WARNING: BITTER, FRUSTRATED RANT AHEAD

AO here again. Well, I'm working at a restraunt for some of the summer here between semesters at Penn State Behrend. Well, I could tell yesterday was going to be a horiffically long day when I came in that morning. The kitchen is notoriously small, and towards the corner is a metal triple-sink for washing and other stuff. Well, two are full of soaking pots and pans, lots of water. Right underneath it was the one fan in the kitchen (there is no ventilation other then a door) and it's plugged in and running, with a three-prong ground but no ground faulting. I went to my boss, politely asking if I could move the fan. He told me not to. I politely explained that the fan, with had semi-exposed witing (the windings in the motor) could deliver a real electrocution hazard. Then he reluctantly let me OK moving the fan. Later in the day I told him that, not being paid any more then my minimum wage pay plug expenses, I could ground-fault and test the sockets at the restraunt, either by replacing the sockets or installing circuit breakers with ground-fault interrupters built in. He declined. In fact, he thought that they already were. However, I covertly checked the circuit breakers and found that there were no built-in GFCIs.

Anyways, the point is that it boggles my mind how at restraunts people ignore or are ingorant to electrical safety! I worked at anoter restraunt where there was no ground-faulting either. One of the cooks I talked to said he had a friend electrocuted at another restraunt- somehow a metal cooler was "leaking" voltage, and he got fried. I cannot believe how people are willing to risk the lives of workers for less then a hundred or so dollars worth of equipment.