No brains, just muscle

[macromarco]

Okay, same store as the last post.

A man comes in and wants the larges safe we've got in stock ( it's heavy, about 60-65KG or 130-140 pounds). I go get it from storage on a fork-lift (the kind you pull around and pump to lift stuff) since it's heavy (obviously) and most of my other colleague aren't strong enough.

We go through the register and I offer to help him get it in his car.
We get to the car and he pops the trunk and I tell him we better lift it together because of it's weight.
I do this ONLY as a courtesy since I also told him how much it weighs.
And I get in return: "No problem, I can lift this easily myself. You people at xyz need to do more eight lifting"...
( It's a while ago, so I can't remember the exact remark )

Um.. I'm 6.4 feet, and weigh about 240pounds.. I can lift things just fine.. only one of my colleague is taller and most likely stronger than me.. all the other are smaller... I can lift quite a bit If i need to.
I'm almost a full foot taller than the bastard and he's giving me snarky remarks about body building ??
I was trying to be nice, and what do I get in return.
Geez..

I just turned, pulled the fork-lift after me and went back to the store.

[Rapscallion]

That's over double the recommended weight limit for regular lifting for work purposes at our place. It's his back.

Sure, many people can do that sort of weight (me included), but it does wear them down.

Rapscallion

[dalesys]

He's just working up to his last trick:

spine = string_of_exploding_firecrackers + you'll_regret_this_all_the_rest_of_your_life

[macromarco]

oh so true

[earl colby pottinger]

Other problem with heavy hard objects

The other problem with heavy hard objects is pinching.

I had to move saome very heavy batteries up to my cabin to supply power. Each about 100 lbs. In moving them into the truck, off the truck into the boat, out of the boat across the portage and into the second boat, off the second boat onto the dock, off the dock up the hill - I contantly was finding myself having to watch out in pinching body parts between the heavy-hard-swinging batteries and other hard surfaces.

I hate to think what a metal safe can do to your hands if you slip while moving it in and out of the trunk of the car.

[JustaCashier]

Yeah, moving something like that is nothing to be taken lightly, (so to speak).

A customer of mine from a previous job was helping a friend load or unload a safe from a truck. The thing dropped on his foot, and then he ran into further complications, and ended up having to have his leg amputated.

Mike

[nhollywood]

A lot of times the danger is in the motion of the lift (should be straight up with little or no twisting). There are times when the weight is small but the damage comes from simply moving the wrong way.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Damn, I killed my back once just trying to lift a cardboard box of paperback books. (Then again, I am a girl and only 5'4 and not particularly athletic.) It was a special order for a school, split into two boxes; they were shaped differently (one was longer and flatter) but I assumed they were half and half (we all know what happens when you assume, right?). I picked up the first box and it was heavy but I could just handle it. I rang up the order from the order sheet and then went to get the other box while the customer put her paperwork away. That's when I realized that they were split 1/3 and 2/3 so the second box was twice as heavy. I couldn't even stand up straight, and had to call my manager, who had to send someone to cover music so the guy back there, who was the only guy working that night, could come out and help the woman bring the books to her car.

I had to fill out an incident report, and I managed to make it through the night. The next night I closed again, and spent half my shift behind the cashwrap lying flat on my back on the floor unless my coworker needed help ringing. I was supposed to work until 11:30; I lasted until 9, got a hot chocolate, went home and took a bath.