. I laid it out for them….if they were incapable of maintaining a metal barrel for burning trash, it wasn’t worth my time to fix it just to have it return to this state after I left. I suggested an alternative. They get THEIR staff to clean it and I’ll do some remedial training. After explaining that it was the hospitals equipment and they needed to take ownership and not rely on outside people to keep it going, they took my point, begrudgingly. We'll see how it goes.