The Daily Cuppa Weekly Prompt

A Guide to Accidental Self-Electrocution

How a wiring assignment turned into a shock therapy session

Read free here.

I reached the Electrical Engineering lab early that morning, panicking about finishing the wiring assignment I had left unfinished the previous day. It was my first year in college, and my circuit was supposed to make a fan spin.

I just wanted it over with, switch it on, get the nod from my instructor, and leave with dignity.

“Demonstrate,” he said. I took one last look and turned it on.

What followed was a jolt! Or was it lightning entering my body through my right hand? Did I see stars? Don’t remember much. It took a moment to even register it as an electric shock.

The instructor, indifferent, unbothered, with the driest sarcasm imaginable, said: “Please don’t shock me.”

Even after decades, it’s still the humdinger of my college life. My first and only lightning bolt, served with a side of insult.