The other day I got one of those “ha-ha” e-mails about silly warnings on products, and I started noticing them. It got me thinking.
-I place q-tips in my ear canal, sometimes twice a day.
-My kids’ trampoline has a warning telling people that the trampoline shouldn’t be used while wet, you shouldn’t flip on the trampoline, and only one person should jump on it at the time. All ignored routinely.
-I have sat on the top rung of the ladder more times than I can think of.
-My wife used to have a blow dryer that warned against plugging it in or using it “Near a source of water”. It was never used except right over the sink less than 5 feet from the toilet.
So, any warnings you routinely ignore?
(BTW, I am a lawyer, and I understand why the warnings are there, but this is just intended to be a question of interest that has nothing to do with any present or anticipated litigation.)
Mentholatum has warnings against placing the ointment near the eyes or in the nostrils. When I am having severe allergic symptoms, I rub a small amount of Mentholatum along my lower eyelids, and I put a glob up each nostril. I’ve been doing this for more than fifty years; so far, I haven’t gone blind, and my nose hasn’t fallen off.
Ketchup and BBQ sauce bottles say to refrigerate after opening. WTF? Who keeps these in the fridge? (And why does “fridge” have a “d” when “refrigerator” does not?)
Stand and work on the top rung of step ladders daily.
Rarely use safety glasses when stripping or snipping wire(I do tend to use them if I’m working above my head.)
Use my linesmen pliers to hammer.
Use my screwdrivers as chisels
Rarely turn off power to work on light fixtures.
Disconnect air compressor hoses that are under pressure.
Occasionally stand on the rails of or on a ladder on a man lift.
I never do the skin allergy test when I color my hair (dab sample on the inside of your elbow, wait 48 hours for signs of a reaction). I’ve never been allergic to anything in my life, and when I decide to color my hair, I want to do it NOW DAMMIT!
I’m a q-tip in the ear addict, but I don’t do it to either of my kids. Best to break the cycle of abuse, I think.
I use wet Swiffer pads on my dry Swiffer Sweep ‘n’ Vac. The motor is way far away from the pads, and I don’t turn it on when mopping, but they say not to even put a wet pad on it. Bah. I think they just want me to buy two units.
Don’t use a chainsaw overhead, on a ladder, or on a ladder overhead (like my dumbass BIL who was lucky the chain was stopped when he fell off the ladder. Still got a huge laceration and later gangrene though.)
But you’re the final purchaser, so the tag doesn’t apply to you.
I routinely ignore the warnings on lots of bottles of chemicals. Of course I treat them with respect, but I don’t think I really needed to see two seperate paragraphs on a bottle of sec-butyl lithium about how this is dangerous and should only be used by a trained professional and so on.
Smucker’s Natural Peanut Butter tells you to refrigerate it after opening. Doing so prevents the oil separation, but makes it hard to spread, and it tears the bread. I would rather stir it than have hard peanut butter.
You know what’s in natural peanut butter? Peanuts and salt. I have not yet died from leaving salted peanuts unrefrigerated, and I am okay with the risk of the unrefrigerated peanut butter. Besides, it doesn’t have time to anything icky. We go through that stuff pretty fast. 'S gooooooooood.
Oh, and I open two-liters of 7Up while not bothering to make sure they are pointed away from any faces or eyes. :rolleyes:
You know, the last time this came up on the board, I checked my bottle and it doesn’t say that anywhere. I’ve never seen it on a bottle ketchup. Barbecue sauce, maybe.
I can’t think of any warnings I ignore, probably because I just don’t pay attention to them well enough to know what they are.
