Work is trying to kill me.
No, this time they really are.
Just after I started my shift last night - around 12:15am - I was standing at a conveyorbelt, pushing rotten potatoes to my right and back into the trough where they go, when I felt my right shoulder pop. The same thing had happened the night before, so I didn't think anything of it, because it hadn't hurt or anything; just felt a little weird. So I switched to using my left hand instead and tried rolling my arm a few times in case I'd tweaked a muscle or something.
Within the first hour, my shoulder started to ache. My hand and forearm started tingling, and every once in awhile there would be stabbing pain in my arm or shoulder. I took two Aleve on my first break and sent a message to Shi-chan asking what she thought might be wrong, since she used to be a CNA. I mentioned it to my area supervisor but he just said something sympathetic and walked off, so I didn't think it was a big deal. I figured I'd try and make it through work, and if it still hurt when I got off in the morning, I'd ask Brother to take me to a doctor and get it looked at.
For the next two and a half hours, the pain got worse. A *lot* worse. The ache worked its way into my shoulder blade and down the right side of my back, all the way into my hip. The tingling continued, and the stabbing pain happened everytime I moved or turned to reach for something, no matter which direction. Several people noticed I was in pain, and would stop to ask me how I was doing. And I was honest: I hurt. A lot. And it was getting harder and harder to move my arm, so I stopped and just let it rest. But I kept trying to work anyway, because I didn't want to have to ask for them to let Brother take me home (he's my ride, so he'd have to). That and I have Issues with both shift supervisors and really didn't want to talk to either of them.*
Around 4:30, the lady working across from me saw me visibly wincing and breathing hard, and called the area supervisor over. He asked me if I was all right and I said no, so he went to tell our shift supervisor. He came back to tell me she was waiting for me in her office, and sent me to find her.
For the record, she looked totally pissy when she saw me, even though I was clearly in pain. (Which I'm still a bit annoyed about, honestly.) I explained what had happened, and she told me to go wait in the breakroom while she called my temp agency to figure out their injury policy.
So I went. Told sister-in-law, Brother, and the other supervisor who happened to be on their lunch what had happened when I came in. Or hissed what happened essentially, because sitting down sent more stabbing pain through my back. >.< Other supervisor jumped on me to explain what saying 'it happened again' to Brother meant when I was explaining the popping thing to him, then disappeared. Brother thought I might have dislocated it by the way I was holding it, but I wasn't sure 'cause it didn't *feel* out place, but I've never dislocated anything to know.
Half an hour later the two supervisors finally came to find me. The one from the office told me she'd gotten a hold of someone from the agency and they wanted me to put ice on my shoulder. If it still hurt at 8:00, I needed to call the office for one of the local medical centers and then go in to get looked at. She then took another ten minutes to bring me a giant bag of ice from the lab with a towel, then went off to chat with someone else.
So I sat in the breakroom by myself, in pain, icing my shoulder for three hours. I ended up asking someone to grab my coat for me so I could at least listen to music to try and distract myself. I talked with Brother when he came in on his last break and a couple other people who asked how I was doing, eventually got a reply from Shi-chan who thought I was pinching a nerve, and mostly just sat and tried not to think about how much my shoulder and back hurt. The supervisor wandered over at one point to ask if I was feeling any better and commented about me probably not coming in again tonight (looking annoyed again) before walking off when I said no.
By the time 8:00 hit and we were able to leave, I was already more than slightly pissed off with all this. And still hurting. But I wasn't entirely sure what she'd meant about the calling the medical center thing, so I figured I'd call my temp agency myself and double-check what they wanted me to do. As it turns out, *I* was supposed to call them myself when it happened - which I'd honestly forgotten - and I actually needed to go to *their* office first to fill out a report, then to their medical center. All of which was half an hour away. I told her I'd be right there and profusely apologized to Brother, since he had to be the one to drive me there.
