# At Least I Didn't Kill the Cat **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 24, 2000, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-least-i-didnt-kill-the-cat/23430 "2000-06-24T22:49:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![lurkernomore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@lurkernomore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lurkernomore)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2000, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-least-i-didnt-kill-the-cat/23430/21 "2000-06-26T03:00:40Z")
UNPLUG the lamp first…then use the potato. ---
**Author:** ![Falcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/49beb7/32.png) [@Falcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Falcon)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2000, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-least-i-didnt-kill-the-cat/23430/22 "2000-06-26T03:30:48Z")
BratMan, you poor thing!!! _applies liberal does of smooches_ ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2000, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-least-i-didnt-kill-the-cat/23430/23 "2000-06-26T10:11:30Z")
**Coldfire Life Lessons, the Early Years** _ **Chapter IV - Electricity** _ _Lesson #12_: Late 1978, the Dutch countryside. DO NOT MAKE PEE PEE ON LIVE BARB WIRE. Thank you. Words to live by, gents. ---
**Author:** ![KimKatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ac91a4/32.png) [@KimKatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KimKatt)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2000, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-least-i-didnt-kill-the-cat/23430/24 "2000-06-26T13:10:02Z")
Thanks for the morning laugh, **Brat**. Glad you’re okay - and the cat, too 🙂 :wally ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2000, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-least-i-didnt-kill-the-cat/23430/25 "2000-06-26T15:14:55Z")
Heh…I’m really glad we didn’t keep a cat in the TV shop where I grew up–I would have landed in the litter many times. If the guys at work give you too much hell, tell 'em about the guy on the message board who got into 40,000 volts at 15,575 Hz by gesturing broadly while arguing. Or a buddy of mine who shocked himself so many times while working on (unplugged) microwave ovens that when a balloon popped, he instintively jerked his hands back from whatever he was touching; I once saw him drop his cotton candy at a carnival because someone playing darts on the midway hit a balloon. At least you had the excuse of a pretty woman nearby, distracting you! ---
**Author:** ![SwimmingRiddles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SwimmingRiddles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SwimmingRiddles)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2000, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-least-i-didnt-kill-the-cat/23430/26 "2000-06-26T15:24:14Z")
Heh. Bratman, you just rose about 5 points on my respect score. When I was about 10, my father was painting the kitchen. I was doing laundry, and was on my way downstairs into the basement when I attempted to flick the lightswitch. The lightswitch which was, at that moment, without a switchplate. I missed the switch, and my little finger went right into the wiring. The feeling was much like I experianced last week when the dentist didn’t give me enough novicane before drilling into my tooth. Not enough to throw me across a room, but enough to make me jump and scream. Say you were wrestling a wildcat. Let them assume you were camping. ---
**Author:** ![struuter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9e5f3/32.png) [@struuter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/struuter)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2000, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-least-i-didnt-kill-the-cat/23430/27 "2000-06-26T15:38:05Z")
Brat, no one’s really commented on this…so I probably should. Getting shocked because you were trying to impress Nurse Rachel is…well, just a little amusing. I’m glad you weren’t hurt. The scratches? You have my symapathy there too. But the handful of used kitty litter? Is there no God? When is it enough? What cruel fate saw fit to heap this final torture upon you? “Sufficient to the day…” they say, but good lord. Used kitty litter is a punishment fit only for trolls and those losers who park their cars sideways in two spaces. Poor, poor man. You have enough tasty dames pecking at you for right now, I’ll just be over here eyeing you lustfully. struuter ---
**Author:** ![2nd\_Law](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/f475e1/32.png) [@2nd\_Law](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2nd_Law)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2000, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-least-i-didnt-kill-the-cat/23430/28 "2000-06-27T02:58:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > Well, I’m old enough to know better, but one day when I was standing on my kitchen counter to change a light bulb, I ended up having a similar experience. When I unscrewed the bulb the glass part of the light came out without the metal thing that screws into the socket. I climbed down and got a pair of pliers so I could unscrew the metal thing. Needless to say, when I closed the pliers on the metal, I got a jolt that knocked me off the counter and I ended up in a dazed mess on the floor. > > This is one of the many times that I was SOOOOOO glad that I live alone! > > Scotti > \*\* I had to change a lightbulb today myself that broke off in the socket. It seems like that is happening more and more lately. And naturally I thought of this thread while standing on the chair trying to get the metal base out with a pair of pliers. While wearing insulating gloves. And gritting my teeth. No problem. No 60 hertz dance today! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2000, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-least-i-didnt-kill-the-cat/23430/29 "2000-06-27T09:00:14Z")
Y’know, when I worked as an electrician’s assistant in high school, we always made sure to have at LEAST two layers of safety: Main breaker off, insulating handle, tester before metal tool, no ground, etc. As for the band-aids on the neck, say that you sold your soul to the devil five times. You did, of course, thoroughly wash the wounds? Broken skin and kitty litter are each bad enough in themselves, but the combination is Bad News. ---
