It's always good to double check things when you're working with electricity, because you can never be too sure. Take my last day at work for example. We had been working in the Tanner Building running some wire down a few conduits to put a new circuit in for the power hungry administrators. That went smoothly, at least until my boss told me to start putting the outlet boxes back in the wall. We shut off the breaker, so he assured me that I shouldn't be worried. So I put a few in no problem, and was assured I had nothing to worry about. However, I did forget that as we were looking for the right circuit we opened up an outlet that was on another breaker, that was on. So as I shoved the wires back in the wall, I failed to realize that even though the contact screws were covered, a small section of wire was still exposed on the hot and return. The next thing I knew, I had the most wonderful tingling feeling running up both of my arms. It took me about a second to realize what was going on, when I ripped myself away from the wall. It sure did give me an adrenaline rush though.
So, let's see what we learned today: 1) Always check for power, even when you "know" the breaker is off. 2) Only use one hand at a time. and 3) 120V won't kill you, unless it goes through your heart.
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