Harcros Chemicals

Walking into the lab at Harcros Chemicals reminded me of being back in college. The benches were lined with familiar glassware and instruments, but this time it wasn’t for a class. The air carried a mix of chemical smells, the quiet hum of stir plates, and the steady drone of fume hoods and the air conditioner. It wasn’t a place for theory anymore. It was real work, and every result mattered.

In the beginning, I spent my time learning from the day-shift techs. They showed me how to find the right SOPs, where the equipment was stored, and how to handle samples from the plant. We’d get a call that a sample was coming up, then hear the dumb-waiter rumble as it climbed to the lab. The light would come on, letting us know it had arrived. Each sample came with a label listing the product and the tests needed. We logged it in, followed the methods, and compared the results against the expected ranges. If adjustments were needed, we called back down to the plant with the changes to make.

When I moved to second shift, the lab became my responsibility. From afternoon to midnight, I worked alone. On busy nights I had to triage incoming samples, deciding what needed to be tested first. Some were in-process checks, others were final QA samples for trucks waiting to load out. It was a lot to manage, but I liked the challenge. Over time I gained confidence and needed less help from senior chemists. Eventually I reached a point where even when second shift started behind schedule, we would end the night caught up and sometimes even ahead.

I took pride in doing the work right. The plant crews noticed, and many preferred when their samples landed on my shift. One customer even ran their own test to check the consistency of our work. They sent back samples from multiple batches and asked each QA chemist to run the same tests. Out of everyone in the lab, only two of us produced results they trusted. The other was a veteran chemist with decades of experience. Hearing that made me proud. It proved that taking your time, following procedures, and doing things right pays off.

That experience left a lasting mark on how I work. I learned the importance of accuracy, accountability, and knowing when to slow down to get something right. It also taught me to be careful about who I take advice from. Experience alone doesn’t always mean someone knows best. The people worth listening to are the ones whose results speak for themselves.

Harcros was where I learned how to work. It taught me to stay calm when things get busy, to focus on what matters most, and to finish what I start. It’s also where I learned that multitasking isn’t always a strength. Real progress comes from handling one thing at a time and doing it well.

I still look back on those nights with a mix of pride, gratitude, and nostalgia. Not every person there was easy to work with, but the independence, the trust, and the pace of the work made it one of the most satisfying jobs I’ve had. It was where I first realized that precision isn’t just part of what I do. It’s who I am.