Every job has their downsides. Working in retail means you need to handle the occasional awful customer, working in education means you have to survive long hours for very minimal pay, and some professions even have you interact with chemicals capable of ending your life....Wait, what?
Reddit user, u/Shinespark7, wanted to hear the the closest of close calls when they asked:
What's the most toxic substance you've come in contact with?
Burning Grass
In my home town we have a mill yard for the pulp and paper mill that shut down a while back. When I was in high school there was a derailment of a car with really high concentration peroxide. I'm not sure of the percentage, but it was causing grass and other plants to spontaneously combust. I was probably about 30 ft from it passing in a school bus.
For everyone asking, Fort Frances is the place. And here's an article https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.duluthnewstribune.com/business/transportation/2452811-chemical-spill-reported-after-train-derailment-fort-frances%3famp
Concentrated H2O2 is no joke, that stuff will oxidize just about anything.
Gently Wafting Radiation
Giphy
I'm originally from Belarus and while I didn't come into direct contact, Chernobyl radiation was gently breezing on my family daily.
Material Intended To End Lives
As a vet intern, I frequently handle Euthasol in small doses for companion animals or very large doses for horses. I'm warned to keep gloves tight & wash my hands after to prevent residue getting on me or my own animals.
IDK if its overkill but since its the drug we use solely to end lives, ya kinda dont want to be complacent around 100 ccs of it when 12 will likely kill someone my size
It works similar to anesthesia I believe. Your cells use Na/K gates to transmit nerve signals and preform actions. It sits at a certain level and a signal depolarizes it to threshold, causing those gates to do their thing. IIRC, both Euthasol and anesthesia push your cells farther down so usual signals cannot reach threshold and will not pass on signals the brain or limbs send.
Or in the case of euthanasia, it prevents the heart from beating on its own as well as knock them out. Just a few mL of this bright pink fluid will mess you up and it aint pepto bismol.
Takes A Lot To Get Our Charge
Airborne cadmium dust in a battery manufacturing plant.
why is that bad
Cadnium metal, transition earth metal on periodic table, pulls oxygen out and makes a cadnium oxide, proper protection is a PD,PP SCBA, is also a carcinogen, all around nasty sh-t
You Move As We Move
I don't know what it was, but during a safety briefing for touring a chemical plant I was visiting the guides said, "Follow us. If we stop, you stop. If we walk, you walk. If we run, keep up."
Apparently they were chemicals capable of becoming airbourne if there was a breach and in large enough amounts could kill you from coming into contact with your skin.
Living, Breathing Fear
hydrofluoric acid.
it's the only thing that really gave me a sensation of actual fear.
TL;DR for people who aren't familiar with hydroflouric acid.
It's not as corrosive as something like sulfuric or hydrochloric acid, meaninng it won't burn you as badly. However, it quickly leeches into your skin and your bloodstream, where it reacts with the calcium in your blood.
When your blood calcium drops to a large enough degree you can go into cardiac arrest.
To make matters worse, it also binds to the calcium in your bones and really f-ck up your calcium metabolism. From a medical point of view, it can be really hard to treat and in large enough quantities it's almost always fatal.
Oh, Also...
I am a pharmaceutical analytical chemist so I often work with pure drug substances. These include cancer/aids/hepatitis drugs that are highly potent and only require doses in the microgram range.
Oh also fentanyl.
"The Green Cloud Of Death"
Concentrated chlorine-
AKA "the green cloud of death"
Cleaned the bilge on my sailboat the other day with a bleach compound. Crappy ventilation in a tight space. Had to evacuate for fresh air. Couldn't breathe and I was gagging. Terrible idea. My ribs still hurt a few days later from all the coughing and my lungs still have a small bit of fluid in them.
Explosions EVERYWHERE
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I'm on a spill team at my work at a contract lab so any dangerous chemical spill I have to respond to with other team members. I think the worst I responded to was either sodium arsenite or potassium cyanide. We had to clear out the whole lab and suit up to clean it...
...The scariest I've seen in the chemistry division (I'm a QC microbiologist on the volunteer spill team) is phosphorus pentoxide. The nasty chemicals are usually used in the raw materials testing group or Mass spectrometry group.
