Good Morning, Laboratory Workers

One of the many things I love about my job is that I seldom have to deal with the public. Whether it's by phone or face-to-face, there are other folks in the lab (in my area and elsewhere) who deal with the people end of things. However, this morning was an exception.
I hadn't even been in a full half-hour when my phone rang. Let's say I'm a bit hesitant to make  judgement on the caller's level of intelligence based on his voice/speech/brief telephone conversation...all things considered, it's been less than 7 years that I've lived in Kansas and it took a lot to achieve my current level of bumpkin-free dialect (still, though, if I'm at all inebriated, I slide back into hickdom). In any case, he had a question, and by golly he wasn't happy that no one had been able to give him a straight-up answer right when he snapped his redneck fingers. (Okay, so I did it anyway.)
Without going into details, let me just say it was WAY too early for him to be talking to me in the manner he was; I don't ever field those kinds of questions, it wasn't even in my area of expertise, and all I could do was tell him I would find the answer for him and call him back. He wasn't happy about that, and he went on to say, "Well you don't know, and the person who I talked to before don't know. Is there anyone there who does? I don't think anyone there knows anything."
"Excuse me, sir," I replied, "I'm a chemist. I run the tests on the samples. I do not deal with what you're asking me for."
Silence.
Remembering then that I'm technically a civil-service employee, I add, "All I can do is find the answer to your question and call you back, or have someone else call you back. I'm not going to put you on hold and waste your time."
He submitted, gave me his name and ph0ne number, and said, "Make sure it's in the next 30 minutes or so. I'm not going to be around here all day."
Click.
(Mine, not his.)
Luckily, my supervisor was in his office (which makes me wonder how in the hell my phone ended up ringing in the first place). I told him the situation and he was on the phone before I left his room.

Apparently, after getting all riled up and calling and bitching and doing his best to ruin my morning, the guy had read his result report incorrectly. So here's where I'll make judgement on his level of intelligence:  he's a fucking idiot. Mistakes happen (and I'm talking about HIS mistake in not being able to do his job and decipher a water-analysis report), but whether or not they're stupid mistakes all depends on the reaction of the asshole on the other end of the telephone. I hope he feels like a real dick, because that's exactly what he acted like.

People suck. That's why I work in a lab.

It's happening again...

I had to talk with my supervisor this morning.
In my in-box, there are 6 sets of samples to be analyzed, the oldest dating 01-22-07. My two new instruments were received the first week of January, and one of them was installed on January 8th; the second instrument's installation was delayed due to a software malfunction, which was corrected by the service/maintenance technician last week (Jan 29th). After nearly a month of instrument assembly, method development, trial injections of standards, and then the running of my method detection limit study, neither instrument is yet operational. The second instrument (we'll call it DB1701) is still in its initial stages of assembly/development/trial injections for ECD analysis. The NPD analysis from that instrument appears to be okay, but then again, it also did on instrument #1 (aka DB5). However, when running and then processing the method detection limit study on DB5, I'm lacking consistent sensitivity and thus consistent, reproducible, reliable results. The ECD analysis from DB5 seems to be working fine, so that's all I'm left with that's working: one available testing method out of 4 that I need.
When I say that it's happening again, I mean the back-log. There are 78 samples that need to be reported, and I don't have a functioning instrument.
When I talked to my supervisor this morning, I told him my concerns, and that I am really afraid that I'm going to end up in the same situation I was in last summer. I said that I took responsibility for those delayed reports, because they were my samples and I felt like I should have been able to get my instruments working, but I can't do it again. He said that we can't report any results using a method that has not passed the EPA MDL-study; I told him that I know this is the case and that is precisely why I'm concerned. It's only a few days short of a month that I've had the instrument(s), and I'm already 78 reports behind. I don't want to dread coming to work every day like I did towards the end of last year. I don't want to end up in the same helpless and hopeless situation. And I am not taking responsibility for the late reports if and when that is the case.
I don't make enough money to keep me here if I'm hating my job.