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The conveyer belt is not a ride.

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  • The conveyer belt is not a ride.

    So our tills have a little detector for the belts and when groceries cross it the belt stops moving. This is also the case if the belt's been moving for a while without anything crossing the detector. Are tills are set up to tills a pod, facing away from each other. As shown in picture. This is probably a familiar setup to all of you. With the brackets being the spot where the customer/employee interact over. I was on till 8 as is my usual because I hate the cold and try to keep as far away from the constantly opening doors as possible (I do evening shifts now).

    SC comes up to my till carrying her kid. Instead of setting him down on the ground an keeping an eye on it she puts him on the empty till opposite mine (till9). I tell the SC that she can't have her kid on the belt and refuse to serve her because it's a safety hazard. We aren't allowed as staff to touch the kid because nothing has happened (yet) despite it being at risk.

    Of course this is when the kid discovers the motion detector that moves the belt. Also that if he moves his fingers at the right spot the belt moves! And to a toddler this must seem the coolest thing ever. But before anyone can actually do anything the toddlers fingers are sucked up in the corner gap between the rotating belt, the side of the belt and the metal plate over the belt. An adult can't get their fingers in there, the gap's too small. A kid on the other hand...
    [[warning: content ahead may not be suitable for all audiences]]

    Of course the kids screaming bloody murder not that I blame him at all (I blame the parent). There's panic disorder and chaos as per the usual. I happened to be the first person to think clearly (thank you world for me being born to a military family) and toss something onto the belt (knowing that when it crosses the sensor it'll stop the rotation faster then me physically flicking the switch). Move around to inside flick the switch to turn it off. Grab the kids wrist so he doesn't do more damage to himself then he already (understandably) has. Have someone take over holding the kids wrist and another to hold the struggling kid. Yell at my boss to grab the damn FirstAid kit (because deer in the headlights is not a particularly useful look at the time). Send someone to get the tool kit from the back so someone can take the damn till apart (there's a panel of metal screwed to the side (can't believe I'd ever be thankful for cheap store equipment). Some throws the FirstAid kit at me (literally) and I'm not sure I want to know what I said there since I was raised in part by a very Irish Navel Engineer... And My mum was navy... I tie tiny tourniquets around the part of his fingers I can reach because I can tell from the blood that something is mangled just not what. Someone gets the thing open and notice it's technically a 'crush' injury. So I ask if anyone's dialled 911 (probably should have done that earlier) and thankfully someone had. I asked the operator if I should leave it be or take it out. On one hand, crush injuries are not good and releasing the crushed body part can have some very very bad consequences. On the other hand, the kid's panicked and struggling, will probably do more damage to themselves if it's left alone and I can't see shit about what's actually happened with the fingers other then where they're caught and that's something's bleeding badly. While I know how much a healthy adult can lose before bad shit happens I have no idea when it comes to children. (Possibly because my FirstAid courses are almost entirely with the military and last I checked toddlers weren't allowed in combat). I explain that I have a tourniquet on the kid and have to answer a bunch of how is it applied? where? How tight?

    Meanwhile I'm on my back crooked to the side looking up at the mechanic-y bits and the human bits that are doing things the human body isn't supposed to do. I don't know whether I was in shock or not but I didn't realize that there shouldn't be dripping coming down until I did realize and that's not the realization one wants to ever make... Especially not in a cramped spot with jabby bits of mechanical crap. Thankfully operators are apparently trained to deal with freak outs.

    I was told to try to remove it but not to force it if it didn't want to come out. Thankfully it came out no problem after trying to manually rotate the belt in the opposite direction it was meant to go in.

    Then we find out why the kid was screaming bloody murder (aside from the obvious) because he's missing a damn finger. So I send someone else to look underneath where it might have fallen if it's not lost in the mechanical bits and pieces. Because I cannot handle that shit. Morbid little scavenger hunts are not for me. Nope. And hell no.

    I deal with the amputation as professionally as I can (meaning I keep commentary to my inside voice though no less freaked out. Sims are one thing, even if the dummies scream at you in weird robot voices, the actual shit is much different). Elevate and apply pressure.

    Apparently I spent a good time alternating between cussing out the SC, trying to comfort the kid (unsuccessfully), swearing like a sailor, and complaining how I really don't get paid enough to deal with shit like this. Strings of words such as fuckity fuck shit appear regularly (or so I was told). The actual paramedics arrive finally and I got talked into helping. By that I mean I was walked through jabbing a needle in someone to apply an IV line for fluids. I promptly thereafter lose what's left of my sanity while the nice medics try to smother me with a blanket and do whatever pokey prody stuff they do to their vict--- I mean patients.

    I'm not sure if the missing didget was ever found or not. I know when I get back to work I'm never going on that till ever.

    Thank god the media hasn't got their hands on it. And hopefully never will. The last thing I need is for someone to get security footage (from one of the cameras that actually work which would be a chore in and of itself) and post it to the Internet. Stuff like that goes viral and the Internet is forever. I've spent most of the day in the shower and curled in my bed reading. I've disconnected my phone because work people won't stop calling and its interrupting my 'ME' time.
    Last edited by Dave1982; 09-15-2017, 09:44 PM.
    Don’t worry about what I’m up to. Worry about why you are worried about what I’m up to.

  • #2
    My goodness!

    I'm confused as to why the medics would have you start an IV line...?

    Quoth AkaiKitsune View Post
    The actual paramedics arrive finally and I got talked into helping. By that I mean I was walked through jabbing a needle in someone to apply an IV line for fluids.
    Last edited by been_there; 09-15-2017, 12:20 PM.

