When Chromatography Goes Rogue

That moment when your chromatography results go from "publishable data" to "what in the actual heck happened here?" in 0.2 seconds.

Nothing quite matches the existential dread of watching your carefully prepared sample transform from beautiful separation bands into what looks like a toddler's first attempt at drawing racing stripes. Twenty years in the lab and I still get that same horrified expression when my perfectly controlled experiment decides to throw physics out the window.

Pro tip: If your chromatography suddenly looks like this, just tell your PI it's a "novel separation pattern" and quickly change the subject. Works 60% of the time, every time.