# You Know Your Job Is Dangerous When... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 1, 2000, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-your-job-is-dangerous-when/35195 "2000-10-01T00:17:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-your-job-is-dangerous-when/35195/1 "2000-10-01T00:17:34Z")
[li]All of the compressed gas cylinders have the skull and crossbones sign on them.[/li] [li]Warning labels have messages like: High Voltage, Warning Death Is Final.[/li] [li]You know what a TLV (Threshold Limit Value) is.[/li] [li]You wash your hands **before** you go to the bathroom.[/li] How about it folks, got some more? ---
**Author:** ![lurkernomore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@lurkernomore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lurkernomore)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-your-job-is-dangerous-when/35195/2 "2000-10-01T00:49:03Z")
lotsa yellow and black signs… people have little badges and they get all excited if they change color ---
**Author:** ![Dark\_Lord\_Davidson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bc8723/32.png) [@Dark\_Lord\_Davidson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Lord_Davidson)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-your-job-is-dangerous-when/35195/3 "2000-10-01T01:14:40Z")
There are warning signs in every major area where you work, 50% of them depicting blood spurting. ---
**Author:** ![Emperor\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c2a13f/32.png) [@Emperor\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emperor_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-your-job-is-dangerous-when/35195/4 "2000-10-01T01:15:40Z")
You have to keep a canary in a cage. Your hazard pay is greater than the GDP of some small nations. No retirement plan is offered due to the fact that lasting that long is considered reward enough. ---
**Author:** ![Gunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gunslinger)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-your-job-is-dangerous-when/35195/5 "2000-10-01T01:29:21Z")
When safety equipment isn’t required, because it wouldn’t help. When you have to shower in Lysol before leaving the office. When all the tools you use are completely coated in rubber to prevent sparking. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-your-job-is-dangerous-when/35195/6 "2000-10-01T01:54:04Z")
Hey Guys I’m just about to have my second hurricane evacuation this year. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-your-job-is-dangerous-when/35195/7 "2000-10-01T02:42:31Z")
When the rooms you work in are lined in 2 mm of lead… When patients routinely come in smelling like weed and booze and that makes them smell BETTER… When a nurse dressed in street clothes comes in with the patient, and she has with her a syringeful of something “just in case”. ---
**Author:** ![Emperor\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c2a13f/32.png) [@Emperor\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emperor_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-your-job-is-dangerous-when/35195/8 "2000-10-01T03:29:35Z")
When you recive your paycheck from someone wearing a respirator behind 2 inch thick glass. Flame proof clothing is the norm. You know how to treat a sucking chest wound, and doing so no longer phases you ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-your-job-is-dangerous-when/35195/9 "2000-10-01T03:33:48Z")
You are required to wear a red shirt. ---
**Author:** ![Ankh\_Too](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3ab097/32.png) [@Ankh\_Too](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ankh_Too)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-your-job-is-dangerous-when/35195/10 "2000-10-01T03:35:29Z")
Your foreman has an artificial leg, is missing three fingers, has an eyepatch and a small problem with constantly drooling and yet, he’s the one they nicknamed “Lucky”. ---
**Author:** ![Chocobo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@Chocobo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chocobo)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-your-job-is-dangerous-when/35195/11 "2000-10-01T03:35:29Z")
When under job requirements it says: Knowledge of all things sharp and pointy. ---
**Author:** ![zenith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zenith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zenith)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-your-job-is-dangerous-when/35195/12 "2000-10-01T03:39:08Z")
You come home and your wife points out several small acid burns and that is the first you knew they were there because you are so used to getting burned. ---
**Author:** ![Fairy\_Princess\_Kitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df705f/32.png) [@Fairy\_Princess\_Kitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fairy_Princess_Kitty)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-your-job-is-dangerous-when/35195/13 "2000-10-01T03:40:53Z")
When you need to sign a cotract saying you will not blame the company for anything that happens to you, it’s twenty pages long… in 4pt font. Kitty ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-your-job-is-dangerous-when/35195/14 "2000-10-01T03:51:35Z")
[li]The acids smoke when you pour them into the beaker.[/li] [li]You evacuate the building when the ventilation fails.[/li] [li]If you break a pressurized gas line flames will jet out.[/li] [li]If you can smell the leaking gas, you’re probably already dead.[/li] [li]Touching the wrong piece of metal means instant death.[/li] [li]The most damaging acid is one that doesn’t even burn you. Except when it finally soaks down into your bones./li Fuming sulphuric and fuming nitric acids. (b) Semiconductor acid etch wet stations in use. (b) 100% Silane (SiH4, Silicon Tetrahydride) a pyrophor. © Arsine and phosphine gas delivery systems. (d) Tuning a 600VDC/50A sputtering reactor magnetron. (e) Full strength (54%) Hydrofluoric acid. (That you were mixing with fuming sulphuric acid.) ---
**Author:** ![Gunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gunslinger)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-your-job-is-dangerous-when/35195/15 "2000-10-01T04:19:38Z")
When there are sections of wall with hinges at the top, but no handles to open them, just a funny little air fitting and pressure gauge at the bottom labelled “TEST”. When there are lines on the floor, and to cross them means falling to your death or getting sucked into a jet engine. When your 30-man team has more grenades than a Marine _battalion_ and 15 M-60 machine guns among them, and everyone has an M14 with the full-auto option and as much ammo as they can carry…and you’re still worried about running out. When you are trained to perform major surgery in the field, _and you’re just the radio guy_. ---
**Author:** ![honkytonkwillie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@honkytonkwillie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/honkytonkwillie)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-your-job-is-dangerous-when/35195/16 "2000-10-01T06:34:11Z")
When the best part of your day is getting hit with a facr full of chlorinated solvent vapor. I miss that old job. ---
**Author:** ![brachyrhynchos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brachyrhynchos/32/376_2.png) [@brachyrhynchos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brachyrhynchos)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-your-job-is-dangerous-when/35195/17 "2000-10-01T07:24:41Z")
- You have to draw blood from a struggling and reluctant wild bird for a virus classified as Biosafety Level 3. - You’re double-gloved with puncture-resistant gloves, which makes handling said bird more difficult. - There are no vaccines for said virus. - There is a decent chance that the bird may have a native-borne, but much nastier virus too. - There was a vaccine for the nastier virus but CDC no longer supplies it. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-your-job-is-dangerous-when/35195/18 "2000-10-01T07:58:41Z")
…your boss tells YOU to go through the police lines and the protestors around the conference centre to get pizza. And just happens to mention parenthetically that your review is coming up next week. 😃 * * * Rigardu, kaj vi ekvidos. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-your-job-is-dangerous-when/35195/19 "2000-10-01T14:28:26Z")
When the Bloods have recently started initiating new members by having them stab the highest ranking employee they can find. And you’re the highest ranking person in the prison. ---
**Author:** ![Narile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@Narile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Narile)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-your-job-is-dangerous-when/35195/20 "2000-10-01T18:49:04Z")
Your MSDS’s are the size of a wing at the library of congress. You are informed that the gas detectors in the area are set to sound off the city evacuation alarm if they detect 1 part per trillion in the air. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-your-job-is-dangerous-when/35195.md?page=2)