Right but just because something is standard procedure doesn't mean it's always followed or taught well in the chaos of day one. I've seen so many places where "standard procedure" exists on paper but nobody actually trained people on the real world application of it. It's totally different when you're thrown into a stressful situation and your brain just blanks. Give them a little grace, maybe they were trained but the training was rushed or the procedure wasn't explained in a way that stuck. We've all been there where something obvious in hindsight just didn't click in the moment.

Yeah that tracks. I've had old compound get kind of stringy and weird but it never made bubbles. The bubbles always came from me being lazy and not mixing good enough or working it too fast. Scrubbing the pan makes a huge difference too, especially if you let it crust up between jobs.

Aw come on, I think you're being a little hard on her! She was obviously just making a joke about people projecting confidence when they're actually nervous, not telling you to walk around with lettuce in your teeth. I took it more like a lighthearted observation about how we all try too hard to look cool sometimes.