To be fair I would have to admit that the accident at the lab was probably my fault. I tried to explain to the professor that it was just one of those things that sometimes happen, but he wouldn't have a bar of it. He was pissed off no end. Let me explain what happened.
My name is Susan and I'm doing a chemistry major at Uni. I'm a brunette, nearly twenty, quite fit, intelligent and reasonably popular with both sexes. To earn extra credits I was acting as an assistant to Professor Duncan. He was doing some research into cloth and the effect that acid has upon different types, including man made materials.
Now one of the rules around the lab is that we should always wear these heavy leather aprons when we're handling the acids. The idea is that if we spill the stuff we can just take off the apron and run the tap over it to dilute and wash off the acid. The aprons also save us from burns if we have a little splash. You can see tiny pit marks all over the aprons.
As the professor explained, a little splash that will burn a little scar onto a leather apron will probably burn right through our normal clothes and probably out skin, as well. So - using acid equates to wearing an apron.
But I wasn't using the acids on this occasion. I was just running tests on various types of material, assessing their strength. Accordingly, I skipped using the apron and was wearing a light sundress. After all, it was summer and a hot day and who wanted to swelter in a heavy apron when it's not needed?
Mike, the other lab assistant, was playing with the acids and he was sweltering like crazy. His hard luck, not mine. He pointed out that, according to the rules, I should have on an apron as the acids were out and in use. I in turn pointed out that he could go and screw himself.
We'd both nearly finished our experiments when Mike received a phone call. His sister had been involved in a car accident and could he please come and give her a hand. Well, obviously he was going to. He asked me if I'd pack up for him and I said, "Sure, now shoo." He took off and I finished up my experiments and packed up my stuff.
It was at this point that I should really have put on that damned apron. The acids that Mike had been playing with were still all out, half the containers without their lids BUT - I was just going to cap them and store them, not use them, so screw the apron.
I was busy slapping the lids on when I heard Professor Duncan coming. I got a move on, hoping to have the acids all sealed before he got here and save myself a rocket. The professor can get a bit snarky about safety.
I guess I must have rushed a bit too much. I was just slapping the last lid on a container and I must have slapped it on at an angle. The fucking container shot out from under my hand, didn't it, falling over and sending an absolute flood of acid spilling onto me.
I screamed. Who wouldn't? The next thing I know a hand has me by the back of the neck and leaning well forward while something cold and metallic seemed to run down my spine. My sundress just dropped away from me, and so did my bra. My panties stayed on, but even they were cut through on one side.
I was jerked away from there as my clothes fell to the floor and just lay there in a seething smouldering heap. Professor Duncan spun me around and turned a blasted hose on me, saturating me. And I was standing there effectively naked. Half a pair of panties don't cover anything, I assure you.
Eventually I worked out the sequence of events. The professor has walked in just as the acid spilled towards me. He saw I had no apron, grabbed a pair of heavy cloth shears, bent me forward so that the acid contaminated clothing wouldn't touch me and run the sheers down my back, cutting everything in two. Then he'd turned me so he could use the hose to wash off any spots that may have landed on me.
I was doubly lucky. None of the acid had landed on me directly and the professor moved so fast that it didn't have time to burn through my dress. (Of which there was now nothing left apart from a few black rags.) I could have been really badly burned and instead had escaped with just a cold shower, and who cared about that?
What I didn't escape was the tongue lashing the professor proceeded to give me. Did I realise how badly I could have been hurt? Yes. Did I know how much paper work this sort of accident could create? No, but I wasn't particularly concerned with paperwork at that moment.
Did I realise that someone was going to have to write an official report for the Health and Safety Committee? I could have guessed that. Did I know who was going to be writing it? Unfortunately, I could guess that, too.
I finally got the nerve to break in.
"Ah, professor, it probably wouldn't look too good if someone came in and found me standing here naked. Is there something I could wear?"
He stopped his snarling and looked at me. I mean he really looked at me, eyes going from top to bottom and back again, pausing at all the interesting things he spotted along the way.
"Yeees," he said slowly. "You are rather undressed, aren't you? I suppose we should find you something to wear."
He didn't have to sound so reluctant about it. He walked over to some storage cupboards and pulled out a lab-coat. It was just a short coat that buttoned up the front and reached down to my thighs. Just. OK while I was standing still but as soon as I started walking someone was going to get a pleasant surprise.
"How did you get here today, Susan?"
"Took the bus," I admitted.
"Hmm. Well, it might not be quite appropriate to go home by bus dressed like that. I'd better run you home."
I wasn't going to say no. Imagine stepping up into a bus in an outfit so short that anyone behind you will see your wahoo. And with no panties at that.
