A new health and safety standard has been introduced at the treatment plant. "Industrial soap - biologically and mentally active." At least that's what it said on the package. Zdzichu, meaning me, didn't ask - he just used it.

After contact with the sludge (and you know what sludge smells like), the hands were like after masonry work in 1978. The foam from the new liquid looked like cement with added soul. And then it began.

🌀 Memory lapses and the smell of chloracne

First, I forgot where my cup was. Then - where I am. Then - who I am. I looked in the mirror in the locker room and saw a man who was tired, but clean. Too clean.

The cat looked at me from the cabinet, as if it was the first time it had seen me. Or the last. His gaze said clearly, "Man, you didn't just wash your hands. You washed your whole 'self'."

🧪 Halina did not help

- Zdzichu, what are you doing at the sludge pumps? After all, you had PIX dosing in the morning today! - said Halina, approaching with a notepad.

- PIX? And what is it? - I asked frankly, with foam on my hands. - You don't remember anything? - Only that I had a cat and that coffee tastes best after six o'clock. - Well, at least you have something left... - Halina sighed and pressed into my hands a mug with the inscription #zdzichu. I didn't recognize it.

🧼 Side effects of health and safety measures

SCADA recorded my login four times - including once as "Unknown user A_204". The manager asked for a report of the whole day, but I gave back a blank sheet of paper. Literally - I couldn't even write the letter "Z" with a pen.

In the evening, the hands smelled like a laboratory in Stalingrad. The cat did not come closer than three meters. Halina handed me dish liquid and told me to "perform a personal reset."

📌 Scion's moral

The moral? Industrial soap is not a cosmetic. It's a chemical weapon. And if it cleans memories - at least let it leave the taste of coffee. Because without it, there's no point in working in a purification plant. Nor to be Zdzich.