I've done my share of installs, and for 10 years after college I was the technical director for a 1,600 seat roadhouse doing 300 shows a season. Plenty of rigging, PLENTY of electrical...lots of time as the "focus monkey" (we'd fly the 2x2' box truss up to show position and I'd lay on top of it, reaching through the truss to focus the lights, crawl along to get them all, then either rappel down or climb up into the attic to dismount).
One install, I learned how to make Secret Service VERY nervous...I had a helper pushing a fish tape through some conduit so we could pull some wire...but he started without me so I couldn't correct him, and he was pushing the metal fish tape TOWARDS the 2,400A service panel. Push-push-push-slide....BOOM! The tape went past the nipple on the box and bucked all three phases. Vaporized about 20' of the tape, and made the goobermint goons (SS, FBI, and Park) VERY uneasy. This was when we were upgrading the lighting and control systems in Ford's Theatre (yes...THAT Ford's theatre). We didn't do any damage, and after a day-long "time-out" so they could check the whole building for "devices" despite my explanation (and head-slaps to my helper so they could see I was just as pissed as they were) for what "that" noise was...we were allowed to finish the job.
I also...um....
met some other agency folks when we were doing part of the Pentagon renovation after 9/11 (we put in four or five full-service theatres/conference areas during the reno). Apparently, they aren't fans of Hilti guns (.22 caliber powered anchor guns that send anchors into concrete floors and ceilings).
Apparently, our foreman "forgot" to alert the staff that we'd be using them on-site....whoops, hehe....I mean, it's not like it sounds like you're racking a 12ga, then firing a gun inside the most secure military complex on the
planet, or anything.....jeez......
