Static shocks - are you prone to them?

Biggins · 24-07-2012 02:46PM #1

Every time I walk though a particular town centre, I sell to get a serious amount of nasty static shocks from either the buttons on lifts, from door handles and other items.
Its always in one shopping centre.
Around the rest of the town, I'm absolutely fine.

Is it something to do with the materials, the building was constructed with?

Anyone else the same? Are you prone to static more so in some areas or at all?

Any suggestions (besides avoiding the property) for lowering the chances of being zapped by static?

scdublin · 24-07-2012 02:49PM

Yep, and everyone finds it hilarious because of my reaction and they can usually hear the shock too. It happens to me with cars mostly!

Aglomerado · 24-07-2012 02:50PM

All the time. :mad: Gah.

AnonoBoy · 24-07-2012 02:51PM

Wearing a rubber wet suit all the time sorts this out I find.

Plazaman · 24-07-2012 02:54PM

Tis your shoes, you must have rubber or synthetic soles on them thats not letting natural static go to ground. I used to get mad shocks and the family dog refused to come near me and still treats me with suspicion nearly a year on.

Get yourself to the cobbler

ejmaztec · 24-07-2012 02:54PM

AnonoBoy wrote: »

Wearing a rubber wet suit all the time sorts this out I find.

.. and if that doesn't solve the problem, using an electric toaster in the bath will.

Gbear · 24-07-2012 02:56PM

Protip:

If you get shocked by shopping trollies a lot, as you're moving around the shop, keep contact with the metal at all times.

This way you're constantly discharging the static rather than getting it in big lumps which hurt your hand.

smash · 24-07-2012 02:56PM

Biggins wrote: »

Every time I walk though a particular town centre, I sell to get a serious amount of nasty static shocks from either the buttons on lifts, from door handles and other items.

Chernobyl?

FatherLen · 24-07-2012 02:57PM

it's your super power beginning to activate. put you hand in the toaster to unlock your true potential.

I am pie · 24-07-2012 02:59PM

Always always getting zapped on the paw by those self checkout touch screens at the supermarket. Arrghhhh

I always put it down to not lifting my feet properly shuffling around the supermarket.

castletownman · 24-07-2012 03:01PM

I found when I was in Las Vegas years ago I ALWAYS got static shocks from touching anything metal (car doors etc). It only happened in Vegas though, never anywhere else in the States, and we travelled around every where in it every summer!

I figured it must have been all the neon lights :P

norrie rugger · 24-07-2012 03:05PM

scdublin wrote: »

Yep, and everyone finds it hilarious because of my reaction and they can usually hear the shock too. It happens to me with cars mostly!

when you feel the charge building up then zap one of them. Usually makes them stop laughing

smash · 24-07-2012 03:08PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PPDmDnxcEc

kwestfan08 · 24-07-2012 03:10PM

Yep. Shopping trolleys are the bane of my life

uch · 24-07-2012 03:26PM

Haha, reminds me of when we were kids, we lived near an urban cattle farm, cattle kept in by electric fence's, which for some reason the shock from it never bothered me, so I'd stand beside it and hold on and when any friends came by I'd put out me hand to shake hands with them, then Crack! ahh you effin Bastrad!!, you'd be surprised how bleedin' stupid some people are, getting caught like that several times.

24-07-2012 03:35PM

Yeh, hate the feckers, shopping trolleys are the worse offenders and supermarket fridges are a close second :mad:

Latchy · 24-07-2012 03:36PM

Yes...I'm another static shocker and I got to learn the difference between a live wire ,as in a faulty plug and just touching the surface of something and getting a (usually mild but sometimes stronger ) shock .The funniest example of this was several years ago on the Liverpool v Dublin ferry as I brushed past a female crew member ,we both let out an ' ouch ' and jolted away from each other as our arms gently touched and triggered a static shock ( sounds like something from Mills and Boon ) and passengers on both sides of cabin were wondering what the hell was up with us

clintondaly · 24-07-2012 03:44PM

Im afriad to go near a Dunnes Stores because of the shocks i got and its not down to the low prices,my car is the same,i am now in the habit of touching the car with my elbow to discharge the static,also i had my daughter at the playground the other day and i was catching her coming down the slide and you could hear the static.

and the weirdest is chocolate bar wrapper Mars,Snickers etc. which once i open them i cannot get them off my hand.

kfallon · 24-07-2012 03:45PM

Yes but not as bad as I was, the button for the lift in work was one that would often catch me out

candy-gal1 · 24-07-2012 03:48PM

I was a static shock virgin till about a few years ago, I got my first electric shock off another persons clothes i think at the time and was seriously like Woah WTF was that?!

