Shameless repost of an electrocution incident.... That's not relevant now I reread this....
I needed to remove some cable tacks that were holding the phone wire back - No big deal - They had to come off, the wall painted and new ones put it. It's not rocket science dammit.

Anyway, I proceeded to remove them.

Now, directly below one of them (about halfway up the wall) is a socket.

You might see where this is going....

I touched the one above the socket - the metal bit.

"Bastard, that hurt"

That's right, some moron (not me) had put it through the live wire - how it hadn't shorted out the house, I don't know.

"Well, that's just daft." Thought I - "There's a lesson here"

"I'd better turn off the electricity and carefully remove the cable tack" - Is what I SHOULD have thought/done.

What I did think was "Did that really happen? I'd better touch it again"

"OUCH!" (Followed by much swearing).

That really bastard hurt. I know, I'll touch it again.

"F***, etc"

Yes, that's right I touched it twice, then held on a bit the third time just to check for actual pain. Of which there was a lot.

I was going to get off the ladder, but I realised that I was actually now lying on the ground - "Now, how did I get down here?".....

I turned the mains off at this point and was a LOT more careful the 4th time.

Honest.

The lesson is - I'm shouldn't be allowed out of that padded room....
(james_tiger_woods is going to start his killing spree on the, Tue 25 Aug 2009, 23:03, 5 replies)

Ooops
Well, it's here now :)
(james_tiger_woods is going to start his killing spree on the, Tue 25 Aug 2009, 23:08, closed)

I want to point and laugh...
...but deep inside I know I'd probably have done exactly the same thing.

Sounds like your house was wired up by the same tossbrain that did mine. We should start a support group.
(mellotron never could get the hang of Thursdays, Wed 26 Aug 2009, 0:21, closed)

Shameless repost of a reply:
You're a scientist, yes?

imgs.xkcd.com/comics/the_difference.png
(The Incredible Sulk Finally remembered his password on, Wed 26 Aug 2009, 3:31, closed)

IT
IT consultant, so, er, yes :)
(james_tiger_woods is going to start his killing spree on the, Wed 26 Aug 2009, 13:30, closed)

Ha ha
Back when I was A Bloody Student, my friends and I would frequently patronise Amigo's Pizza on Derby Road in Nottingham. Once, when waiting for our doughy junk food to cook, I leant on the arcade machine in the corner and received a mild-to-medium electric shock. Of course, instead of suggesting to the staff that there might be a problem with it, we started competing to see who could get the biggest shocks from the various exposed areas of metal. Cue lots of involuntary muscle spasms and groans of pain.
(Vice Admiral Sir Charles Cockbrush KCB MBE DSO, who is finding it increasingly difficult to log into b3ta.com wants to duck your aunt and kick your puppy, Wed 26 Aug 2009, 10:51, closed)