Breaking the Mold

Sniff, sniff…

What’s that smell?

MOLD.

Yep, you read correctly: MOLD.

EV has a serious problem with mold, and no one seems to be concerned about it. They certainly should be, because, while there is some green mold,  most of it is that nasty black mold….you know the kind that I’m talking about…

The kind of black mold that crept up the walls of flooded houses after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.  The kind of black mold that, when inhaled in large quantities, will cause serious respiratory issues.  The kind of black mold that exudes a stench so strong and horrible that it will bring a grown person to tears.

Yep, that kind of mold.

Despite the fact that mold is a common problem here, there are NO mold abatement processes employed to remove it, prevent it from growing, or eliminate the problem altogether.  Their solution: Paint over it.  Yeah….like that really works.

We have several classrooms and facilities that I won’t even go to because the smell will knock you out as you come in the door.  You can’t actually see the mold anywhere in there, but it lives in the carpets, the furniture, and the walls—behind all that white paint.

On the surface, EV looks like the picture of all things well-manicured, but, when you look closer, that’s not really the case.  When I arrived, the landscaping and shrubs were severely overgrown, and continued to get worse.  I took the pictures below a couple of weeks before they finally decided to hire people to make the place look like it wouldn’t be overrun with weeds in the next few seconds.  It looks a lot better now, but there’s still quite a bit of work that needs to be done.

In speaking with a coworker that has been here a lot longer, she says that EV used to be a really beautiful place that was always in top-notch condition.  However, over the years, as priorities have shifted and budgets have been cut, some of the important things are being allowed to slip through the cracks.

But, I venture to say, that if they let these things fall through the cracks that affect quality of life and working conditions for the people that work here, they’ll be letting quite a few employees fall through the cracks as well.

Next Up: Made in Japan