What's a sign that things are about to get real bad, real quick?

When someone who's been doing the job a whole hell of a lot longer than you have,

looks frustrated or nervous. My dad used to work for a pharmaceutical plant. It was dangerous work,

but their foreman was always calm and had never been known to make drama out of anything,

even chemical spills.

One day, the foreman got a call from his wife.

Their newborn daughter was in the ER.

Suspected meningitis didn't look like she'd make it.

He dropped the phone, said nothing, and literally ran the half mile across the plant out

to the car park to get to the hospital.

When he stopped and pulled out his keys, he looked

back and saw a dozen or so others running towards their own cars, including my dad. They thought

that the only thing that would make that man that nervous was a full-on meltdown, so they

weren't sticking around either. His daughter lived and is now a successful engineer, so they still

find the story funny. To answer all the questions I'm getting in one go, she did have meningitis and was extremely ill, but pulled through completely unexpectedly.

This was Ireland, early 90s, so there was no real protocol or experience for meltdown

or severe chemical spills. They obviously had extensive training, but no one genuinely expected it.

Bonus fun facts about the story.

The guy's nickname before all this was Turbo.

This was a joke because this guy only stood up for lunch.

These were not fit young, college-aged men.

They were all in their 30s or 40s, used to sitting down and doing very little hands-on

...