The Holidays

[LaRascasse]

The worse thing I've ever had to fix is my neighbour's laptop. Thankfully, I was not in any physical danger while formatting a hard disk and installing a new OS. I was, however, in mortal danger when she realized that I didn't create a back-up of her collection of music and photos spanning several hundred GB.

In my line of work, the worse kind of physical ailment you can get is dehydration and fatigue. Sometimes, you're not aware you've spent three straight days coding (being in the proverbial zone) and then when your module runs, your adrenaline trip ends and you come crashing back to the land of stomach pains and no sleep.

 

[MSTarot]

That was gross.

Should try the visual. You can find countless examples on U-tube.

 

[MrFoxwood]

I've only ever nearly cut off my thumb whilst using a jigsaw, and to be fair it was the first time I'd ever used one and it was an incredibly, inexplicably, stupid thing to do: I reached for the blade as I finished cutting. I don't know if on some level I knew I was going to get hurt anyway and thought it best to get it out the way first, or if I just really didn't want to lay a laminate floor.

Now I'm more careful.

 

[Handley_Page]

Men do not read instructions!

And we never ask for directions either. It's a genetic thing...

That's probably the mantra of the "Technical Author/ Writer".
It's a legal requirement to provide certain minimum instructions.

Construction worker advice 101

If you don't know what you are doing you need to be the 'helper' not the person doing the work. Yes, you can save money but the pain possibilities are endless.

Next time he smashes his thumb and the fingernail turns black get a pair of vice grip pliers and a finishing nail. Clamp it on then heat it red hot. Touch the top of the fingernail with it and it will burn through in a second. The blood under the nail is released and with that the throbbing goes away. He can then tape it up and go back to work.

MST

I'd heard this but never tried it (Euch!).
Then I did it, but rather than the hot pin (the sort that's found in a dress-making),
I used a very small drill (the sort used for drilling electronics boards). Rather to my surprise; it worked.

 

[PennLady]

Ok. I'll play.

Hubby was on a ladder. He fell. He ripped his shorts. And his leg. I was upset that he ripped his good shorts. Skin heals. Denim doesn't.

When my brother was in college, he took a job as a house painter one summer. The first job, first day, he falls off a ladder. Not actually a long fall, but he landed just right on the root of a bush and broke a rib, at least bruised it. I believe he got some workers' comp and that was the end of that job.

Alas, I have no personal anecdote to reveal, that I can recall.

I do, however, remember working on the stage crew as a junior in high school. We built these cool, tall rectangular blocks that could be turned and each side had different scenes, so we could do the city, the mansion, etc. (the play was Annie). One day, as we were working on those and other things, our supervisor was divvying up the work, and one of the tools available was an electric screwdriver. My girlfriend, oblivious, says: "I wanna screw!"

Much laughter ensued. At a Catholic school, too.

 

[ishtat]

I sat in a Board meeting about seven years ago when one Director towards the end of the meeting sighed quietly, his head slumped to his chest and he died.

We informed the necessary people then the Chairman suggested we have a coffee and finish the meeting in another room close by. We did that and during 'Any other Business' the Chairman raised and made a decision on an issue that our recently deceased colleague had been obstructing for some months.

I have never quite worked it out, whether to admire the Chairman's presence of mind or deplore his callousness.

 

[StrangeLife]

I have never quite worked it out, whether to admire the Chairman's presence of mind or deplore his callousness.

... or ask him what he spiked the deceased directors drink with