What's the biggest mess (like, physical mess) you've ever gotten into at work?

Originally posted by: Red Dawn
I'm not in construction anymore. Another mess I witnessed was when I was a Property Manager. We had a complaint about an infestation of Cockroachesin ojne of the untos of a 6plex I managed. I sent in an Exterminator and when he started to spray the ceiling around the cabinets of the kitchen thousands of Cockroaches poured out of the seems, many dropping dead right on top of him. I still have nightmares about tat.

That is very disgusting.

 

[Ulfwald]

Originally posted by: jumpr

Originally posted by: Ulfwald
I got on the radio as soon as I recovered my wits and requested the spill team asap. I began to try and control the spill, but I began having adverse reactions to the toxic mix. The home owner saw me on the ground starting to convulse, so she called 911, reported everything to the operator, and came out and began to cut my coveralls off with a pair of scissors.

OMG! :Q

Yeah, multiple chemicals+gasoline+granulated chemicals makes for a hellavu feeling when you not only become soaked in it, but I probably ingested or inhaled some as well.

 

[Red Dawn]

Originally posted by: jumpr

Originally posted by: Red Dawn
I'm not in construction anymore. Another mess I witnessed was when I was a Property Manager. We had a complaint about an infestation of Cockroachesin ojne of the untos of a 6plex I managed. I sent in an Exterminator and when he started to spray the ceiling around the cabinets of the kitchen thousands of Cockroaches poured out of the seems, many dropping dead right on top of him. I still have nightmares about tat.

That is very disgusting.

No sh!t. Nothing is more disgusting than Cockroaches or people who have no problem living with them.

 

Originally posted by: Ulfwald

Originally posted by: jumpr

Originally posted by: Ulfwald
I got on the radio as soon as I recovered my wits and requested the spill team asap. I began to try and control the spill, but I began having adverse reactions to the toxic mix. The home owner saw me on the ground starting to convulse, so she called 911, reported everything to the operator, and came out and began to cut my coveralls off with a pair of scissors.

OMG! :Q

Yeah, multiple chemicals+gasoline+granulated chemicals makes for a hellavu feeling when you not only become soaked in it, but I probably ingested or inhaled some as well.

Any long-term effects of such exposure?

 

[JoeKing]

Originally posted by: jumpr

Originally posted by: Ulfwald

Originally posted by: jumpr

Originally posted by: Ulfwald
I got on the radio as soon as I recovered my wits and requested the spill team asap. I began to try and control the spill, but I began having adverse reactions to the toxic mix. The home owner saw me on the ground starting to convulse, so she called 911, reported everything to the operator, and came out and began to cut my coveralls off with a pair of scissors.

OMG! :Q

Yeah, multiple chemicals+gasoline+granulated chemicals makes for a hellavu feeling when you not only become soaked in it, but I probably ingested or inhaled some as well.

Any long-term effects of such exposure?

if he ever wants to get rid of termites from a house, he just has to piss on it?

 

[Mark R]

I was helping my Dad at work, at his warehouse where he sells industrial machines. His partner was trying to move a 20 foot long pipe bending machine on a pallet trolley.

Draw bending machines, are incredibly heavy on one corner, and very light on the others. Unsurprisingly, after he'd moved it about 10 feet the machine tipped over. Quite how the guy moving the machine managed to get out of the way to avoid being crushed, I'll never know. I've never seen anyone move that quickly.

That was only the beginning of the problems. The whole of the base of the machine formed a massive tank for hydraulic oil - about 80 gallons of it. So now, we had a machine which was supposed to go to a customer the next week, lying on its side with no way to shift it, gushing oil like it's a Texas oil well.

By the time we'd worked out what was going on, the factory was flooded with oil getting on for half an inch deep. My Dad suggested we sweep the oil into a nearby storm drain, but the estate manager found out about this idea, so it didn't get very far. In the end, we 'borrowed' about 200 pounds of sawdust from a nearby carpentry shop and soaked up the oil. I shoveled the oily mess into an old oil drum and set it on fire.

The fire burned for over a week. Everyone needed new clothes and shoes. The machine needed realignment, a thorough degreasing and about $1000 of oil

 

[notfred]

I spilled a soda on my desk once.

Programmers don't get in lots of messes, I guess.

 

[compudog]

I am the facility maintenance manager (and IT Manager) at an indutrial manufacturer. We got a call that the toilets in the offices were overflowing. This then spread to the restrooms on the production floor. Grabbing the plunger, one of my staff went to the sign of the first blockage. With a few deft thrusts of the plunger, the blockage was moved further in the sewer pipes and all of the drains started flowing again. I called the janitor to clean up the floors. We went to the manhole cover (which is actually in part of our warehouse) and opened the access up to see if we could find the blockage. (We have found garbage bags and other items flushed in the past) Peering into the dark, we see what may be the obstruction. I grab a flashlight, garden hose and climb down the ladder into the abyss. I "fished" from the waste stream, a very soiled pair of size 13 ladies underwear. Seems someone made a poopie in their drawers and flushed them away, blocking the pipes. It took me a long time to feel clean again...

