My mother was the unfortunate test subject of my homemade taser (after I tested it on myself several times). She insisted. I protested. She still insisted “for safety reasons,” then nearly confiscated it. Shocking someone else is so much worse than shocking yourself, because when you do it to yourself, you know it hurts, but you don’t feel guilty about it afterwards.
I fixed a Van Der Graaf generator as a physics project once. One hand on the dome, the other shocking people. So much fun. Then the teacher managed to break the Van Der Graaf generator again by using it to shock the freshmen too often. I never got it to work again. Personally, I think it quit working in protest.
SCIENCE SCOUTS 
I seem to shock myself every year or so when I am doing electrolyte demonstrations for my chemistry classes. Fun!
My mother was the unfortunate test subject of my homemade taser (after I tested it on myself several times). She insisted. I protested. She still insisted “for safety reasons,” then nearly confiscated it. Shocking someone else is so much worse than shocking yourself, because when you do it to yourself, you know it hurts, but you don’t feel guilty about it afterwards.
I fixed a Van Der Graaf generator as a physics project once. One hand on the dome, the other shocking people. So much fun. Then the teacher managed to break the Van Der Graaf generator again by using it to shock the freshmen too often. I never got it to work again. Personally, I think it quit working in protest.
I watched a guy discharge a rail gun capacitor with needlenose pliers once.
For safety.
Hey I told the kid to keep BOTH hands on the VDG generator.
That’s why I rap the grocer’s door with my knuckles before opening.