Today at work, the Big Boss asked me to lift more than I was comfortable lifting. And I said yes, because you don't say no to the Big Boss, and lifted the weight, and I must admit, in the name of honesty, of "journalistic integrity," or whatever you call it when someone is telling the truth in writing about their life, I lifted it, even though I felt sinews give, and muscles pull.
It hurt, and I felt sorry for myself.
I felt sorry for myself, I am ashamed to say, until The Big Boss said to push The Steel Structure. The Steel Structure, I'd say (were I pressed to guess, because what do I know?), that weighed three times the weight of the heaviest horse I've ever owned, three times a Clydesdale, three tons, and we pushed The Steel Structure, I and my twenty-nine co-workers, we pushed it until it began to tip on one of its' two weight-bearing axises, and it began to fall.
It began to fall, hurtling towards the ground, and we screamed "look out! It's falling!"
And only one of us didn't hear, or didn't heed our call, and it landed on one of us, and he screamed.
Oh god, I'll hear that scream in my dreams, no matter how many more nights I sleep.
It fell on him, and we screamed, and we lifted it back up. But it was too late. The man it fell on, he screamed, and screamed, and all of us pushed, and some of us cried.
He still went with the Big Boss, because the Big Boss said to come, and gave his testimony, out of our hearing.
The rest of us put shelves on a rack without a top tie-rail, later, after The Big Boss told us to get the fuck out of there; it kept buckling and it fell at our feet because it had no top tie-rail, and we said to each other, "it has no top tie-rail, the shelves are the only thing holding it up!" and we piled them on anyway, the shelves, not counting notches in the pegboard, or shelves fallen, and picked back up, until the Big Boss said Go Home. And we went, the shelves lying on the floor, filing past our fallen co-worker, sitting on a chair, having reviewed security footage with The Big Boss, waiting for someone to take him to the hospital, who despite his injuries was sitting on a chair. We said things like "you okay?" and "feel better," filing past him, putting our hands on his shoulder to prove to ourselves that he was alive, "feel better, and sue 'em good!" some of us said, because it's what comes to mind anymore when something like this happens. "I hope you're okay," I said, "you should go to the ER," and he said, smiling faintly, out of it and shocky:
"I will. They just want me to do some paperwork."
And the person I am today patted him on the shoulder. "I hope you're okay," I said, with one foot out the door, because The Big Boss was looking. "If I were you I'd demand medical attention first, and do paperwork later," I said, the person I have become, "and I hope you're okay," I told him, and I went home and made love to my husband, because that is what the fortunate do.
That is what I did, because The Steel Structure didn't fall on me. Not today.
Not that it's much consolation but workers' comp benefits/laws are (usually - always have to say 'usually') stringently applied/enforced so they shouldn't be SOL.
But who doesn't call the EMS when someone is screaming? Screaming merits 911 call, not paperwork. yee-gads.
Posted by: krlr | July 12, 2011 at 01:16 PM
...sorry, that may've sounded unclear. I meant the EMPLOYER/boss/mngr-person - the guy with the company paid cell phone should be calling, & be getting his employee med care post haste.
Posted by: krlr | July 12, 2011 at 01:33 PM
Big Boss should be taken out back and beaten with sticks, for even THINKING of asking you peeps to endanger yourselves like that.
Many hugs. Many many many hugs. And some more hugs.
And another hug. Am feeling shaky on your behalf.
Posted by: May | July 12, 2011 at 02:05 PM
That's not a bad day. That's a horrible, horrifying day, for the person who was injured, of course, but also for the rest of you. That's like a Big Boss should be prosecuted kind of day, or at the very least beat severely as one commenter said. Or perhaps have a huge structure fall on him and then have to do paperwork before receiving medical attention. It's insane.
I hope that guy is OK. I hope you are OK.
Posted by: Véronique | July 12, 2011 at 02:26 PM
Report that shit to the state. Seriously.
Posted by: Melissa | July 12, 2011 at 03:19 PM
That makes me so angry and afraid for you. Glad you did not go in today. What good are laws when we're up against these kinds of companies? I second the reporting thing.
Posted by: ChaosRu | July 13, 2011 at 02:45 PM
Holy hell, woman.
Posted by: K | July 14, 2011 at 01:48 PM