Bleeding Customer Decides to Keep Shopping

[SixFortyK]

After lunch I was crossing the sales floor to return to my department. I notice a trail of blood, about a drop every foot, going up one of the grocery aisles. I check the adjacent aisles, and see the trail continuing through seven other aisles. In each aisle, there are various locations where the blood was pooled. Obviously, that's where the customer stopped to look at something on the shelf, as there are twenty or thirty drops of blood grouped together.
I wasn't terribly concerned. This happens occasionally. Customers pick up bloody, leaky packages of meat in the meat department, and place it in their shopping cart in such a way that the blood starts to drain out of the package, then walk through the store oblivious to the trail of blood they are leaving behind. Normally, I'd just inform the front end clerk responsible for cleaning it up, and be on my way. But, we had recently been made to watch one of those service motivation videos that are designed to make you care more about service, push you to work harder, and make the extra effort. So stupid me decides that I'll take care of this myself, mainly because all the puddles of blood I found were a clear slip and fall hazard.
I searched for the customer, figuring that stopping them would be the best place to start cleaning this up. I follow the trail around the store. Finally, I see that the trail ends next to this man standing in front of the milk case. On the floor next to him is a small puddle of blood. I gently interrupt him as I start looking over his cart of groceries. I tell him that I think he has some meat in his cart that is leaking blood all over the store. Imagine my surprise when I see that there are no meat packages in the cart! I start feeling a little embarrassed, as I think I must have the wrong customer. As I start to explain myself, I notice he has a fresh plaster cast on his arm, like he had recently broken it. And the end of the cast, where his fingers protruded, was soaked red with blood. He lowered his arm slightly as he turned toward me, and a bunch of blood dropped out! I said, "Sir, do you know you are bleeding?" All he says is "Oh, wow. Sorry." He then lifts his arm a bit so that the bloody end of the cast is angled upward, and he continues shopping! He also continued bleeding a good steady drip.
I decided I wasn't going to deal with this. I notified the guy responsible for cleaning floor spills, and told him he'd need to break out the biohazard kit.
I honestly don't know what is wrong with some people. He wasn't bleeding a slow drip either. It was a good steady drip. It would be one thing if he just wasn't aware that he was bleeding, because of numbness or something. But he had to have known before I spoke with him. The end of the cast was so soaked with blood, there is no way he was unaware of it. I don't care if he doesn't want to take care of himself, but he clearly didn't give a crap about us. Geez! This is a grocery store! Cleaning up your bodily fluids is not something we should have to deal with!

[Beowulf]

That is exceptionally nasty. Maybe next time you should phone an ambulance? That level of bleeding sounds really serious, and even if he didn't want to take care of himself, that kind of wound should be taken care of. At the very least, he's a walking bio-hazard. There's no telling what he's been touching or dripping on with that cast. Bleh.

[crazylegs]

I decided I wasn't going to deal with this. I notified the guy responsible for cleaning floor spills, and told him he'd need to break out the biohazard kit.

Am very glad to hear you've got decent spill kits, the amount of times I've seen staff who clearly lack appropriate cleaning kit having to tackle bodily fluids is appalling. Makes me so cross.

[NecessaryCatharsis]

I'm also glad you have the proper equipment to clean that up. I once took a customers money in drive through, went to make change, noticed blood all over my hand, handed out the money and coffee and told the customer I thought he was bleeding. Oh yeah, he replied, it does that all the time. He looks at my hand and adds, you should clean that up you could catch something. And drives off.

Wait, what??!?!!?

Spent the next 1/2 hour soaking hands in alcohol and the next year worrying about the blood tests. All clean.

Some things just aren't worth 10$/hour.

[crazylegs]

Proper handwashing helps an awful lot with protection - a lot more than people think (especially if you lack open wounds)

Helpful link here http://www.who.int/gpsc/media/how_to_handwash_lge.gif

[Silent-Hunter]

Really, I thought you were supposed to put liquid soap on BEFORE any water, so the soap would adhere to the dirt better before the water washes it all away.

[crazylegs]

If you put soap on before water the net result is you simply rinse the soap off before it can have any beneficial effect

[LillFilly]

Wow, that reminds me of the woman kicked out of the library because she was letting an oozing open would on her leg leak on to the carpet while using the computer.

Gah... I don't want to touch ANYTHING in public now.

[Zellie Crescent]

WTF?! That is SERIOUSLY unsanitary, you don't know what that guy could have. He was also way too calm about it, if I was bleeding I would freak out and want it taken care of not walk around and shop.

[Seshat]

The hell with blood - any leaking injury or infection and I keep it covered.

I've just spent two weeks keeping my right eye covered. (No, it wasn't leaking blood. But you couldn't call what it was leaking 'tears', either. Let's leave it at that.)

[MoonCat]

Ewww. Reminds me of the subway station I usually catch the train at in the morning on the way to work (and going back home later of course). One morning there was a small puddle of blood on the floor. A few weeks later, there was blood on the door handle. Then a couple months after that, more blood on the floor. I do NOT want to know why. I just do my best to avoid it

[HotelMinion]

Yuck. When I saw the title I thought it'd be about some lady who was having her monthly all over the floor and didn't notice. I have a mild (ok, maybe more than mild) blood phobia and the thought of it dripping everywhere makes my stomach roll and clench. Sounds like a horror movie. I'd rather have it be the lady lol.

[Marmalady]

Not long ago, I was called to the Customer Service desk and told there was a spill on one of the aisles - before I could set off to get my mop, the Compliance Manager stopped me and said 'No, the First Aider will clean that up' - when the guy on Customer Services asked why, the CM said 'It's blood, a biohazard - the First Aider has the kit for that, the cleaners don't - you're supposed to know that' (the CS guy went kind of red).

[Smapti]

I've never had to deal with anything quite as odd as that, but I often find myself walking up and down the aisles of TBGSITW , dragging a super-absorbant spill pad under one foot, following a trail of milk droplets laid by a person who doesn't realize that if they put their (non-airtight, sealed with a flimsy plastic cap, just like every bottle of milk they've ever seen in their lives) gallon milk jug on the bottom of the cart and pile stuff on top of it it will leak.

Sometimes, I'm even lucky enough to catch them before they make it to the checkstand and complain to the cashier that they need someone to fetch them a new milk bottle because this one has somehow started leaking.

[XCashier]

I notice he has a fresh plaster cast on his arm, like he had recently broken it. And the end of the cast, where his fingers protruded, was soaked red with blood. He lowered his arm slightly as he turned toward me, and a bunch of blood dropped out! I said, "Sir, do you know you are bleeding?" All he says is "Oh, wow. Sorry." He then lifts his arm a bit so that the bloody end of the cast is angled upward, and he continues shopping! He also continued bleeding a good steady drip.

If that was me, I'd rush straight to the hospital!!! How can someone be so blasé as to blithely continue shopping while they're bleeding from a soaking, bloody cast?!

I will never understand people.