:pac:
Was always wondering before that what people were on about really when theyd say "oh i got a mad shock off that metal staircase/jumper/what have you!

mauzo · 24-07-2012 03:50PM

I hate it!! I always get them, and then get a fright and scream and people think im weird.

Ive started to pull my sleeve over my hand when Im going to touch something that might shock me. I use my elbows to push buttons in an elevator, sleeves over hands when Im holding a hand rail etc I look like a right muppet.

mauzo · 24-07-2012 03:51PM

clintondaly wrote: »

Im afriad to go near a Dunnes Stores because of the shocks i got and its not down to the low prices,my car is the same,i am now in the habit of touching the car with my elbow to discharge the static,also i had my daughter at the playground the other day and i was catching her coming down the slide and you could hear the static.

and the weirdest is chocolate bar wrapper Mars,Snickers etc. which once i open them i cannot get them off my hand.

The plastic off a box of cigarettes always sticks to me. So I end up flapping my hand around like an idiot.

norrie rugger · 24-07-2012 03:52PM

I remember working in Dunnes, when younger, and I was working in the paper roll aisle.

All that plastic from the individual packs and the wrapping that held several packs together!
I could feel the charge building enough that hairs on my arms and back of my neck were standing up.
One poor customer tapped me on the arm, to ask a question. Que audible crack and a visible discharge. The poor git must have gotten some shock, as he quite literally jumped back from me with a look of surprised pain on his face.
I found it funny anyway

Latchy · 24-07-2012 03:52PM

candy-gal1 wrote: »

I was a static shock virgin till about a few years ago, I got my first electric shock off another persons clothes i think at the time and was seriously like Woah WTF was that?! :pac:
Was always wondering before that what people were on about really when theyd say "oh i got a mad shock off that metal staircase/jumper/what have you!

Yes ...clothes are another biggie that can trigger static shock on me , usually nylon wool or silk .

Ficheall · 24-07-2012 03:53PM

I find those lecture hall whiteboards which can slide up and down over each other are a disaster too. Mildly entertaining for the students, of course.

kfallon · 24-07-2012 03:56PM

syndeyfife wrote: »

I hate it!! I always get them, and then get a fright and scream and people think im weird.

Ive started to pull my sleeve over my hand when Im going to touch something that might shock me. I use my elbows to push buttons in an elevator, sleeves over hands when Im holding a hand rail etc I look like a right muppet.

Don't go so extreme, use your knuckle to press the button and you'll be ok!

Julius Seizure · 24-07-2012 03:57PM

clintondaly wrote: »

Im afriad to go near a Dunnes Stores because of the shocks i got and its not down to the low prices,my car is the same,i am now in the habit of touching the car with my elbow to discharge the static,also i had my daughter at the playground the other day and i was catching her coming down the slide and you could hear the static.

and the weirdest is chocolate bar wrapper Mars,Snickers etc. which once i open them i cannot get them off my hand.

Thanks you! Dunnes' fridges are the only thing that get me. Or the trampoline springs...

kfallon · 24-07-2012 03:58PM

clintondaly wrote: »

and the weirdest is chocolate bar wrapper Mars,Snickers etc. which once i open them i cannot get them off my hand.

Wham Bar wrappers, takes me about a minute to get it off the bar and then another minute to get it off me fingers! Would drive you round the bend!

mauzo · 24-07-2012 04:00PM

kfallon wrote: »

Don't go so extreme, use your knuckle to press the button and you'll be ok!

Would it not shock me then?? My friends say I look like Im afraid of germs using my elbow lol

harney · 24-07-2012 04:05PM

I used to get them in some server rooms, not fun touching a metal door and nearly losing an arm *perhaps a very slight exaggeration*

The worst though was an old car that my girlfriend and I had. Every time that she kissed me it was like I was hit by lightening, and not in the good way. She thought it was hilarious and kept trying to see how much pain she could cause me. You could actually see sparks sometimes! It got to the stage I was practically huddled in a ball in the back seat trying to get away from her. God damn Spanish and their warped sense of humour. Still, I got my revenge introducing her to the old classic, pull my finger :cool:

kfallon · 24-07-2012 04:06PM

syndeyfife wrote: »

Would it not shock me then?? My friends say I look like Im afraid of germs using my elbow lol

No, just bend your finger and press it with the mid knuckle. Think the tip of the finger is the most conductive (is that a word???) part. Prob has something to do with maybe it's bone at the knuckle. It was a little tip me Da gave me, he's an electrician and it worked for me!

Try it later on or the next time you are in a lift!

If ever I see a weirdo pressing a lift button with their elbow and generally looking like a mong I'll come over and say hi

Static shocks - are you prone to them?

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