Workplace safety isn't a joke. There's no job worth getting hurt over, so you should always adhere to safety standards for your protection. If you're unwilling to adhere to safety guidelines, you better be ready to live with those consequences.
She writes:
My company takes safety very seriously. To the point, we regularly have safety briefings to keep us updated. Yesterday, we talked about compactor safety. One of our big rules is to never climb into a compactor unless it’s unhooked from any power sources. Sounds like common sense, right? Well, dear reader, as you’re about to learn, common sense isn’t that common.
After getting our briefing, we get our assignments and are sent. I go to my area, clean it and pull trash. As I walk to the compactor, what do I see sticking out of it but two trousered legs? After the shock lasting a nanosecond wore off, I started yelling. 'What are you doing, you idiot?! Don’t go crawling around in there!' I know I shouldn’t have yelled, but I was so mad.
Well, Mr. Idiot fell out and started yelling at me. 'Don’t you go yelling at me! Where is your manager!? Get them here right now!' Malicious Compliance mode activated. I put on my sweetest smile and said, 'Of course, I’m so sorry. Let’s get my manager here.'
Mr. Idiot smirks and says, 'Good girl.' So I called my manager and asked her to come over. Meanwhile, Mr. Idiot is smiling like the cat who got the cream. I’m fighting to keep from smiling.
Because my manager, Miss Heroine, takes safety as seriously as I do. I’ve seen her reduce full-grown men to tears over safety issues. Miss Heroine shows up, and Mr. Idiot says, 'You should train your workers not to yell.' Miss Heroine turns to me and asks, 'Why were you yelling at him?'
'Because I caught him climbing into the compactor, I got scared he’d be crushed.' In a nanosecond, Mr. Idiot goes from looking like a contented cat to looking like a scolded dog. After a sound verbal thrashing, Miss Heroine calls Mr. Idiot’s manager. Within thirty minutes, Mr. Idiot was clearing out his desk, still smelling of garbage.
The internet has some thoughts.
Vertoule says:
Politeness is pointless when it comes to safety. People think it’s all fun and games until we have to call in the hazmat crew to clean you off the floor. Old boss once dressed down a trainee that was just not listening.
'Do you want a forklift fork through the heart? No? You don’t want me telling your family that you died from a severe case of fork-through-chest-itis? Then obey the signs and stay in the line.' He lasted another week before he was fired for trying to weld over a compressed flammable gas tank.
Thunderbolt294 says:
I had to yell at one of my coworkers for sneaking up behind me while I was driving a forklift. I reminded them that unless they wanted to become a new hood ornament they need to call out that they're passing through. Another thing I always have to remind people is even the medium sized battery forklifts weigh around 6 tons and WILL f*%k things up if they hit them.
Impossible-Bear-8953 says:
I used to be baffled by the warnings 'Do not stand in, on or around while operating.' Then I met my coworkers.
You're right, OP, getting yelled at is a much better option than getting compacted.