'Don't touch anything electrical if you're not an electrician': Frustrated foundry workers maliciously comply with electrician's order

There are some things in life that just make sense… and not messing with the spicy death wires when you have no idea what you're doing is one of them. It's perfect logic that, rather than playing a dangerous game of "Operation," where instead of a startling buzzer sound and a light-up nose, the penalty for failure is your own untimely fiery demise, you should just let the guys who know what they're doing do it. Sure, electricians get flack for being grossly overpaid for what they're actually doing (and for moving at a snail's pace), but the point isn't just what they're doing; it's knowing what not to do and how to not do all of that safely. 

Of course, unnecessary time-wasting and such can be annoying, especially when it eats into your bottom line, so really, the issue here isn't that the electricians had a point, just that they needed to get to that point a little bit faster. So, when the electricians told these frustrated foundry workers and their foreman not to touch "anything" electrical, they were quite happy to turn right back around and waste the electrician's time, too. A classic tale of malicious compliance from a time of dubious safety standards. It's really easy to see this story going a different way. If it had been told from the electrician's perspective, we'd be hearing all about the ornery foundry workers who thought they knew what they were talking about but were really putting themselves in mortal danger.