Is it too much to ask?

This is what I found yesterday morning in a basement in St. Louis.

That gas pipe is about an inch away from the front of that handy box and switch.

Why?

I find stuff like this more often than you'd think.

If the switch were properly installed and operational, I wouldn't care. It was not, however.

There was no power in this box so the switch could not have done anything.

I had gone to this location to temporarily install service to the furnace to which this box is attached.

I had to hold the pipe over to the side just a little so I could eventually remove the plate and switch.

I was finally able to clip the one wire on the switch, run some wire, temp the furnace, and install a breaker.

It took about an hour to get this done.

It was 16°F in the basement.