Who Do I Think I Am??

This one's about I'll...whoops!

THE PROMPT: "Invalid Entry" 

What's good, fine purveyors of internet literature at its illest? Gonna try to get this over in a hurry before the beer and my patience for lack of sleep run out. I've been rackin' my brain tryin' to figure out where to go with Yera ~Twelve!~ 's prompt for a good part of the day, and I came up with something I'd like to share. Dunno if it fits the task at hand, but you'll have that.

A few years back, I worked for a rival drug store chain that has subsequently been bought over and over again, so it no longer exists. It was a 15 minute walk at worst from my house, which was nice. I had recently been promoted to run their photo lab.

I celebrated by taking a vacation. I'd become awfully close with a nice young lady on WDC; it went from exchanging emails to phone calls to gifts and a lot more. She'd recently moved to NYC, so I hopped a train and met her up there. I'll spare you the details. It didn't go well. I committed several "whoops", she's not on WDC anymore, and we barely speak. But that's not the point.

The train ride home itself was a disaster. I actually went to Penn Station early, hoping to catch an earlier train home (because arriving at home at 9:30pm is a lot more pallatable than 11:35pm). And it was cool; I was set to go.

Then the screens started showing "CANCELLED" for every outbound train. I was short on cell minutes, and cash. I was stuck in NYC. Turned out there was a fire in one of the terminals, and with it being so close after 9/11, they shut the whole place down. They tarped over all of the entrances. This was when it was still legal to (not get caught) smoking in bathrooms in NYC. Thank God...I was starting to lose my shit in there.

Around 8pm, they bussed us up to Albany, where we waited like hostages for an emergency train to take us back to The 'Lo. I got a hold of my stepmother and my boss, and explained the situation. Everything was cool. Except sitting in the food train and not getting home until 6am, when I had to be to work at 8:30am. But I made it to work, punched my clock, delivered the goods, and I was done with NYC for good.

The next day was a Tuesday, which was one of my "long days" (open to close, 8:30am to 9:30pm). That's what you do on a 50-hour week when you're salaried at chump change in a semi-management position that also offers you the keys to the building. The manager was working her night shift, had knee problems, and couldn't climb ladders. It was slow in the lab, so I offered to help her out by putting the summer goods away. It was late September or early October...I'm fuzzy on the date.

Being a semi-member of management, and having a set of keys, I was allowed certain privileges. One of them was climbing a ladder. I was 28 at the time, I believe the accident report would state. But my brain would tell my I was still in my prime, athletically.

I used to hop the shelves in the stockroom like a monkey. I could climb them as if I were still a kid, climbing trees. I'd hop around them like I was dancin' on Soul Train. Or Solid Gold. Take your pick.

So I get on this 15-foot ladder to move some product around, and I decide it's time to step up on to the top of the bay I'm placing product on. But the bay is packed, and I barely have enough room to shimmy along across it. Product was placed. Mission complete.

I shimmy back over to the ladder, and while feeling the way along poducts with my hands, my foot is reaching for the ladder, as I'm now about 20 feet above the ground. I stepped where I thought the ladder was, but, uhhh, there was no ladder there. The shelf, made of painted metal, wasn't so nice to my grip. I conceded myself to falling from twenty feet off the ground, onto a concrete floor.

I let myself freefall in the short window I had before I hit the ground. At the last possible moment, I had the presence of mind to tuck my head into my chest, so I wouldn't crack my dome. My head's been through enough shit before that, physically and mentally otherwise, than to let that happen.

I struck the ground nearly flat on my back. I laid there for a second, and took inventory of my body, Transformers style...arm, leg, leg, arm, head, check. My manager was at the other end of the stockroom, and was horrified. She'd been helping out at the building of a new location, where an electrician died after a 50-foot drop the week before. She heard me moan on the way down and thought the worst.

As soon as I exhaled from it all, a 15-inch box fan fell on my chest from 20 feet up. But that story doesn't end there, y'all. As if that wasn't the icing on the "falling from a shelf" cake. I wound up twisting an ankle pretty bad...bad enough to seek medical attention later in the week, on the company dime. And I had my house keys in my back pocket...so my ass looked like a mosaic for a week or two. The ankle? I've ruined both before. But I've never been so colored on the flesh of my ass in my life.

And it's ruined me for ladders. For life. If I fail at my current job (and let's not get into that right now), I won't advance because I'm not crazy about ladders. All from that little "whoops".

I called the NYC girl afterwards...to let her know I got home after a struggle, and to tell her I got hurt at work. She didn't care. Whoops!

MUSICAL BREAK!!

This song was in my head all day while thinking about the prompt. Well, when I wasn't thinking about other things.

Yes, I went old school there. I still have that cassette single, and something to play it on.

VITAL STATS:

Is it time for me to go to bed yet? I'm pulling truck tomorrow at 5:45am. Not thrilled about the scheduling error that led to me being the most adaptable and place-fitting employee ever, but FML when I get my annual review and my boss shits on me because I've been late too many times. I know my value, but I won't get rewarded for it. Fuckin' corporations.

At least I'm out by 1:45 and can have the rest of the afternoon to sleep do pretty much what I want. And I'll probably sleep.

Mixed emotions kind of day. If I told ya, I'd have to kill ya. Peace, and GOODNIGHT NOW!!

Whoops!