I got high at work tonight

[Knightmare]

Yup. I really did. But not intentionally.
It was about an hour until closing. I'm doing zone recovery. I'm pulling forward some 5-gallon buckets of paint when I notice a one-gallon can behind the 5-gallons.
I move the 5-gallons out into the aisle and climb inside the hole to get the 1-gallon can. It wont budge. So I look closely, and I notice it's a can of contact cement that landed upside down. When it hit the floor, it leaked enough glue to cement it to the floor.
I go back to the desk to grab a scraper, hoping to scrape it loose. Bad idea. As soon as I put the scraper blade to the lid, out spews a half-gallon of contact cement. Now it's all over the floor, but the damn lid it still stuck. I quickly put the bucket back on the lid and pound it, hpping to make a seal. That didn't help either. Out comes the rest of the contents. Nothing I can do now, so I grab the bucket, take it up front and come back with the spill kit. (Of course, wouldn't you know, that when this happens, I start getting customers. 4 to be exact. Just before closing, and with a big sticky mess. Go figure).
After I finish the orders (thankfully no big orders) I put this powder on the mess that soaks it up.
Oh.. I have to describe my surroundings. I am basically in a cave. It underneath a shelf that is about 4 feet high. When I moved the 5-gallons buckets, I made a little space that was 4'Hx3'Wx4'D. I'm in this cubby hole for a good 20 minutes cleaning up. As you may know, this stuff has a very strong smell. Very noxious.
I come out light headed and feeling really damn good. I think I had a nice big grin. I even think I had a wobble in my walk. I can't be sure. But the cashiers that saw me said I was acting funny.
My ZM came by to see what was going on. He saw the spill kit on the floor and asked "Did you make a mess, Knightmare?" I told him what happened and he walked closer. He looked at me like and asked how I was feeling.
"Dude, I'm fuckin' high right now." Yeah, that was my reply. Bravo, Knightmare.
He chuckled a bit and told me to clear my head.
I had to take a walk outside to clear my head. But when I left about 20 minutes later, I was still a bit high.
I want hazard pay if I have to clean up messes like that anymore. Paint and stains I can handle. Those adhesive fumes are no joke.

[MadMike]

Be careful around that stuff. Some really stupid kids I went to school with decided it would be a good idea to get high by sniffing laquer thinner. When they found them, the one kid was so out of it, he couldn't remember his own name. Luckily, they recovered, and they actually learned from their mistake.

[hecubus]

I had something similar happenm to me at the movie theater one time. SOmeone had used a Sharpie to write a bunch of grafitti in the handicapped stall in the mens' restroom. As we were between shows, I decided I would take the hand-dandy ink and paint removal spray that we had and go clean up the handicapped stall.

Well, there was quite a bit of grafitti in thre, and after about ten minutes, the ink removal spray really started to get to me. Basically it seemed as though the entire room tipped about 90 degrees to the left for a second, and then I felt very light headed.

It took me about ten minutes outside to clear my head.

The lesson, don't use anything with solvent in it in a small, closed room with no ventilation for an extended period.

[Rapscallion]

After paint and glue sniffing became ways for the less intelligent to get high cheaply, some products - notably glue - became a case of cannot buy unless at least eighteen-years-old. We had a few deaths over here from it - usually the young and stupid. Marker pens (sharpies) not have to be a non-high formula.

*sigh*

Rapscallion

[draftermatt]

Auto Parts store, in the body work aisle, stocking fiber glass repair kits.

Whoo yeah.

[Gurndigarn]

And, in case you didn't figure it out on your own-- the moment you've got that much adhesive spilled, it becomes a relatively serious hazard. At that point, you can ignore customers. Just a simple "excusemehazardsituation" as you brush past them.

Yeah, the odd customer will follow you. Most actually have two brain cells that function at the same time, though, and will bug someone else.

And OHSA rules may let you conscrip assistance in cleanup, too.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I remember when schools banned Wite-Out cuz kids were sniffing it.

[hecubus]

Heck, back when I was a kid (back when dirt was clean and rocks were soft), whenever we would get a handout in school that was run off on an old mimeograph machine, just about all the kids would hold the paper up to their faces and sniff. That stuff was pretty potent.

[asopu10]

After paint and glue sniffing became ways for the less intelligent to get high cheaply, some products - notably glue - became a case of cannot buy unless at least eighteen-years-old. We had a few deaths over here from it - usually the young and stupid. Marker pens (sharpies) not have to be a non-high formula.

*sigh*

Rapscallion

Yeah same in my area, but its 16 here. Except for things like hair spray which is cashiers discreation, I've refused it before though.

[derangedperson]

Lacquer Head knows but one desire. Lacquer Head sets his skull on fire.

[DrugstoreJulie]

I am basically in a cave. It underneath a shelf that is about 4 feet high. When I moved the 5-gallons buckets, I made a little space that was 4'Hx3'Wx4'D. I'm in this cubby hole for a good 20 minutes cleaning up.

Glad you didn´t pass out in there/bumped your head

You really should not feel like you have to help customers while doing such a clean-up. If they are unwilling to wait or find someone else while you fix a dangerous mess, they are way beyond sucky.

Then again, thats the way they are Happens here all the time when I mob and scrape up the remains of a broken wine bottle or nailpolish (those are the nastiest spills in our store, who ever thought putting quickly drying paint in a bottle made of thin glass that shatters into to-small-to-see particles).

[digilight]

Oh yeah, fun fumes... I have had to, from time to time, use some not so nice products in my shop. I have 2 different products, 1 is called Rubber Rejuvenator, its not to awful bad, will give a bit of a buzz after a while but not bad. The other one is a Deglazenator containing Methylene Chloride (whatever the hell that is) and has all kinds of warnings on the outside of the package.

I have to use these products to clean the feed tire assembly on my scanner and the main roller as well as to clean the rollers on my folder. They work well, removing any ink that has been transfered to the rollers (after a while the rubber on the rollers will pickup small amounts of the ink from the paper going over it). The ink makes the rollers slicker and then they just dont grab as well as they should.

Well after a good cleaning I have to open the front door to the shop and run all the fans to air the place out. Thank god I don't have any employee's or I would have to do it after hours, with no employee's I don't have to follow OSHA regs.

[repsac]

Heck, back when I was a kid (back when dirt was clean and rocks were soft), whenever we would get a handout in school that was run off on an old mimeograph machine, just about all the kids would hold the paper up to their faces and sniff. That stuff was pretty potent.

I remember those things. The ink was this funky purple usually and the papers (if freshly run) would be cold. Oh how that brings back happy memories.

[tollbaby]

hehe my grade school didn't get a photocopier until the year AFTER I left. No, I'm not *that* old.... they were just cheapasses. They used to ask for student volunteers to run the mimeograph for school-wide announcements and such, because the secretary (and the principal, and every other teacher in the place) was over 60 and it hurt her elbow to have to do it.

You think the fumes off the paper were nice?

[Caveat Emptor]

I can't believe they still make those smell markers, the ones that smell like blueberry or strawberry. The BLACK ones - it's like "we WANT kids to huff these!"