r/mildlyinfuriating • u/Warm_Web3768 • 18h ago

Ruined by Technology Plug got stuck at work

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3.7k Upvotes

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2.7k

u/JustARegularPawn 18h ago

Oh the urge to touch the metal thingy

981

u/n4ke 18h ago

About 20 years ago, my cousin had an RC car with a cheap ass plug that lost both prongs in the socket the first time he unplugged it. He was so scared that he broke something that he instantly tried to pull them both out. He went flying.

820

u/aaronhowser1 PURPLE 18h ago

Fun fact! The reason electricity sends people flying is that it's actually triggering their legs to extend at maximum strength, beyond normal subconscious limits. Completely bypassing the regular motor functions from the brain, it's just sending a message saying ACTIVATE AS HARD AS YOU CAN to whatever it happens to pass through

467

u/n4ke 17h ago

Correct. In fact, activating muscles that push you away violently is the decidedly better outcome. The alternative is clamping down hard and being unable to let go.

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u/DSD-CYRO 12h ago edited 11h ago

Been there, done that. Grabbed a broken extension cord outdoors at my grandparents place with my left hand when I was like 6 years old. The electricity (230v) made the muscles in my hand and arm clamp down hard as you mentioned. Was completely unable to let go, dad had to drop the electric hedge trimmer and pull it out of my hand, but I held that sucker for a good 10 seconds. Thank fuck I wore rain boots that day, else I would've won the Darwin award. Got a cool burn scar on my ring finger though.

Edit: typo.

159

u/SodaAshy 17h ago

Why does this feel like a bot thread lmao wtf

341

u/n4ke 17h ago

You're right, let me try that again. I should restructure the load bearing parts of my comments to prevent them coming apart at the seams.

72

u/TehBIGrat 17h ago edited 7h ago

Sentence Engineer says you need more [braces].

16

u/cautioussidekick 17h ago

Or less when being electrocuted

10

u/CarefulNow_ 15h ago

This is a shocking turn of events

25

u/aaronhowser1 PURPLE 17h ago

I even consciously rewrote part of my comment to not have "it's not x it's y" :(

13

u/Xenc 14h ago

I dislike not being able to use en or emdashes anymore 🥺

1

u/ShAped_Ink 14h ago

That's what DC does, yeah. Also DC gives you leukemia

8

u/Carlbot2 13h ago

My experience getting shocked as a kid was interesting. It was a malfunctioning light switch that did it, not a socket, but it felt more like I was just frozen in place for a moment while vibrating—especially my hand, obviously. I guess everything sorta seized up for a bit.

I seemed fine afterwards, and honestly kinda wanted to do it again.

2

u/LeTurboDick 12h ago

Yeah when i was a kid had a short shock because the outlet extender had a missing bottom and i knew to avoid it because its dangerous but touched it once accidentally and felt frozen in place for a second or two but managed to pull my finger away. Was too embarrassed to tell my dad lol.

5

u/FecknWindowTwitchers 17h ago

Like the frog legs in school science class.

4

u/Green_J3ster 13h ago

Will it work on my penis?

1

u/LeftyDan 15h ago

I'm trying so hard not to burst out laughing I'm shaking the bed.

1

u/pasvc 13h ago

Or, in more scientific terminology: the Yeet-message.

1

u/zach-rye 4h ago

My Grandfather loves regaling us with the story of his father touching the door at the bottom of a silo just seconds after it was struck by lightning. My grandpa still swears he’s never seen anyone jump that far in his life

1

u/ShoWel-Real 17h ago

"ACTIVATE AS HARD AS YOU CAN" always happens in the least opportune moment

40

u/Fallcious 18h ago

Reminds me of when I damaged my parents electric fire and tried to pull out a loose wire. I was SHOCKED to discover it was a live wire.

34

u/CarefulNow_ 15h ago

That action is why if you really really really need to check if something has a current you put the back of your hand to the object.

  1. Your fingers will form a fist away from the current
  2. Your Bicep and Tricep will activate but your Bicep will pull your arm away from the current
  3. Your fist might hit you in the face to tell you to never do this again

7

u/cream-of-cow 18h ago

I was in a hotel in Hong Kong (220 volt) when I saw a plastic plate covering the electric outlet, I didn't realize it was the backside of a broken plug. The jolt shot up my arm and dissipated around my elbow, it sounded like the movies, wabba-wabba-wabba

15

u/b00c 17h ago

right!!! you just must be veeery quick. it won't hurt. or maybe it will and you lose control of your knees and anus, going down like a shit-stained ragdoll.

22

u/agowa338 18h ago

Depending on in which one it is in (assuming it is wired correctly) you may actually be able to. However I wouldn't risk it...

Also take a plastic bag over your hand and pull that thing back out...

41

u/Perfect-Mongoose-704 18h ago

Pfft. It's at work. Report it and let someone fix it

18

u/0thedarkflame0 18h ago

3 years later it's still unfixed...

7

u/Perfect-Mongoose-704 18h ago edited 18h ago

Sounds like a work problem. Guess the OP will just have to keep putting tickets in. If they're in the US, OSHA tip off

Ed1: Oops, wrong shape for the plug. Which country uses those...

Ed2: hmmm, it's a type J or N I think...so not many countries. Either way, not the OPs problem to fix

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u/0thedarkflame0 15h ago

Yeah as far as I can tell, it's a type J... So Switzerland or Lichtenstein.

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u/General_Guisan 12h ago

Switzerland

4

u/GI-Robots-Alt 16h ago

Turn off the breaker first for the love of god.

