You're too young for back problems!

[Despina83]

My back almost always hurts like a MOTHER when I'm at work. Seriously, I'm going to get an ulcer from all the pain pills I usually have to take. And it's not even injured. It's supposedly from "poor posture", "weak muscles", "high tension", etc. But one time (at home) I pulled a muscle so bad that I couldn't bend over and it was incredibly difficult and torturous to get into bed or even sit down. If a customerever implied that I was lieing about my back, I would be seriously pissed.

[PhiSigGirl1988]

I completely understand. I'm 19 and I've had 3 back surgeries for scoliosis, and sometimes my back does start to get sore after standing for so long and lifting heavy objects. I hate when people assume that I'm too young to have problems.

[Misanthropical]

I have documented proof that I have had back problems since I was 13 and for years I had to just suffer with the horrible pain, since no one could diagnose it.

Just this year it was diagnosed and I now see a pain specialist for injections in my back to keep the horrible wishing for death pain away.

I maybe only 37, but there is no way, no how I'm lifting anything heavy and risk the pain coming back, unless it's to save my child.

Yes, I have heard for years how I'm too young to have back pain. I have even heard it from doctors, no less!

[Reyneth]

I guess these insensitive SCs and doctors would think the same of 13 year old elite gymnasts. Or maybe not - the general public does realize that gymnast's bodies are abused from all of the training. THEY aren't too young to have major issues, aches and pains.

If anyone pulls the "you're too young to......" have stress/have pains, do X Y or Z on me I'll just reply "Yeah, and I'm too young to have lost my father 4 years ago, your point being?" And turn and walk away.

Why do people think they can make judgment on *your* life based on their experiences/opinions?

[laurenjeannie]

My favorite is when I get told "You can't park there." I have a handicap placard for ME, I'm not mooching someone else's disability. So why is it that because I'm only 22 I'm not allowed to have crippling chronic back pain? I can too park there....WATCH ME!

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

One of the girls who works on the apparel side at my store can't really lift any significant weight. She was in a car accident several years back and ruptured discs in her back and neck.

This of course does not stop the crotchety old skinbags who work alongside her from complaining that "she's so young she shouldn't have any back problems! If I have to lift all these heavy jean boxes, then so does she!"

[powerboy]

My back problems are because I fell of a step ladder. Stop laughing, it is not funny. Well okay it is funny. My back is 98% fine. If I sit or stand for too long, then it will hurt until I get an ice pack or a heating pad. Now back on topic. I hate it when someone tells me that I am too young for back pains. I just simply tell them that it happened when I feel off a ladder. I let all of my managers know about it. I can still lift up too any amount of pounds. It is only when I am walking funny, when I am not going to lift anything

Side note: When I was on the step ladder, I was only on the second step from the bottom. So you would think that it would not be as bad. I am able to climb and use it.

[Snowbird]

I've had back problems since I was barely a teen, and added a work related injury on top of them. Even before that happened, there were times when I just couldn't do things and people did not want to understand or empathize. I'd love to tell them to stab themselves in the back with a spoon (because it will hurt more, you twit) when they play the you're too young record, but short of that I'd go for something along the lines of "Isn't that the truth? Bad things happen to good people. Let me find someone that -can- help."

[marasbaras]

I was lifting a box full of Spam that my wife was sending home to her family. It was about 200 pounds worth of the stuff. I can lift that much. Heavy, yes, but not really a problem.

The problem was when I dropped the box when trying to slide it into the back of my truck. I missed the edge and it slipped downwards.

I tried to catch it.

Two months later I was out of the wheelchair. At the time, I was only 32.

Don't let these pieces of shit tell you that you're "too young". Injuries happen to us at all ages.

[friendofjimmyk]

Okay, if a customer wants to complain because I am not lifting something heavy for them I just want to say "I don't see YOU lifting it!"

When I drove tow truck, I was in a flatbed. In those beds, we carried 2 1/2 ton hydraulic floor jacks for tire changes. I am but a wee thing and on more than one occasion, I had a guy try to grab the jack from me - only to not be able to carry it themselves (they're awkward and really have no easy way to carry them unless you do it all the time and find the trick) - that was a crowning moment as a woman. I'd have to ask them not to touch it so they wouldn't get hurt. Offend them? Maybe - but I can handle my job or I wouldn't have been doing it.

As far as retail clerks or any other job where heavy lifting is not a daily/hourly/minutely duty - it's nobody's business why lifting something heavy is not something the CSR can do.

[retaildrone]

I get the same BS. I have scholosis. But since I am not hunched over with a hump on my back, then I am lying. :eyeroll:

[iviles]

My back problems are because I fell of a step ladder. Stop laughing, it is not funny. Well okay it is funny.

Lol isnt it amazing how hurt you can get doing small things. Had a customer with rods and screws in his leg. They had to completely rebuild it all because he stepped off the last step and blew his achiles and it had a domino affect.

[Becks]

I'm too young to have

back pain
bad knees
headaches

but that's not a problem with

my gray hairs
potential arthritis

[simplyanother]

Customers consistently judge my age to be about ten years younger than it actually is, so they assume I'm a teenager. I get this "your too young" bullshit, all the time. Get down to look for something on a lower shelf, have trouble getting up..."you're not old enough to feel that.."

I refuse to to hurt myself for a customer. If they don't like it, they can complain. My favorite are the folks who can get an awkward item--like a tree, big frame, just something large...and... have somehow managed to get it to the register.... yet demand someone help them carry it to their car. My main reason for not doing it is personal safety--I don't trust any of the assholes who shop at our store--but also, if you can get it to the register from the freakin frame shop, or from the tree area, then you can carry it to your car, which is almost certainly right outside the damned doors and probably closer to the register than where you got the item from.

[Tito]

Um, someone should tell that SC that you're never too young to have back problems. I've had a tricky back for many years now, and I am only in my early 30s.