Wednesday, April 24, 2013

My Own Worst Enemy

     So, yesterday I'm driving into work, doing a weekday ritual:

     1. Slide passenger seat forward.
     2. Remove small metal case from floor behind seat.
     3. Set case on passenger seat.
     4. Slide passenger seat back.

     I do this while the car is in motion and without looking; subsequent steps are performed only while stopped.

     This time, the completion of Step 4 was marked by, "Pssss...ssss...ssssssssssssssSs...."  Disconcerting.

     I slid the seat forward and reached without looking again, encountered something cylindrical, picked it up, and lifted it around towards me.

     Huge mistake.

     "ssssssssSsss!"  I sprayed "Instant TireFlator" on the right side of my face and got a little in my right eye!  Took a couple of seconds to work out what was going on: the side seam was slightly (!!!) popped and any flexing at all made it open.  "sssSss," indeed.

     I transferred it to my left hand ("SSsss...") and pulled over to the left-side curb, grateful I was on a one way road, and tossed it into a handy trashcan.  ("SSssssssss")  Cleaned my face and eye off as best I could with a paper towel, pondered the time it would take to get to work (less than five minutes, if I timed the lights right) and took off.

     Rinsed out my eye as soon as I arrived, looked up the MSDS for the stuff, and ran through a whole pint bottle of eyewash (naptha and ammonia, eeeee).

      "You have such interesting drives to work," one of my co-workers remarked.  Yeah, ain't they just?

12 comments:

Julie said...

Hope there's no long term damage to your eye.

Roberta X said...

Yes, thus the multiple rinsings. I've been in the ER for an eye issue in the past and barring actual, evident trauma, there's just not all that much they can do besides rinsing.

og said...

I worked with a guy who accidently maced himself in the face while driving. The mace was disguised as a cigarette lighter. He was doing 65 on twisty back roads in Arkansas.
Hope your eyes and face are best soonest.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like an episode from "I Love Lucy." Hope you're okay and your eyes make a full recovery.

Mike

Dave H said...

I've used enough Fix-A-Flat to build 3 or 4 complete tires by now, but I really don't like carrying it in the car. At least not in the heat of summer. I'm afraid I'll open the trunk one day and find everything coated in white goo.

Hope your eye doesn't show any permanent effects.

Mark Alger said...

Doesn't matter how careful or prudent you are. Murphy wins.

So glad the damage appears ephemeral.

M

NAVIGATOR said...

RINSING FOR AT LEAST 10 MINUTES
FIT AN EYEPATCH
HIE THEE TO AN OPHTHALMOLOGIST
FEEL BETTER SOON

Douglas2 said...

Aerosols and liquids carried in my car get double-bagged in plastic, and if it is a product that has bitten me before there may be some napkins or paper towel in the bag just for good measure.

Jeffro said...

Did someone lay a Chinese curse on ya? ;)

Old NFO said...

Ouch! Hope there is no damage...

Anonymous said...

Hope your eye is alright.

Additionally, I hope you never, ever, get something like a pet monkey or anaconda or the like to ride along in the car with you to work.

Mike James

CGHill said...

Worst I ever had was an exploding can of biscuits in the trunk on a 105-degree day. No damage to me, but the cleanup job was decidedly unfun.