If you look up nile red's youtube channel you will see his "pouring acid on my hand video" as one of his most if not the most popular.
I have seen this. Yes, I have taken boards in/out of a horizontal etch tank without gloves, and it won't melt your skin off, lol. But repeated brief exposure will give you some painful hangnails!
Is best to avoid direct contact as much as possible and immediately dilute/rinse after exposure. HCl will also burn holes right through a brand new cotton shirt in short order.
Skin is pretty tough stuff. I was only half joking when I mentioned spilling it on your crotch. The mucous membranes of eyes/nose/mouth, as well as the ones below your belly button, are the bits that are not going to like direct contact even for a second.
This thread prompted me to google hydrofluoric acid accidents. One of the more memorable ones was 2 guys filling a bucket by putting it on top of a stack of shipping crates so they could tip a 55 gallon drum of 70% HF acid into it. This is an example of what can happen trying to do something with the wrong equipment. The biggest accident I found was made by a couple of workers unloading a tanker truck of HF acid using compressed air, and skipping some safety procedures. A very unfortunate accident occurred partially because the chemist was extraordinarily tall. The hooded bench was too short for him, so he was sitting when he tipped over a small container of HF, which then spilled onto his thighs. The investigation also concluded that he would have had a better chance if he had more water available. The lab was equipped with a water hose, but the flow was rather low. 6L per minute, IIRC. If he had large bucket of water on hand, he might have lived.
Of course HCl is much less of a danger. But even if it means saving a perfectly fine pair of jeans, or preventing yourself from stubbing a toe or pulling a muscle while running for the shower and/or getting out of your clothes in record time, having some basic stuff on hand can help prevent some wishful hindsight. And if people are willing to take such chances with HF acid for something as mundane as their job, I imagine there are plenty of people willing to take some liberties in order to get their very first board etched.