I am accident-prone. I can hurt myself with the simplest thing. In fact, on many occasions, I hurt myself more than once a day.
Though it isn't just at work this has happened, it's always somewhere inside or out.
I've fallen down the stairs and broke my tailbone (so bad the x-ray technician said "oh that's bad!"), fallen down another set of stairs and bruised my butt, slipped on ice (many times) and banged my knee so hard that I had an inflamed bursa. (Just saying, those are a few cases.)
Though it has never gotten so extreme as to injure myself very badly, I do remember a few dings and scratches here and there.
THE SHOWER FRAME:
Now this one hurts, it is comparable to stepping on Lego.
Banging my funny bone on the metal shower door frame. This has happened more than once and it's left me blinking and rolling in pain on the bathroom floor many times.
The first time it happened, I was getting out of the shower after cleaning the glass. It was a month into the job and I literally had to stop for a minute because I banged it so hard.
I'm not a crier and I have a high tolerance to pain but fuck that hurt.
The, I don't know, 5th time this happened I was on my hands and knees and I swung my arm out too far. I groaned and tried to push through. It worked, but I was much slower.
SHOWER FRAME AGAIN:
It happened again, but this time, I slipped and hit the shower frame ledge with my knee.
One sharp intake of breath later and I was on the floor clutching my knee trying not to cry.
This was far worse than banging my elbow. FAR WORSE! The only thing that hurt more than this was actually breaking my tailbone.
When I looked at my knee, later on, it was already a deep purple colour.
THE DOUBLE/TRIPLE COMBO:
Have you ever had one of those days where every which way you turn, you bang something off something else or slip or what not? Yeah, those days, I've had a few of those at work.
This first one was a doozy. All in the same day, an automatic closing door shuts into my back, I clip my hand on the chute and bang my elbow.
Another time, I got a nose bleed (almost on clean white sheets), cut my arm on the chute door and scraped my elbow across the pony wall in the bathroom.
There are many other examples I could use, but these are the ones I remember best.
RUNNING OVER MY TOES:
I was just leaving the laundry room when I ran over my toes.
The carts are at least 200-300 pounds or more, easily. The space between the door and my body is narrow and my toes often get in the way.
FALLING:
I was in the laundry room stocking my cart. I was putting the king sets on and lost my balance.
I was squatting as the cart moved and I fell back landing on my ass on the floor.
TRIPPING:
On more than one occasion, I have tripped over sheets hanging off the bed, or that have already been ripped off the bed and put in the laundry pile.
It has happened so often that it has become a skill of mine to become stay on my feet when I trip.
I'd like to say I have the grace of a swan, but that is far from true.
YOU ARE READING
The Real Tales of a Housekeeper
Non-FictionI've only worked as a housekeeper for little more than a year, but in that time, so much has happened that I could write a book about it. So that is what I am going to do. These are the best, the worst and the down right crazy memories I have of my...
