Warm the milk first. My lumps disappeared after that.

That 40 minutes versus the hour and a half number is what gets me. When you went top down on that Cincinnati job, did you run a smaller brush first to break up the glaze, or go straight at it with your normal size? I ask because glazed creosote up top is like chipping at a candle, and I have had brushes skip right over it and leave glass behind. On a two story I would guess you were working off a ladder or a roof setup, so did you keep the same brush the whole way down or switch as the flue changed? Curious what your rod setup looked like too, because feeding from the top on a tall flue is a different feel than pushing up from the bottom.

Skip the meeting and ask your supervisor straight up for five minutes alone, then say you want to talk about the raise that was promised. If he dodges again, put it in an email so there's a paper trail.