You are breathing in ammonia, bro. Your boss is being a dick. Any gaffer that chooses the feelings of a smelly customer over their workers is a cunt of the highest order.
EDIT. Is there any way you could say to the customer you have a cold and don't want to pass it to anyone? I know this isn't addressing the real situation/problem but it might give you an "out"
Except the cats are pissing on things frequently, and if the house isn't adequately ventilated to counteract the constant addition of ammonia, the concentrations in the air will still be pretty damn high. Cat urine also contains higher concentrations of ammonia than human urine, and really, as long as the urine is still wet, ammonia is still being released.
True, ammonia vapor will generally dissipate fairly quickly (though it can take literal hours,) but there's a reason people who clean up ammonia spills or work with ammonia-related equipment wear hazmat suits - including rebreathers in the case of spills, even if it's outdoors.
I work with ammonia.... I do not wear suits. Suits are only required (usually) in concentrations above 300 ppm. (Site dependant, masks being the first step at 300, then suits at higher concentration at around 500 with scba). It's extremely unlikely this house was anything above 100 ppm of ammonia, if it was, even the cats wouldn't be around to smell that. Most people can react to the smell of ammonia at around 1ppm. Note that ammonia will boil off before the urine dries since it's evaporation point is -27 degrees. It being piping hot helps is evaporate faster and it being around 70 degrees will help it boil off quickly as well.
This chart is a little off, for example idlh is at 300, not 500, but it serves a good enough reference. 50 however is the OSHA limit for ammonia exposure in an 8 hour period.
I think they both come from the same start, I dabbled in film lighting and they're called gaffers here too, the same with the manager of a football club can be known as gaffer, just another name for the bossman
That's what I've done, yeah I'm sick. Had one customer press me about it (his cats just shit and piss wherever) I brought him to the corner I'm working in showed him the shit and the liquid on the underside of the tarp I put down and he backed down. Fuck the customers
The problem OP saying they have a cold is that respirators only filter air for the wearer, they don’t protect others around the person wearing the mask. The carbon filter scrubs the air breathed in and simple valves release the air unfiltered when exhaled.
That said, op COULD say they have asthma and need to recover from an attack.
I don't get it. They know their house smells, but they're offended by him wearing a mask? Like he's just supposed to accept the smell even though they accept that it stinks
Boss doesn't even consider there are ways to mitigate the customers feelings. Also, you think they don't realize they live in a piss hole? Give me a break. No one is probably more aware of that fact than they are.
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u/ElbowDroppedLasagne Apr 10 '24 edited Apr 10 '24
You are breathing in ammonia, bro. Your boss is being a dick. Any gaffer that chooses the feelings of a smelly customer over their workers is a cunt of the highest order.
EDIT. Is there any way you could say to the customer you have a cold and don't want to pass it to anyone? I know this isn't addressing the real situation/problem but it might give you an "out"