So curiosity was getting the better of me so I done a little searching. Surprisingly this is not to uncommon! Here is an old thread from another forum, I don't remember which one but it gives a pretty good explanation of why it is happening and how to resolve it.
Fair warning I do not have a degree in Science mine is in Business, but my little pea brain tells me this makes some sense.
I, too, am going to revive this thread as I just spent the better part of my day trying to figure out what was causing this and how to stop it.
I just set up my first RO unit today and after about 2-3 gallons in my brand new bucket, I noticed a loose piece of plastic floating around and reached in to grab it when I got a BIG shock. I scoured Google for hours before learning a thing or two.
Long story short, RO tubing (polyethylene) creates a charge in the water flowing through.
The plastic trash can (reservoir) is also a plastic and was holding the charge.
The reservoir was sitting on my laminate floor, preventing it from being grounded.
SOLUTION: I grounded the water in my reservoir by running a length of electrical wire from a wire housing in my unfinished ceiling down INTO the water in the reservoir - NO MORE SHOCKS!!
Now, WHY was this happening in the first place? Tap water has dissolved minerals like calcium, magnesium, iron, sodium, etc. The RO unit is supposed to remove these, but most 3-4 stage systems only remove UP TO 98%. The other 2+% still contains electrons, protons and neutrons. As it passes through the tubing, it has a chance to build a charge. Obviously ymmv depending on your tap water and your RO or RO/DI, but this is the basic idea. Given the right circumstances (plastic tubing, high enough flow rate, bubbles in the line, plastic *ungrounded* reservoir), you're going to end up with a bit of a shock.
For those of you with an RO/DI unit wondering how deionized water can create a charge, I ask if you felt a shock WITH or WITHOUT the salt already mixed in. Many (if not all) salt mixes contain enough added minerals that contain ions, thus re-ionizing your water -- is that even a word??
End of story: ground your water. It's a cheap and simple solution to being shocked (or worse, not noticing the static charge and filling your tank with it). Hope this saves someone from hours of Google'ing!