I don't have many mortal fears...

But one of them is injury from a garbage disposal. I've never seen anyone get injured by one, nor do I know anyone who has, but the damn thing frightens me. Perhaps it is the fact that it is a deadly spinning blade in a small black hole that I can't see into.

Normally, if I am doing the dishes or something, I usually finish by running the disposal and cleaning the sink. I make sure that no one is within 10 feet of the sink before flipping the switch. When something gets stuck in there, I usually wait until the house is empty to work on it, so that there will be no one flipping the switch by accident, and I try very hard to not put my hands in there.

Well, today at work, I was washing some dishes in the sink, when one of the other folks who works in the building walked by and flipped the switch for the disposal. I probably jumped back about 10 feet, and my heart was racing. She said she was trying to find the light switch. I'm not sure why she thought it would be in the middle of the room next to the sink, 20 feet from the lights she was trying to turn on, but that's just me I guess.