1

u/agowa338 14h ago

Good but not really needed if you're isolated... It's just ~230V with no load attached. So...

3

u/GI-Robots-Alt 14h ago

I understand the mechanics of it. Turn the fucking breaker off anyway.

1

u/agowa338 14h ago

I literally do not know any electrician that would tbh...

1

u/GI-Robots-Alt 14h ago

At my job (machinist) we're not even allowed to open up the electrical cabinet on our CNC machines to reset a fuse, even if we follow lockout tagout procedures. Only the electricians are technically allowed to, and they have to turn off the main breaker for the machine before doing ANYTHING in there.

If they don't then health and safety will have their ass.

0

u/agowa338 13h ago

Well that's different. There is an actual load connected...

1

u/GI-Robots-Alt 13h ago

Respectfully. What are you doing here? What's the point of what you're saying?

ALWAYS turn off the electricity for something like this, ALWAYS. Your average person isn't an electrician, doesn't fully understand the dangers, and should be extremely cautious when messing with any of this.

Like I don't get what you're trying to accomplish in this conversation.

0

u/agowa338 13h ago

If you don't know what you're doing you shouldn't fuck with it even when the breaker is off...

I assumed some 10th graders physics fundamentals knowledge in electrical engineering. Maybe I shouldn't have...

1

u/Aggravating-Sir8185 13h ago

It's not even clear that it's directly wired in. It could just be an extension deal and it just needs to be unplugged.

1

u/GI-Robots-Alt 12h ago

Turn it off anyway. I simply don't understand the "Uhm actually!" people on this one.

2

u/Aggravating-Sir8185 11h ago

Because tripping the breaker is massive overkill when it can just be unplugged. It's not like an extension cord has massive capacitors that will retain a charge. It would be like turning off the mains water to patch a hole in a garden hose. 

7

u/angloswiss 15h ago

In theory, this should ne the Neutral pin on a Swiss Plug. But it really depends if it was wired correctly. Swiss electricians are generally quite good with this though (I have yet to find a plug that was not wired up correctly), but I would still not touch it in situ.

1

u/agowa338 14h ago edited 14h ago

Even if it was the phase, as long as you're electrically isolated (which plastic does) and there is no current flowing through you can just pull it out...

Just don't cheap out on the plastic bag and make sure it doesn't have a hole.

Edit: But you should know what you're doing. Just saying most electricians probably wouldn't even bother doing anything other than just using a pair of electrically insulated pliers or a plastic bag.

5

u/Beniidel0 17h ago

When I was like 8 I plugged a thing through an adapter, and when I took it out the outer shell of the adapter stripped off leaving only the contact points

I instinctively grabbed on it with one hand to pull it out since it didn't register in the moment that this is essentially putting my hand in the socket

Good thing I only tried grabbing it with one hand

1

u/JustARegularPawn 17h ago

Good you're here with us now then 😅

3

u/Icy_Fish_2154 17h ago

When I was a small person, about 12, I had a penny, and a plug nearby. I killed the plug out 1/8", and dropped the penny.

Blew out power for the wing of the school. Pulled out the plug, removed the penny, and never spoke of it again. The 3 people on my row watched, nobody else ever knew.

There was a class taking a test on computers 3 rooms away (I didn't know), but found out later.

3

u/Automatic_Guest8279 16h ago

I did this and my heart felt weird

4

u/JustARegularPawn 16h ago

Hopital

1

u/Automatic_Guest8279 15h ago

I was cycling to Budapest so didn't have time. This was 2012 (I think). It wasn't that it hurt much but my heart feeling weird wasn't fun, would not recommend

2

u/Mole-NLD ORANGE 15h ago

50/50 chance of safe vs not safe

2

u/FantasticSeaweed1410 14h ago

*Urge to lick the metal thingy

6

u/Festivefire 18h ago

You can touch just the one. You DON'T want to touch both at the same time, you become the thing that closes the circuit and all the electricity flows through you.

8

u/Sweet-Competition-15 18h ago

And you're levitating as well? Hydro is remarkably efficient at going through shoes!

1

u/diewethje 6h ago

Found the Canuck.

2

u/Dormammu____ 18h ago

Super hero origin story?

4

u/Festivefire 18h ago

I think it's gotta be industrial voltage to get superpowers, unless the power is super stupidity.

2

u/drgigantor 16h ago

Deadman! With the power to... not breathe! And sit extremely still!

2

u/ElegantOliver 16h ago

L'appel du vide...

1

u/Gazyro 15h ago

Like a colleague did recently.

Did not expect the prong to be live.....

How do some people function.

1

u/gargoyle30 11h ago

When i was a kid I was going to plug something into the outside outlet on my house, when I opened the flap my finger brushed against a broken off prong similar to this, knocked me on my butt, would not recommend

0

u/SupposablyAtTheZoo 16h ago

50% chance nothing will happen. 100% chance if you're in the EU and all your sockets are up to code and have been checked by yourself with a socket checker. (Because brown, live, is on the right)

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u/thepinkyclone 15h ago

Is that a standard, live wire being on right? I changed sockets around house but never knew that there is an actual standard for wire position

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u/vanhelsing654 15h ago

No, there's no official standard for it. I for one always connect L to left and N to right.

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u/SupposablyAtTheZoo 15h ago

Yes there is, but apparently not everyone knows.

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u/gizahnl 14h ago

There definitely isn't a EU wide standard which side is live.

And with homeowners allowed to wire up themselves in some countries I'd definitely wouldn't trust it even if there was a standard.