 

[Czar]

wow some amazing stories :Q

 

[nageov3t]

my first day of work at my current job, this guy lost a finger :Q

we have these huge fans in between rows of racks for additional cooling. the guy decided to move one without turning it off, and his finger slipped through the fan grate, cutting off the tip of his index finger. there was a lot of blood.

 

[Fenixgoon]

i had to clean some globes to the lights in my house, so i put them in the sink and let them soak in the water. i took a break (cause i had been doing this all day) and decided to play some CS.. that break turned into 2 hours or so, and upon returning to my kitchen sink, i saw water running an doverflowing on to my kitchen floor.. ran to stop the sink, and *bam* slipped and fell on my ass... flooded my kitchen floor with 1/2'' of water.. probably around 20-30 gallons.. thank god i had a shopvac!

 

[lokiju]

I got my friend a job where I worked doing Tech Support, it was a somewhat spread out place that I worked at so I was showing him around on his first day with one of the golf carts that we were able to use when we have to move monitors, pc's etc.., well I decided to have a little fun and was hauling ass down a sidewalk that went in between some buildings and then slammed on the brakes, skidding for about 5 or so feet, but the split second I started to skid the CEO and my manager walk out of the door right next to the side walk just looking right at us and shaking their heads.

Luckily they never punished us for it and I never did anything like that again. My friend was all worried he was going to get fired.

Another dumb thing I saw a friend/co-worker do at another job, we were in the break room and he was cleaning out his metal coffee cup, so he goes and fills it up with boiling hot water from the coffee machine and then takes a sponge and plunges his hand into the cup of scalding hot water, oh man I was laughing so fvcking hard I thought I was going to puke, he screamed like a girl!

 

[StinkyPinky]

I remember a few years ago a guy who just started at my company a few days earlier crashed into the CEOs car which was parked. He ruined one of the side doors big time.

But that's not the worst bit. The fool didn't own up to it so the company had to track him down via security cams. He got pwned.

 

[cavemanmoron]

I was at a building at my work,driving a trash truck.

There was about 250 gallons of paint to be thrown away,most in 5 gal buckets,
i put about 20 5 gal pails into the back of the truck,and cycled the packer,
and then put the rest in the back,and squished the rest.

All of a sudden the paint started to leak out into the parking lot.:shocked:

I go oh crap,and jump into the truck and start to drive,as fast as possible to the landfill,
about 4 miles away.

I had paint pouring out of the truck,on the road for about 1/2 mile.

I got back from the landfill,and on the way back had noticed sand in the road.??WTF ??

Somebody had seen the mess,and it took like 10 co-workers 2 hours,throwing sand from
the back of 2 dump trucks,to try and absorb the paint.

This was about 1985 or so;nowadays this would be a Major problem.Back then
the biggest problem was the fact that the boss drove thru the paint,and got some
on his car.

I had all the co-workers that were there that day mad at me for a very long time.

We were talking about this the other day,and one man still gets Very upset when we
talk about it.He had new sneakers on that day,and they were ruined.

 

[Yossarian451]

Originally posted by: DaiShan

Originally posted by: jumpr
I worked at a local country club for four years during high school. It was a great job for a high schooler to have - as a pro shop clerk, I got free candy, free soda, and got to see all the hot girls from my HS when they came in to get something to eat or sign in a guest, etc. Plus, I got free access to the facilities on my days off. Usually I just played golf, but in retrospect, I should have used the pool a lot more.

The 'complex' consisted of a 9-hole golf course, four tennis courts and a pool. The pool equipment was pretty rickety and the club was planning a complete gutting of the pool over the following winter, but on this particular day, that didn't matter at all.

The chlorine tank had sprung a leak.

The pool manager ran (literally, ran) into the pro shop at about noon on that July day, almost hysterical. She had gone into the equipment shed that morning for her daily check of the tanks and pumps and filters, and discovered that the chlorine storage tank (about 600 gallons, though I can't remember the exact number) was slowly leaking.

My co-workers and I immediately paged our manager, and then locked up the pro shop and headed out to the pool to help out.

What followed was perhaps the most unsafe thing I've ever done in my entire life.

We formed a 'bucket brigade,' where one employee would take a bucket, scoop liquid chlorine from the tank, and then pass it down the line. I was at the end of the line, so my job was to dump the buckets of industrial-strength liquid chlorine into plastic trash cans for storage. I had no eye protection, and I was wearing shorts and a polo shirt.

I quickly learned that chlorine splashes. A lot. I was soon covered in chlorine up to my forearms, and my clothes became spotted with white very quickly. My arms also started to feel very warm, as a result of the chlorine. At the time I didn't think about it, but the chlorine was slowly eating away at my skin. I shudder when I think about it.

