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Comment by wodenokoto | Hacker News Reader

Just like we pass around code-stories/war stories, I remember reading a funny story about this stuck-up senior trader who ended up having to take delivery of a shipment of coal.

Probably an urban legend, but still funny.

This thread seems to support the idea that you can't just receive your futures at home. But I guess even with a designated warehouse, you're stuck with the warehouse bill.

https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/47421/have-any-...

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There is also this story from Bloomberg about when one of their journalists tried to buy a single barrel: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-03/that-time...

"Could a barrel of crude really kill me?" I asked a petrochemical engineer captive to my persistent, doubtlessly annoying questions. It absolutely can, he said. Hydrogen sulfide gas—H2S, for short—has a terrible propensity to evaporate from crude, knock out your olfactory capabilities, and slowly suffocate you to death.

>"Could a barrel of crude really kill me?" I asked a petrochemical engineer

That's like asking an electrician if 120v will kill you. Maybe if you use it wrong enough but odds are it's just going to be unpleasant.

Thank you for that link. It gave me a good chuckle. I work for a lab that analyses air samples. H2S is indeed interesting stuff.

> I remember reading a funny story about this stuck-up senior trader who ended up having to take delivery of a shipment of coal.

Yeah, that was cited about a gajillion times back in May.

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