The Concert Will Be On Fire Tonight!

(I’m a senior audio engineer working for an events company. We’re setting up for a large outdoor concert and I’m extra cautious when dealing with such large amounts of electricity. I’m double checking the wiring when I notice an error that would cause one of our main speaker stacks to set on fire shortly after power up. We’re still not set up and no one is supposed to power up without my say so, so I begin working on fixing the issue. I’m nearly finished when I notice one of the junior engineers has gone along behind me resetting the wiring to the dangerous fashion.)

Me: “Excuse me, what the hell are you doing?”

Junior Engineer: “I’m fixing the wiring. Some a**-hole has f***ed up how I did it. It’ll be much louder this way.”

Me: “Yes, the screams of all the people trapped in a burning arena will be pretty loud.”

Junior Engineer: “What the f*** are you on? You don’t know s***!”

Me: *angry* “The wiring is wrong. You’re going to burn this place down if we power up like that. I’ve been in this business for over twenty years. I’m the senior engineer on this site. Now listen to me AND STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING!”

Junior Engineer: *nonchalant* “Well, why didn’t you say so? We’d better make sure everyone else knows.”

(He grabbed a wireless mike and started hitting the switches on the main amplifiers. I dove for the master power override, cutting it off seconds before he turned on the dangerous amp.)