I distinctly remember the day I lost faith in educated people.

I do Workplace Safety and (waste) compliance. That day, I was at a rent-a-lab, telling people about how stuff works regarding their chemicals. Now, I have a doctorate in chemistry, but that room had more degrees than people by a pretty good margin.

I had to go over basic concepts like "the hand washing sink is not for rinsing chemicals. No, not even if you run the tap a lot" and "yes, you can run a waterhose down the special disposal sink, but it costs your company thousands of euros" several times.

Or "yes, if you scoop a little bit of [hazardous waste] into each bag of used napkins, you are technically below the level of it being a bag full of hazardous waste, but you're also willingly and intentionally commiting ecological crimes and slowly murdering garbage workers. Yes, if I signed off on it, nobody would know, and that would make me an accomplice AND make this a conspiracy, so I suggest we don't do things that will get me fined roughly all worldly possessions".

Most damning was "no, these barrels aren't magic. Anything you put in a barrel will stay in the barrel. Yes it says "disposal", but they're loose barrels. They don't empty till someone empties them. Like a bucket".

Actually, MOST damning was "no you can't keep food in the lab. Not even in the special food-only fume hood". But that was at a different place.