Thursday, September 18, 2008

Work Related Injury


It happened again. I got injured at work... AGAIN! Let me list off the injuries that has happened to me at my career at Costco:

  • June 2006. Without realizing it for two weeks, I walked on a broken foot. To my recollection, I broke my foot, stocking pallets, when I supposedly dropped something on it. I was out for two months.
  • January 2008. I stepped on a nail. The nail stopped from entering my foot by my shoe. The nail barely broke the skin. Received a tetanus shot, all paid for by work.
  • April 2008. Again, I step on an object, a needle type object to be exact. I think nothing of it. Three days later, my foot gets infected. I go to the doctor, he cuts it open, finds nothing. I'm out for a week (thank goodness for sick pay).
Some people might think that that is a lot. This isn't where it ends. Yesterday, I worked my entire shift, which is five hours. I end up picking up more hours, usually on the Front End (Cash registers) assisting for the cashiers. About ten minutes into it, I loaded some items into a members cart. All of a sudden, I feel this sharp stabbing pain in my shoulder. I adjust my shoulder and my arm to see if that worked. I work a few more minutes and the pain didn't go away. I told the cashier that my shoulder still hurts. I tell her that I better report it to a supervisor. I told the supervisor what happened. She told me to fill out a form. Then she and I saw the on-site physical therapist and she said, "Never mind, we'll let Matt know what happened." We told him the situation. He told me to do some stretches and see if that helped. It still hurt. He got me a bag of ice and I tried that. It helped a little. I was sent home with the criteria that if it still hurts during the evening, before going to bed, that I will need to call in and get additional forms for a doctors visit. Worst case scenario, the manager told me that I would be out for a couple of day and/or be put on light duty. Out of any place I have worked at, Costco has been the most I have been injured at. Is it a bad omen? Looking at this past year. I have seen several people out of work because of work related injuries, especially shoulder or back injuries. FUN FUN FUN!

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