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    • #3
      Jesus Christ. And you just KNOW the idiot parent is gonna sue the store.

      Something similar happened to me maybe 20 years ago at my old store...I was literally just walking in to start my shift, and was greeted by a technician sitting on the ground right in front of the doors, clutching his hand, his face screwed into a grimace of pain. Turns out he was working on one of the bottle machines, and lost the tip of one of his fingers. Paramedics were called, and the guy was sent off to the hospital as fast as possible, but I have no idea if his finger was recovered or if it were able to be reattached.

      I hope the kid in the OP story won't lose his finger permanently because of the negligence of his parent.

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      • #4
        Trying to think of a reply. Have none. I hope your sanity returns.
        Life's too short to drink cheap beer

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        • #5
          What a nightmare scenario. And of course, nobody is going to be thinking about the trauma you endured, not just witnessing this but trying to provide care in a horrific situation with absolutely no time to prepare mentally.

          Please, please do what you have to do to take care of yourself.

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          • #6
            At my old store we'd have one SC who would regularly put his hand into the bottle machine intake (which would actually cause the machine to lock up entirely, as it should) to unjam it...and when he discovered that the lock was busted--it would rotate into the correct position and snap down but not actually lock--he started opening the machine himself to unjam the shredders Around then was when I stopped going over there or even saying anything, I didn't want to be accused of anything (by SC or management) when SC got hurt.
            "I am quite confident that I do exist."
            "Excuse me, I'm making perfect sense. You're just not keeping up." The Doctor

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            • #7
              Holy crap, I had no idea those things were strong enough to sever a finger! If she tries to sue the store, someone should contact child protective services, because the mother is clearly a danger to her child. What more proof do you need than a missing finger?* A long time ago at the fabric store a lady was letting her little toddler run around in circles and he ran head first into the corner of a shelf, gashing himself pretty good. The mom made sounds of lawsuit, but then the store showed video of her, with her back to her child, several registers away ignoring what was happening. Maybe similar video could be shown of the parent in this case putting the kid in an inappropriate place?

              Also, since I'm rambling, why do parents think that it's okay to set their kid down anywhere? I encountered this on a daily basis at the fabric store, when parents put their kid down on the cutting counter. Sometimes I let it go, but other times the kid would try to stand up or move around and then I had to tell the parent it was not okay, I was using sharp scissors.

              *yes I know accidents happen, but if she can try to sue then I can try to make a case for neglect
              Replace anger management with stupidity management.

              Comment


              • #8
                Quoth Monterey Jack View Post
                Jesus Christ. And you just KNOW the idiot parent egg donoris gonna sue the store.
                Corrected for you. Somehow, the original seems too nice to that judgement-impaired
                I hope the kid isn't permanently injured from this.
                I'm trying to see things from your point of view, but I can't get my head that far up my keister!

                Who is John Galt?
                -Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

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                • #9
                  One saving grace is that the kid might well regrow the finger -- this is not unheard of for fairly young children.

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                  • #10
                    Now that's interesting.
                    "I am quite confident that I do exist."
                    "Excuse me, I'm making perfect sense. You're just not keeping up." The Doctor

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      I had wonderful idiot parents who would put their babies on the conveyor belt while it was moving! These contraptions can absolutely shred a credit card if it catches it.. what do you think it'll do to that infant?! Luckily none of the kids got hurt while I was there.

                      But something baffles me, because in my store it was different.. but why on earth would the company put in registers that had belts that moved when weight was applied/sensor told it there was something on the belt? Ours moved UNTIL the item hit a sensor and then would only resume movement when the item was removed. All unattended registers had their belts switched off, so not even putting things on there would make them move.

                      Just as well too, because we had too many genetic material manufacturers and not enough parents.

                      I hope the kiddo is okay and things worked out!
                      If I make no sense, I apologize. I'm constantly interrupted by an actual toddler.

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                      • #12
                        Quoth raudf View Post
                        But something baffles me, because in my store it was different.. but why on earth would the company put in registers that had belts that moved when weight was applied/sensor told it there was something on the belt? Ours moved UNTIL the item hit a sensor and then would only resume movement when the item was removed. All unattended registers had their belts switched off, so not even putting things on there would make them move.
                        As I read it, the belt was stopped due to running too long. Kid then puts hand in front of the sensor, then removes hand, so the belt moves again. In other words, the belt stops when the sensor trips, but tripping the sensor undid the belt's timeout, and the poor kid managed to get a hand in the mechanism while the thing was running.

                        It's a darn shame for everyone, especially the kid.
                        Life: Reality TV for deities. - dalesys

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                        • #13
                          Quoth Mental_Mouse View Post
                          One saving grace is that the kid might well regrow the finger -- this is not unheard of for fairly young children.
                          Amazing, I had never heard of that. After googling I especially liked the story of the 7 year old girl who got a fingertip reattached but were told by the surgeon that it would probably fall off. It did and she returned with the fingertip in a plastic bag - but with a new complete fingertip on the finger.
                          Let's hope it happens to the poor kid too.

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                          • #14
                            AK, I have nothing to say except that I hugely admire your aplomb. I'd have been running around in circles shrieking.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Quoth notalwaysright View Post
                              Holy crap, I had no idea those things were strong enough to sever a finger!
                              It's not so much about power but about the exposed gears underneath and the fact that some of those things are damn near indestructible. Case and point, it had to be stopped rather then stopping of its own accord like a printer with a paper jam. And especially since the kid caught caught in a corner there's more crap underneath to grasp you and pinch you and grind you. Poor kid's probably traumatized for life though.
                              Don’t worry about what I’m up to. Worry about why you are worried about what I’m up to.

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