Death is not an option: giving in to temptation.

Which would you totally do if you didn't know better (and suspect someone might catch you)?

Option 1: Yank on the cord, not the plug, to unplug that appliance.

Option 2: Step on the very top step of the step-ladder (that the warning label admonishes you not to use as a step) to get the lemons off the high branches.

Me? I'm having lemonade this afternoon.

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umm...yank the cord. I have too much mass to risk falling for some lemons that I can knock out of the tree.

climb the step, obviously.
In fact, the top most step that is clearly not meant for climbing is only one of my 642 part list of things I don't climb solely because I'm afraid somebody will catch me. "knowing better" doesn't even enter into it.

Aint no lemon tree so tall I'd need to use the top step, and I aint never gotten the plug out of the socket by pulling on the cord. So both options are non-starters.

I'd pull the cord, definitely. I'm afraid of heights, so I rarely climb ladders more than half-way up under the best of circumstances. I'd probably try and throw things at the lemons to dislodge them and make them drop into my hands. :)

I'd yank the cord, right after falling off the top step in the vain hope that it would keep me from hitting the ground.

If you didn't know better, you'd do both and you certainly wouldn't worry about somebody catching you doing something that you didn't even know was wrong!

Having had to pay money to repair a vacuum cleaner plug that was a victim of cord yanking, why would I do that? I don't think it would be a danger, but a cost is a good deterrent. But even at my advanced age (end of the Boomer era), my general overconfidence sometimes leads me to the top step, as well as using a swivel chair as a ladder.

By guppygeek (not verified) on 18 May 2008 #permalink

Longer arms will fix both of those problems.

By Uncle Fishy (not verified) on 19 May 2008 #permalink

Pull the plug. I'm scared petrified of heights. I usually don't make it past the fourth step on a ladder, so it's really not that much a choice. I've only ever gotten (accidentally) shocked while properly unplugging a microscope. Yeah, that was smooth.

Though, if I shocked myself, I don't guess it was too "properly," now was it?

Be very, very careful of ladders. They are tricksy. One threw me off the very bottom step and it took a nice, young orthopedic surgeon to put my shoulder back together again.

Sadly, I do both fairly frequently. But I live alone so I guess there's no danger of being caught.

By shannon conley (not verified) on 21 May 2008 #permalink

1. Go to the store and buy a bag of lemons.
2. Throw the lemons at the high hanging fruit, knocking the lemons off the tree.
3. Pick up lemons from the ground
4. Forget the ladder.

Plug the appliance into a switched socket, and use the wall switch.