Customer impervious to BLOOD and COMMON SENSE

[stargirl195]

Had a flashback the other day to when I did supermarket work ... at 19 I worked the evening shift in the deli department at Safeway. In the five hours I was there on my own I served customers while making sure that everything was clean. This could sometimes be difficult; people could be quite demanding at 11 pm, wanting freshly shaved meat, new items brought from the coolroom, and then others who just didn't know what they wanted, all while I was defrosting, wiping spills and cleaning out the chicken oven.

The worst was the meat slicer - it was never cleaned during the day so it was a bitch to scrub at the end of the night. And the safety gloves didn't really fit anyone so no one (including me) used them. BIG MISTAKE - one evening I'm busy cleaning, and very very fast, because I was mindful of how much still needed to be done within one hour and suddenly I sliced my index finger on the blade. BLOOD was everywhere and I was hysterical - at that stage I wasn't sure how bad the damage was.

So I turn around to get some paper to mop some of the blood up and see two customers, a man and wife, standing at the counter looking expectantly in my direction. I held up my hand (at this stage covered in blood) and said 'I can't serve you, I've had an accident.'

Not bothering for a response I ran upstairs to find my manager (who is nowhere to be found upstairs). By now I'm not so hysterical but I'm still crying - I'm not fantastic with blood. I come downstairs and the customers are actually standing in front of the doors that separate the main supermarket and the employee area. Once again, I hold up my hand and say 'I can't serve you.' The woman stops me from passing her and asks me if it's possible to get all the chickens left in the bain marie for her and whether it was possible to get them at a reduced price ...

I couldn't believe it - not only did I tell her TWICE that I couldn't serve but she had seen my injury. I was about to lose it when the husband FINALLY turns to her and says, 'uhh I don't think she's able to serve us at the moment.' Then to me, 'We'll be back later.'

STUPID STUPID STUPID! I didn't even bother with a reply but went to find my manager ...

GOD ... SO STUPID

[Bright_Star]

So did you have to get stitches?

[Whiskey]

My ex cut off (OFF) the tip of his thumb on the meat slicer because Malwart wouldn't replace some safety gear that kept you from, you know, CUTTING FINGERS OFF.

[Supermarket Slave Girl]

I've cut myself on those meat slicers, they're so bloody sharp they go through you like butter, and it kinda hurts too.

[NightAngel]

They keep trying to make me take training to use the slicer at work. It's the one thing I absolutely refuse to do. Even if it was safeguarded properly (which it isn't) and it wasn't on a wheeled table that moves around while slicing- I still wouldn't do it.

I knew a guy that literally split his arm almost to the elbow with one... I've seen what they can do and I'm terrified of it.

[stargirl195]

Thankfully no stitches were required ... after the bleeding finally stopped I got checked out and was able to keep the wound together with surgical tape.

After that, because of me, EVERYONE got prepped on how to clean the slicer properly, including wearing the protective gloves included (which as forementioned never happened as they didn't fit anyone's hand). I refused to clean it after that - knowing my track record I probably would have cut the finger OFF that time

[NightAngel]

Good to know you were okay.

[Food Lady]

Glad you're ok! These are the same SCs that bother us when we're not working.

[Merriweather]

My ex cut off (OFF) the tip of his thumb on the meat slicer because Malwart wouldn't replace some safety gear that kept you from, you know, CUTTING FINGERS OFF.

My mom worked in the meat department of a grocery store for years and years. This was decades ago, no idea how safety standards or precautions were on machines then. But anyway, one of her bosses sliced an entire finger off on one of those things once. She said he kept the thing in a jar, sure scared newbies into being more careful

[Bradester]

She said he kept the thing in a jar, sure scared newbies into being more careful

If true, that is both disgusting and hilarious.

[Lady Legira]

Pretty much doing the same job except I was cutting meat for a customer at the time when I sliced my right index finger. Went pretty much halfway down the pad of the finger (didn't cut that far into it), I grabbed hold of it and held for dear life (first aid training kicking in) and yelled for my colleague who was cleaning the chicken spits. Fish person came over who had done First Aid in the past but is not certified currently and made me sit down because I was going quite pale by this time. Manager came over and organised for some one to take me to the local hospital A&E. Got a couple of butterfly stitches and and nice big bandage. Still can't feel properly in that fingertip after a year and a half.

[Sheldonrs]

I got a few fingers caught in a meat slicer once. His name was Dave. ;-)

[karma_gypsy]

The woman stops me from passing her and asks me if it's possible to get all the chickens left in the bain marie for her and whether it was possible to get them at a reduced price ...

So .... I'm assuming it did not occur to her that having food being bled all over by a human is a health issue? But hey, that's O.K., but she'll get it a REDUCED PRICE, so it'll be worth it ....

[BookstoreEscapee]

Worst I've ever done was cut my finger on a cat food can lid. The scar itself is numb but the rest of the finger is fine.

When I was a kid my mom sliced her finger on the lid of a canned ham - the kind with the little key and you roll it back...well, the key broke and....there was a lotta blood. I was young, and I don't remember that much, but my mom called her sister and then the neighbor; one of their teenage daughters came to watch us while my aunt took her to the hospital.

When I was a senior in college the little campus restaurant-thing I worked at got a little deli-counter; just your basic deli meats and breads and toppings for sandwiches, but there was a slicer because you could buy sliced meats by the pound. I never learned to use it and never wanted to (I worked mostly in the grill area). Before that, all our sandwich stuff was prepped in the morning by the full-time (two older women; not students) staff, and there was plenty sliced in the fridge so they wouldn't have to a.) clean the slicer more than once a day and b.) train students who worked at the most 10 hours a week (usually less; I worked 2 three-hour shifts most semesters) to use it.

Just a hunch, but I'd imagine the health department would frown on a human finger in a jar in a deli.

[Mamadrae]

Makes me remember my fry light incident. While working fast food I went to grab some fries and then had one of my co-irkers pretty much try and ram me away. My arm flew up to grab something to keep my head out of the fryer and hit the fry light.

I'm pretty sure a few kids there during lunch got a sudden education in dirty words. I knew something was very wrong when barely a minute was past and the skin looked like it had started boiling. Went to the manager to get some first aid. Learned our first aid kit instead was the filing cabinet and we didn't have one except band-aids.

So the manager made an ice pack for me (I didn't know first aid so I just kinda went "Ok whatever") and after that handed me band-aids and a papertowel telling me to "Keep that nasty thing covered."

I was lucky and one of the later customers was an EMT. The burn was on the wrist and he noticed I was having issues. Had me pull off the make shift bandage, told me never again to put ice on a burn (luke warm water is better), and fixed me up on the spot. I would have happily given him his food for free but had to settle on secretly upping the size of his order.

I was even more amused when the health department suddenly dropped by a few days later to rip into the owner for missing a lot of basic requirements.