You have to think about this: it could be like the Foreman of a workshop telling an appretice working on a grinder 'You need more sparks go to the stores and get a new tin'......Or on the Ship at see the Bosun telling the new deckhand to get out and set up the snooker/billiard table.
It could be a refernce to an untidy work area 'Clear it, mop it'. You don't explain what you were doing at the time you were told this. We can all get caught sometime in our life .
Nobby
December 2008