The Boss of One and I were just talking about funny videos where mannequins are blown up to demonstrate the dangers of fireworks.
Oh man, it’s funny when it’s a mannequin. It’s not funny when it’s a four-year-old kid.
I feel badly for healthcare and public safety workers on the 4th of July. Witnessing Darwin’s theory is a difficult task. If you work in healthcare or public safety, how do you recruit and retain employees who have to see humanity at its worst?
Ugh. People are so dumb, but it’s our constitutional right to be stupid, drunk, and make mistakes.
Happy Fourth!
Ouch! Which is why we don’t play with fireworks at my house!
Seriously though, my sister runs an ER in TX, the stories she has to tell! I think one of the ones that sticks out the most was the suicidal man splashing gasoline all over the place. Yeah, the police thought it would be a good idea to taze him. My sister got to deal with the result. Sort of related.
I’ve learned not to call her on holidays.
I think it takes a certain type of person to work those jobs… I am NOT one of them. My sister is; she’s a nurse. She sees all kinds of crazy come into the hospital day after day. I don’t know how she does it, but she does. I think it’s just “in” you.
Whenever I think I’ve had a bad day in HR, I call her for a little perspective. Her bad days are life and death… mine are just employed or unemployed.
@jules OMG, what a story. My mom is a retired police officer and it was no fun to work on the 4th of July. Illegal fireworks + drinking = a confluence of stupidity & accidents.
@jen I think you’re right that it takes a certain kind of person to work at those jobs. I’m neither compassionate enough nor caring enough to take care of people. I’m heartless — which is why I worked in HR!
I volunteer on an EMS advisory group and emergency services folk definitely have enough to deal with without adding the stupidity of fireworks and booze into the mix. Here in California - home of the wildfire - I was proud of my county neighbors, who actually made the 4th a quiet holiday.
Now here’s a lighter ER moment from my SIL, who used to RN in an emergency dept.: young man lays his motorcycle down in traffic on his way to a night of clubbing. When they cut off his tight leather pants, they find a polish sausage taped to his leg. He spends the next days in a unit with RNs and doctors pausing in his doorway, snickering.
Oh Robyn - that’s HYSTERICAL!!!
My dad was a volunteer fire chief and an EMT (in small towns in KS, everyone does everything or the town shuts down). I was an accident prone child. I didn’t actually get to play with fireworks until I was in college, and it was great. Until I burned my forehead with the punk.
My dad loved what he did, but he always said that 4th of July was his least favorite holiday because people didn’t understand that alcohol + explosives = untold badness.
@Robyn OMG, gross. Nothing worse than room temperature meat!
@Heather Those punks are dangerous. I’m also not a fan of snakes. The smell is so gross!!
@Laurie - We used to stack them all together to try to make a super snake… sort of like the one in the “summer sucks” episode of south park. It never worked, but it did smell TERRIBLE!!!