Optical benches

The first rule of optical benches is DO NOT FUCK WITH THE MIRRORS.

From HANK MORGAN/UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AT AMHERST/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY   

The other day I was exhausted and not thinking and totally fucked with one of the mirrors of an optical bench in a shared lab-space.  FUCK.  As soon as I realized what I did, I sent an apologetic email to the poor guy in charge of carefully realigning everything.  

Luckily, mistakes happen and our lab managers are pretty forgiving as long as you come forward and admit what happened in a timely manner so they can take care of things.  Still, it's pretty embarrassing for someone with as much lab experience as myself.  Especially when there are signs on all the mirror stands that say "DO NOT TOUCH."