Exploding light bulbs and guns

[bhskittykatt]

This is a story from Boss Man that I had to share.

Boss Man used to do nighttime cleaning for offices/restaurants/etc back in the day. One evening, he got a call to replace several lights at a furniture store at 2am.

He had all the alarm codes to the building, so he wouldn't set off the alarm. He replaced the lightbulbs, and was carrying an armload of the old flourescent bulbs (the big, long tube ones) to the dumpster (this was before people cared about recycling and hazardous materials and stuff like that). He tossed them all in the dumpster, and they made very satisfying POP POP POP sounds as they exploded.

Suddenly, he was surrounded by police with guns pointed at him. Turns out, he'd inadvertantly wandered into the middle of a stake-out, and the police had mistaken the exploding bulbs for gunfire.

[LillFilly]

Phew! I'm glad he didn't get shot!

On the flip side, he has a great story for the kiddies!

[IT Grunt]

I suspect a change of pants was in order after that. Because first you say it, then you do it.

[Shalom]

Reminds me of the old ('60s) RD anecdote about the guy who wanted to replace a fluorescent lamp in his Manhattan office without having to pay the super his usual extortionate rate to do it for him. He smuggled in the new lamp, installed it himself, and then didn't know what to do with the old one. He figured there was a construction site near his house, so he'd throw it in the dumpster there. Gets on the subway holding the lamp vertically. By the time he gets to his stop in Brooklyn, he changes his plans, and just gets off the subway, leaving the other five people still holding it...

(My grandmother never threw out any of her old Readers Digests. On rainy afternoons I'd go upstairs to her apartment and read through stacks of them.)

[roothorick]

People like to ignore that fluorescent lamps contain mercury. Yeah, toxic substance. You can be fined, HARD, if you're caught throwing fluoros in the regular trash. Many, many stores have recycling programs; ask your local home improvement store, you can probably get rid of them for free.

And whatever you do, DON'T break them. You don't want to be that close to mercury vapor. Does bad things to the body, it does.

[Food Lady]

People like to ignore that fluorescent lamps contain mercury. Yeah, toxic substance. You can be fined, HARD, if you're caught throwing fluoros in the regular trash. Many, many stores have recycling programs; ask your local home improvement store, you can probably get rid of them for free. And whatever you do, DON'T break them. You don't want to be that close to mercury vapor. Does bad things to the body, it does.

Too late; I'm accident prone and have already done it. R, you seem to be the one for public service announcemets. Going to check my tires now....

[infinitemonkies]

On a quiet night, there are a thousand things that sound like gunshots; gunshots are not one of them.


Bear in mind, I'm in Canada, where the overwhelming majority of the population has never heard a gunshot in real life, only in movies and on tv. In my area, there are something like 400 911 calls reporting gunshots for every actual shot fired.

[mharbourgirl]

On a quiet night, there are a thousand things that sound like gunshots; gunshots are not one of them.


Bear in mind, I'm in Canada, where the overwhelming majority of the population has never heard a gunshot in real life, only in movies and on tv. In my area, there are something like 400 911 calls reporting gunshots for every actual shot fired.

No kidding. I moved from a very urban area and a completely pacifistic family (my parents forbid SQUIRT GUNS because they didn't want to encourage violence ) to the wilds of Nova Scotia. I moved in May, and was completely oblivious to non-urban seasonal events. Even knowing that half the guys around were going out to get their licenses in October did not prepare me for October 14th (the day hunting season opens around here). By sunset I was a nervous wreck, to put it mildly. Gunshots scare the bejeezus out of me.

[Mikkel]

October 14th (the day hunting season opens around here). By sunset I was a nervous wreck, to put it mildly. Gunshots scare the bejeezus out of me.

Heh, I'm from the country and my first thought, when I hear gunshots, is to check that the cats are inside . Here in town gunshots are usually gang related, I still look for the cats.

[ArcticChicken]

On a quiet night, there are a thousand things that sound like gunshots; gunshots are not one of them.

Yeah, gunshots sound more like firecrackers,

[kwdy]

These are the same fluorescent tubes that the knuckleheads use for their backyard wrestling antics? Somebody should warn them about that.

Well that and the fact that doing this stuff without trained medical personnel ready and waiting is probably a bad idea.

[roothorick]

These are the same fluorescent tubes that the knuckleheads use for their backyard wrestling antics? Somebody should warn them about that.

Well that and the fact that doing this stuff without trained medical personnel ready and waiting is probably a bad idea.

Ah, natural selection at work It warms my heart.

[Magpie]

Ah, natural selection at work It warms my heart.

Hey, but those of us who live downstairs from people doing that, don't appreciate when our lights get broken. Or that their version of "cleaning up" when they get told that they knocked a bulb out of the socket leaves naked-eye visible shards of glass around.

[LadyAndreca]

People like to ignore that fluorescent lamps contain mercury. Yeah, toxic substance. You can be fined, HARD, if you're caught throwing fluoros in the regular trash. Many, many stores have recycling programs; ask your local home improvement store, you can probably get rid of them for free.

And whatever you do, DON'T break them. You don't want to be that close to mercury vapor. Does bad things to the body, it does.

I broke one on my BED once. My dad was NOT happy.

And my Orange Apron, though we officially only take CFLs (compact flourescents), we unofficially will take all flourescents since we have boxes in receiving for the store's used ones anyways. It's actually fascinating just how recyclable CFLs are--the bases are resuable, and the recycling company melts down the glass and mercury to use in making ithe new bulbs.

[roothorick]

And my Orange Apron, though we officially only take CFLs (compact flourescents), we unofficially will take all flourescents since we have boxes in receiving for the store's used ones anyways. It's actually fascinating just how recyclable CFLs are--the bases are resuable, and the recycling company melts down the glass and mercury to use in making ithe new bulbs.

Exactly! People always get pissy about the mercury in the bulb, saying it's LESS eco-conscuious than incandescants. Hello, we can RE-USE that mercury, not so much the tungsten filament in normal bulbs. Tungsten ain't toxic though, I guess people have their blinders on.