Flaming arseholes
My school metalwork teacher previously worked in a factory. It was an ancient place, and the toilets were of the hole-in-the ground variety, where you did your business directly into the flowing drains beneath the toilet seat.

One chap had a habit of taking himself off to the toilet and spending an hour or so catching up on his sleep after a liquid lunch. Top quality pranking - approved by the factory foreman, no less - was in order.

They lowered a tray down one of the upstream toilets, and filled it with burning oily rags. Then, they let it float downstream and awaited the inevitable...

"MWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

You can stick that right up your health and safety audit...
( Scaryduck LIKES EGG, Thu 13 Dec 2007, 15:19, 6 replies)

Now that is a potential deathtrap...
Brilliant!

*clickety click!*
( Devil_In_Tights the *real* DiT!, Thu 13 Dec 2007, 15:26, closed)

Fuck yeah!
*click*
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Thu 13 Dec 2007, 16:24, closed)

Fire and faeces
My mate worked in a garage that was pretty run-down. Their toilet was more of an outhouse on the side of the workshop.

When anyone spent more than 5 minutes in there they were automatically deemed to be having a wank and petrol was poured under the door & lit. He told me that the sight of grease-monkeys running around the yard with their keks around their knees and riggers ablaze never got old.
(Greencloud Wanted to go fishing on, Thu 13 Dec 2007, 16:29, closed)

Famous Teacher?
Was your metalwork teacher Billy Connolly?
(hagis_uk, Thu 13 Dec 2007, 22:42, closed)

Nope
...although I understand Connolly tells simlar tales of working in the Glasgow shipyards.

Our teacher was one Mr "Barmy" Harman, who sadly shuffled off this mortal coil earlier this year.

I like to think they floated his coffin down a factory sewer pipe, covered in flaming oily rags.
( Scaryduck LIKES EGG, Thu 13 Dec 2007, 22:56, closed)

Design teachers...
Design teachers do seem to be a bit barmy. One of ours wanted to prove that he could build a concrete boat that would float. He designed the boat, built it and then took it down to the docks.

Unfortunately, the crane he used to lower the boat wasn't quite big enough and it topled into the water taking the boat with it.
(Hagis, Sun 16 Dec 2007, 17:09, closed)