Right inside the super-secret employees-only hallway at IKEA, there's a board that says "This facility has operated ____ days without an accident" tallying the amout of days we can go without something or someone getting hurt. That number had been climbing pretty high recently, so of course I had to drill through my finger at work Monday to start the count over.
Well, maybe drilling through my finger is a little bit of an overstatement, but I did have a hospital-worthy encounter with a power drill. I was attaching a safety device to a dresser (since we're so concerned with safety at IKEA), and the drill ended up in my finger rather than the dresser. Thinking it was nothing too bad, I ran to the restroom and tried rinse off the cut, but when the cut turned out to be a totally legit puncture wound, I told my mananger I was done for the day. I went to the Safety and Security office and showed them my finger. They promply swept me off to the hospital where I was pampered with the finest antibiotics and tetanus vaccines Western medicine can offer.
The downside, obviously, is the large hole in my finger, but let's not overlook the good stuff - I didn't have to lift, build, move, or drill anything today...a first in my IKEA history! Of course, since I was standing still for most of the day, I was an easy target for customers hunting for someone to bother. At one point or another, the concentration of stupidity in the atmosphere approached event horizon, and I *almost* lost my cool, but being the seasoned retail professional that I am, I kept it under control.
It seems I started a trend, though. About two hours into the day today, a coworker came rushing up to me, blood dripping from his hands. Luckily, everyone was up on their game, thanks to my practice emergency yesterday, so they whisked him off to the hospital where I'm sure they repeated the same routine, and then opened an investigation into whether IKEA was purposefully cutting off the hands of its employees.
So, for the second day in a row, our little sign read "This facility has operated *0* days without an accident." Just doing my part to maintain a safe work environment.
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