Arachnid?

As you know, arachnids are characterised by having eight legs, but one of the reasons that I was called upon by Mrs W to save her from this creature in our bath was the fact that it appeared only to have six legs. However, with a closer view, the two remaining legs are clearly what looked more like a set of pincers.

Why on earth are people so scared of these creatures, especially when you can't even see the hairs on the legs and the eight eyes without getting into macro mode?

This photo was taken in macro mode on my compact camera and only wish I'd had a decent macro lens to get it on my SLR.