[GH85Carrera]

Back in the olden days of film processing color negatives (C-41) I ran a film processor. One of the chemicals after the developer was called bleach-fix and a dark orange color. If that tank had to dumped for any reason, a fresh batch had to be mixed, and a part of that startup process was adding a "starter" to season the chemicals to be ready to process the film.

Anyway, the Bleach Starter was the most noxious stuff ever. The first time I used it, I had been warned about it. I made sure the building was empty, except for me. I turned on the two exhaust fans, in the processor room, I turned on all the AC fans to circulate the air overnight, I put on a rubber apron, and long rubber gloves and goggles then I hyperventilated until the point I was about to pass out, held my breath, cracked open the bottle, poured out the few hundred milliliters, poured it in the tank, ran to the sink to rinse the beaker, and hauled ass to the front of the 5,000 square foot building. My skin was tingling, and eyes watering. I had to take a breath as I opened the door to leave.

It still stunk the next morning, but was acceptable. A few years later the Oklahoma City police called me on a Sunday, and they needed to set up their photo lab to process the crime scene photos of a death of a police officer. It was all easy until we came to the bleach-fix starter. I told the cop I was working with that was his issue, I put tape on the side of the beaker for him to see how much to add, and he put on a gas mask and I went down the hall. He came out soon after and said that stuff stinks!

I am real happy I don't ever have to do that again.