Have
you ever unloaded a delivery truck full of flowers and other plants? It is not
as easy as it seems. The good part is the smell. All of those flowers and herbs.
Who can resist it? You are immediately transported to a beautiful, peaceful
garden. When you have help it is even better. There is the comradery and fun of
working together. This is a very good way to get to know your co-workers.
I
worked in retail for a few years and the best part of it was the summer that I
worked in the Lawn and Garden department. I started slow, just ringing up
purchases and clipping the ‘deadheads’ off of plants. Eventually I was trusted
enough to do the watering and determining which plants should be clearanced
before they completely died. Finally, I was trusted enough to help unload the
truck and put up the displays. I was very excited about it, but it might not
have been the best idea on the supervisor’s part.
I
am incredibly accident prone. I am the only person that I know that can trip
over dust. This particular day was sunny but not too hot. It was the perfect
day for being outside. Me, my supervisor and three coworkers were unloading the
truck. Thankfully they did not allow me to use the forklift. I would wait for
one of the racks to come off of the truck then move it to the proper staging
area and unload it. There was a lot of chatter about how pretty the plants were
and how good they smelled mingled with stories of childhood and joking with
each other. Everyone else had done this before but it was my first time. That
is why I made the mistake. I was pulling a cart, about six feet tall, two feet
deep and four feet wide. I was laughing but paying attention to the ground so I
didn’t trip. As I approached the display I heard my supervisor tell me to push
the cart, not pull it next time. It was easier to control that way. Her saying this
must have been some kind of cosmic signal. At that moment the back wheel hit a
dip in the parking lot and the cart sped up. The front wheel hit the back of my
ankle and I fell forward landing flat on my stomach. The cart tipped sideways
causing petunias to go flying.
I
immediately began to laugh. Laughter has always been my way of avoiding crying.
In this case crying tears both of pain and of embarrassment. I knew that I had
cut up my hands a bit and my ankle hurt, but I was basically okay. The supervisor
and my coworkers came over to check on me, they must have thought I was insane
sitting on the ground covered in dirt and flowers, laughing like a lunatic. I
kept assuring them that I was okay, but the supervisor went in the store to
fill out an incident report. We all began to clean up the mess, fortunately most
of the trays of petunias were salvageable. All in all, I think we only lost
three flats.
By
the time we were finished I was starting to realize there was a squishy feeling
in my shoes with each step I took and I was starting to hurt. The adrenaline had
kept me pain free for a while, but it was wearing off. I told everyone I was
going to go in and sit down for a bit while I waited for the paperwork to sign.
I got to the office and sat in the chair. I took off my shoe and realized what
that feeling had been. My socks were drenched in blood and there was a fairly
large cut on the back of my ankle. Needless to say, I did not work anymore that
day. I did not need stitches, but I did need to rest and bandage it. The worst
part about it was that I was not allowed to work in Lawn and Garden for ten
days after that. I had to work the register until the wound healed completely.
I
wound up with a scar on that ankle. Being me, I decided to make it a more prominent
reminder of the incident, paired with other things. I had a tattoo put on the
side of my leg. It is a bouquet of flowers.
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