**Author:** ![NothingMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b77776/32.png) [@NothingMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NothingMan)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2000, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-least-i-didnt-kill-the-cat/23430/30 "2000-06-27T09:33:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > **Coldfire Life Lessons, the Early Years** > > _ **Chapter IV - Electricity** _ > > _Lesson #12_: Late 1978, the Dutch countryside. > DO NOT MAKE PEE PEE ON LIVE BARB WIRE. > Thank you. Words to live by, gents. > \*\* _Ren and Stimpy_ occasionally played a board game called “Don’t Whiz on the Electric Fence”. 😃 Smoked sausage anyone ? Closest I have come to being shocked was having lightening strike a tree about 15 yards from me. It melted the bottoms of my Chuck AllStars, felt like I was running in gum - but run I did. ---
**Author:** ![VaHermit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ed655f/32.png) [@VaHermit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VaHermit)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2000, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-least-i-didnt-kill-the-cat/23430/31 "2000-06-27T10:10:27Z")
Brat. Any encounters like that that you can walk away from are worth laughing about later. I work on live circuits a lot on my job too (just kidding, OSHSA, I’d never do that). I’ve used my body to complete a 120v. circuit quite a few times but so far just between finger and wrist or elbow. I’ve never gone from hand to hand across the chest and I don’t envy you in the least for experiencing that. Glad you and the cat survived. But I can’t believe that heartless nurse laughed at you. Remind her of her oath to releve suffering and point out all the places that hurt, hell, I’d even make up a few. Here, and here…and here, oh yeah, don’t forget there! ---
**Author:** ![Crunchy\_Frog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ebca7d/32.png) [@Crunchy\_Frog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crunchy_Frog)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2000, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-least-i-didnt-kill-the-cat/23430/32 "2000-07-01T16:49:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > Or a buddy of mine who shocked himself so many times while working on (unplugged) microwave ovens that when a balloon popped, he instintively jerked his hands back from whatever he was touching . . . > \*\* LOL! We used to do that to each other on purpose to see who would get scared. (For those of you that don’t know, electricity makes a popping sound when it shorts, not a buzzing sound. I have learned, however, that you can hear that buzzing sound when you are in the middle of the circuit, such as what happened in the OP.) ---
**Author:** ![fnord1966](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ad7895/32.png) [@fnord1966](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fnord1966)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2000, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-least-i-didnt-kill-the-cat/23430/33 "2000-07-01T17:07:19Z")
Worst I have ever recieved was 220 AC, I was doing an electric dryer instalation. You have to hook the power cord to the dryer. Well the customer I was doing it for decided she would help me out by plugging it in. That was the closest I have ever come to slapping a woman. my whole arm hurt for a week. And yeah, I have been bit by 120 before, makes ya blink thats for sure. My grandpa was an electrician in a paper mill for 30-40 some odd years, he got zapped quite a few times, 600 somehting volts AC, and 440 DC he said that he would gladly take the 600 AC before experiencing the DC again. ---
**Author:** ![dragonlady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@dragonlady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dragonlady)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2000, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-least-i-didnt-kill-the-cat/23430/34 "2000-07-01T17:15:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > **Coldfire Life Lessons, the Early Years** > > _ **Chapter IV - Electricity** _ > > _Lesson #12_: Late 1978, the Dutch countryside. > DO NOT MAKE PEE PEE ON LIVE BARB WIRE. > Thank you. Words to live by, gents. > \*\* I saw this happen to kid once. Really got his attention and I’m pretty sure he never did it again. Luckily he was young enough not to understand what he might have lost! And Bratman, I second the nomination for you Wally Award. It’s reassuring to know that his spirit lives. ---
**Author:** ![Crunchy\_Frog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ebca7d/32.png) [@Crunchy\_Frog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crunchy_Frog)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2000, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-least-i-didnt-kill-the-cat/23430/35 "2000-07-01T17:18:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > And Bratman, I second the nomination for you Wally Award. It’s reassuring to know that his spirit lives. > \*\* Thanks, I’ve been helping him shoulder the klutz burden ever since I punched that pregnant lady at work. ---
**Author:** ![light\_strand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a6a055/32.png) [@light\_strand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/light_strand)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2000, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-least-i-didnt-kill-the-cat/23430/36 "2000-07-01T17:34:39Z")
That is HILARIOUS!! So you got your first job as a conductor! Congratulations!! (sorry I had to say it) Another word of advice for the gents, this one courtesy my idiot brother: NEVER pee on a space heater, even if it IS the the bathroom of a gas station! The lights to the entire building went out! ---
**Author:** ![lindsay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3be4f8/32.png) [@lindsay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lindsay)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2000, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-least-i-didnt-kill-the-cat/23430/37 "2000-07-01T22:36:44Z")
This is the funniest, best written story I’ve heard in so long, just got to call some friends and tell them to check out this story. ---
**Author:** ![Crunchy\_Frog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ebca7d/32.png) [@Crunchy\_Frog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crunchy_Frog)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2000, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-least-i-didnt-kill-the-cat/23430/38 "2000-07-05T14:40:08Z")
Anyone else think it’s sad that I would rather people know about this incident than the whole “Boo-Boo” thing? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@The\_Tof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tof)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2000, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-least-i-didnt-kill-the-cat/23430/39 "2000-07-06T01:59:51Z")
\*\* [/QUOTE] Thanks, I’ve been helping him shoulder the klutz burden ever since I punched that pregnant lady at work. \*\* [/QUOTE] You punched a pregnant woman!!! How did that one slip by me? When did this happen— got a link? Screeme ---
**Author:** ![Brunetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@Brunetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brunetter)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2000, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-least-i-didnt-kill-the-cat/23430/40 "2000-07-06T02:26:50Z")
Here it is (I hope this works) [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=27274](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=27274) {/url] Love the story BratMan!! I’ll give you some sympathetic smooches as soon as you’re SURE all the cat litter’s been cleaned off ya… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-least-i-didnt-kill-the-cat/23430.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-least-i-didnt-kill-the-cat/23430.md?page=3)