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What's the most dangerous situation you've ever been in?

7 years ago by Chubros with 8 comments

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  • Appaloosa (edited 7 years ago)
    +6

    Living in the Philippines in 1989-90. Very tumultuous times, coup attempt in Dec 89', guns everywhere, anti-American sentiment, kidnapping...a very scary place at the time.

    I said yes once when my wife asked if the pants she had on made her look fat.

    • drunkenninja
      +3

      I've made the same mistake once... never again. NEVER AGAIN.

    • RoamingGnome
      +3

      The correct answer is- "No, your fat makes you look fat."

      • drunkenninja
        +4

        One day you will understand :D

        • RoamingGnome (edited 7 years ago)
          +4

          Oh, I didn't say I would actually articulate the correct answer, I was just pointing what it is. I'm on the cusp of 28 years of wedded bliss. You think that was an accident? I've learned a thing or two. I'm just trying to find the sucker in the room.

  • Yamadori (edited 7 years ago)
    +3

    One summer I worked landscape maintenance for a subcontractor of Cabot Performance Materials. Among other things, they turn mineral coltan into tantalum metal.

    Dangerous situation? This plant had it all. Huge outdoor tanks of concentrated HF (Hydrofluoric Acid). 75 KV power transmission lines and transformers that went down to the ground (at this voltage, electricity can ionize the air and arc ). 'Lagoons' of evaporating wastewater with very carcinogenic sludge. High concentrations of heavy metals in the soil and worryingly, the dust that got kicked up by our activities. And not last or least, the plant had a concrete 'mausoleum' where they permanently stored their radioactive waste.

    A year before that summer, I learned that my boss got 'hit'. There was a massive leak of HF and he accidentally rode his lawnmower through the cloud of acid and toxic byproducts. He had to go to the hospital (and probably should have sued the company, but it was his only source of income and for some reason he felt loyal). He has since passed away - and only in his 60s. It makes you wonder how many years this work took from him. His kidneys were completely shot, and he always looked a lot older than he was.

    Nothing so bad happened to me, but I'm glad I only spent 2 months working there (not decades like my boss). Most of the work was in fields and property away from the worst of it. But I still wonder what damage I might have done on a cellular level from that brief gig.