As time went on and the tank was evacuated a bit more, it became too deep to reach into with a bucket. So my co-worker borrowed a pair of waders from the golf course maintenance crew and proceeded to hop into the tank wearing rubber waders, and scoop chlorine out that way.

Again, this was probably the most unsafe occupational setting ever imaginable.

We eventually got the chlorine tank emptied and my boss gave me the rest of the day off so I could go home and shower. She also handed me a check on the spot for $50, so I could replace the clothes I was wearing that day.

It took about 4 days for the slimy feeling of chlorine to finally wash off my skin. Hopefully there's no long-term damage to my skin from that exposure, but I will forever remember that day as the biggest mess I've ever been in, while at work.

What's your story?

Losing the hair on your arm should have been the least of your concerns. Chlorine combines with water in your lungs to form hydrochloric acid, which then destroys your lung tissues. We had a leak at my school when I was in High School and they evacuated and had HazMat out there in full gear with respirators to clean up the mess.

Had one too at our shool's pool back in corpus. Luckily our janitor wasnt too badly injured.

 

[PingSpike]

I think I might have clogged the toliet up a bit at work once. It didn't over flow or anything though. My story sucks.

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: compudog
I am the facility maintenance manager (and IT Manager) at an indutrial manufacturer. We got a call that the toilets in the offices were overflowing. This then spread to the restrooms on the production floor. Grabbing the plunger, one of my staff went to the sign of the first blockage. With a few deft thrusts of the plunger, the blockage was moved further in the sewer pipes and all of the drains started flowing again. I called the janitor to clean up the floors. We went to the manhole cover (which is actually in part of our warehouse) and opened the access up to see if we could find the blockage. (We have found garbage bags and other items flushed in the past) Peering into the dark, we see what may be the obstruction. I grab a flashlight, garden hose and climb down the ladder into the abyss. I "fished" from the waste stream, a very soiled pair of size 13 ladies underwear. Seems someone made a poopie in their drawers and flushed them away, blocking the pipes. It took me a long time to feel clean again...

LMFAO!

These are awesome.. Keep 'em commin.

 

[dquan97]

For science lab, I was a TA in a chem class. Our fume hood wasn't working and the teacher wanted me to dilute 10M HCl into 1M solution. With the smoke coming out, I must've decreased my lifespan by a couple of years.

 

[Ulfwald]

the only long tern effects that I have now are very dry skin, and sinus issues.

 

[cerebusPu]

Originally posted by: Red Dawn

Originally posted by: maximus maximus

Originally posted by: Red Dawn
Guy I was working next too hit himself in the face with a chainsaw. Made a mess out of his face for sure!

Yuck :thumbsdown:

I've also a couple of guys cut their fingers off with a skill saw and another shoot himself in the kneecap with a nailgun. The worst though was when a heavy duty forklift (a Pettibone) tipped over and crushed the Foreman of the Job to death.[/q]

the heck. ouch~! :Q

my coworker use to work at a steel mill and he saw someone jump into a vat of molten steel.

 

[Landroval]

Originally posted by: compudog
I am the facility maintenance manager (and IT Manager) at an indutrial manufacturer. We got a call that the toilets in the offices were overflowing. This then spread to the restrooms on the production floor. Grabbing the plunger, one of my staff went to the sign of the first blockage. With a few deft thrusts of the plunger, the blockage was moved further in the sewer pipes and all of the drains started flowing again. I called the janitor to clean up the floors. We went to the manhole cover (which is actually in part of our warehouse) and opened the access up to see if we could find the blockage. (We have found garbage bags and other items flushed in the past) Peering into the dark, we see what may be the obstruction. I grab a flashlight, garden hose and climb down the ladder into the abyss. I "fished" from the waste stream, a very soiled pair of size 13 ladies underwear. Seems someone made a poopie in their drawers and flushed them away, blocking the pipes. It took me a long time to feel clean again...

For those that do not know, women's underwear are typically sized differently than other women's clothing. No idea how big a 13 is, but it must be at least a 50" waist :Q

 

[d3n]

Well, I have seen 747 jetblast send a guard house cart wheeling 200ft down an aircraft ramp, man with weapon inside. I Bs'd with a person that had just narrowly climbed through a multi ton moving blast door for a missile silo.

In my immediate sphere of personal danger I have been close enough to the fringe of a communications grade microwave signal to feel my skin getting warm. I?m sure my coworker was drilling through what was asbestos tile one day to bolt and mount some racks. I am also fairly sure my hearing is shot in the 2600hz range from loud noise exposure.

 

[GoingUp]

I bet your lungs loved all of the chlorine

 

[FeuerFrei]

Let's see, I helped knock over 24 cases or so of IBC rootbeer in the glass bottles. This was at a Wal-Mart in one of the main aisles.

 

[lokiju]

More!!!