So close to a Darwin award
The following is true. If you hear this story someday and think it’s an urban legend, drop me a note and I’ll get you in touch with the actual participants.
My sister in law — we’ll call her “Dee” — went out with her husband (”Jay”) while Jay’s teenage son stayed at home. For unimportant reasons, Jay’s son put out the pilot light of their gas stove, and believed that because the burners went “click, click, click” without lighting, the gas was off.
This turns out not to be the case.
Some time later, Dee and Jay returned home to the unmistakable smell of gas. The strong smell of gas.
Most people would have done one of two things: A) Leave immediately and call either the gas company or the fire department, or B) cautiously enter and investigate, hoping it’s a minor thing that can be quickly fixed.
Jay chose option C.
What was option C? It was “Ignite your lighter to verify that it is indeed gas you are smelling.”
It was indeed gas.
When the events that immediately followed Jay’s impromptu test were concluded, Dee pointed out to him that his method of testing for gas might need a little work. I wish I had been there to record her actual words.
His reply: “It was only a little fireball.”
(Thankfully, no one was hurt — had they arrived a half-hour later, though, there might have been a different ending.)
gnomic says:
Wow. Your sister-in-law’s kid may be President someday.