I don't know what most of those things are and I'm still scared
White phosphorus (phosphorus pentoxide)plus any moisture and you have a Michael Bay movie.
We're Done. That's It.
When I worked as a gas station attendant, the other workers let a puddle of brown urine (indicating possible hepatitis) and vomit about a centimeter deep sit in the corner of the women's restroom for two weeks. By the time I got there it had mixed into a fecal-like sludge that was actively rotting. I'll let you guess what ELSE I found in that puddle (hint: it was sharp).
Jesus Christ that's it, it's over. You've won retail hell.
What's the most toxic material you've ever escaped from? Let us know all about it!
War Face GIF
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Apparently, their sense of humor has no bounds. Curious to hear from drill sergeants online, Redditor darkstalker1000 asked:
"Drill instructors, what is the funniest thing you have seen a Private do?"
The following examples were utterly humiliating, but valuable lessons were learned.
Longheld Punishment
"Had 2 guys get in a fight in our bay during basic. The drill sergeant made them hold hands and pretending to be on a date all week. Only time they could let go of each other's hands was rack time. They ended up becoming pretty good friends."
Confusing Paycheck
"Ex British Army officer here."
"A corporal went on a nine week mortar course and was accommodated (obviously) while he was away. It turned out he knew one of the DS teaching the course and was invited, regularly, to dine and drink in the Sergeant's Mess."
"The month after coming back from the course, he brought his payslip to me with a puzzled look on his face and, embarrassed, explained he didn't understand what it meant and could I help him?"
"It emerged that the Sergeant's Mess had a chitty system - you didn't pay for your drinks at the time, but signed for them and the total bill was deducted from your pay."
"This legend had managed to drink more than his monthly salary both months he'd been away and his payslip was a negative balance."
"I'm sorry Smith, I'm afraid you owe the Army £235 ($327.50) this month."
Asking For An Advance
"Former European Anti-Air Trainee here."
"Recruit spent his first check on alcohol and sex workers, asked his commander for next months check in advance the next day. Instead of having a good excuse prepared to actually succeed in that proposal he blankly told him in front of 80 other recruits why he'd need it."
Eye-Level Reprimand
"I saw a guy post about how he was like 6'3 and his DS was like 5'2, so whenever he messed up the DS would go up to him face to chest and yell 'Elevator!' and the guy would bend down to eye level with the DS and say 'Ding!' and the DS would proceed to look him in the eye while he chewed him out."
Some experiences were downright hilarious.
The Stain
"Not an RDC, but in boot camp I was over the laundry crew. One recruit sh*t himself because he thought he couldn't leave his rack after taps. It was funny at the moment before I realized I had to wash it."
– ScootaFL
Ambush Training
"This was the funniest f'king thing I ever read from u/odomotto"
"Recruit fired all his blank ammo during 'ambush training.' He crawled in ditch opposite where the aggressors were, and started throwing rocks at them. DI came running in middle of the road blowing his whistle and screaming 'what the f'k are you doing?' Recruit screamed back, 'throwing hand grenades drill sergeant!' Without missing a beat, the DI screamed 'out f'king standing.' And walked away."
"My sides hurt and I was wheezing laughing so hard at this when I first heard it!"
These punishments made no sense. And that's why they're memorable.
The Replacement
"When I was in basic, a kid we called 'Albino' shot off a blank round accidentally in the field. The sergeants were pissed and took his weapon away and replaced it with a broomstick for the remainder of the week in the field."
"Man I remember some dude didn't put the sheet on his bunk the right way and had to wear the sheet as a cloak and go to all the other barracks dancing around sing about how he was the 'Catch Edge Fairy' or something. It was pretty silly, he owned it though. He was doing twirls the whole time. This was Navy bootcamp."
– Konebred
Despite how they are depicted on film, drill instructors are people who care.
Like, Beals – a drill sergeant at Fort Knox, Kentucky – who said:
"We provide more than just physical, mental and emotional guidance for them. You are a father, a preacher, a financial advisor, a counselor-you provide so many different services to the Soldier that the regular public doesn't see on day to day basis."
"They see what they see in movies and what they hear about by word of mouth. But you are fulfilling so many roles other than just being a trainer and teaching an individual how to be a Soldier in the Army."
And occasionally, they are having a laugh at the crazy things their trainees do.