We got there just after 9:00. They then made me take over an hour to fill out four pages of paperwork, one of which included explaining the whole story. Which was SO much fun, seeing as I am right handed, and writing while my arm is on fire and my hand keeps aching and tingling was not exactly easy. Then they wanted me to take a drug test. (Also fun one handed. >.<) And all of this was taking even longer than it should have, because she was using it to train a new employee at the same time. All while I sat in a chair, holding my arm against my side, and hissing in pain.
I am seriously starting to hate my temp agency. This isn't the only time they've pissed me off, but OMFG. >.<++++
FINALLY they sent me off to the medical place. It took maybe half an hour to get me in, but they were all pretty nice. Changing into a medical gown was fun. >.X Then there was the exam and x-rays, which the doctor apologized for but said had to be done with worker's comp injuries.
So thirteen hours after my shoulder popped, I finally learned what happened: I tore the muscles a little. Some of the paperwork says it's a sprain, another other says strain, but essentially it's all the same thing. I have my right arm in a sling to ease the pain a bit, but I'm supposed to work my arm a little every once in awhile so it doesn't stiffen up. No pain medication though, which I wish there was. >.O
Technically I *can* work as long as I don't use my right arm for anything, but the agency decided to just have me rest it for a couple days instead. I have to make an appointment with the medical center to get it checked again on Friday. (They said come back in four days, but the agency said Friday namely because they're closed on weekends -Rolls eyes-) The real irony is that we only have work tonight and tomorrow, and then it's our four day weekend.
Mostly I'm just pissed off that again, THIRTEEN HOURS of pain before being told what's wrong. That was fucking ridiculous. I'm still in pain, but the sling does help a little. I'm trying to stick to mostly using my left arm, which is ... interesting. Also sleep is fun, seeing as I'm a side sleeper. x.x
* The shift supervisor who's in charge of everything is the one who declared me unhireable because I couldn't run one of the lines by myself. She hasn't spoken to me since then until tonight. Occasionally she gives me a very tight, bland smile in greeting.
The other supervisor who works just under her ROYALLY pissed me off a couple days ago. My line went down for mechanical issues, which left a lot of other lines down, so there were a bunch of people sitting around the breakroom waiting for it to start back up. She said something to me about wanting me to clean 'the shelves' and then started talking to someone else before I could ask which ones she meant and what exactly she wanted done. Just after that, my area supervisor came in and called me back to the line. We worked off and on for about an hour, then went down again. The other people in my area started walking around hosing things down, and left me sitting there by myself without any instructions for an hour until someone came and told me to go to break. While I was on my break, that supervisor came in and asked me if I was on break and about the shelves. I told her I'd been called back right after she'd asked, and I hadn't had a chance to do them. She stared at me, said 'That was awhile ago' in this very rude tone, and then ignored me to talk to someone else again. Essentially insinuating I was lying about why they weren't done without even letting me finish talking.
Very few things piss me off more than being called a liar. I'm still fuming just thinking about it. She hasn't talked to me since then either, to the point that she sort of showed up and shoved my time card at me - while I was wearing gloves and working no less - before walking off, totally ignoring me when I said thank you.
** I so feel terrible for poor Brother, because we didn't get home after all this until after 2:00 in the afternoon, and he had to go in for work again at midnight tonight. x.x
Just after I started my shift last night - around 12:15am - I was standing at a conveyorbelt, pushing rotten potatoes to my right and back into the trough where they go, when I felt my right shoulder pop. The same thing had happened the night before, so I didn't think anything of it, because it hadn't hurt or anything; just felt a little weird. So I switched to using my left hand instead and tried rolling my arm a few times in case I'd tweaked a muscle or something.
Within the first hour, my shoulder started to ache. My hand and forearm started tingling, and every once in awhile there would be stabbing pain in my arm or shoulder. I took two Aleve on my first break and sent a message to Shi-chan asking what she thought might be wrong, since she used to be a CNA. I mentioned it to my area supervisor but he just said something sympathetic and walked off, so I didn't think it was a big deal. I figured I'd try and make it through work, and if it still hurt when I got off in the morning, I'd ask Brother to take me to a doctor and get it looked at.
For the next two and a half hours, the pain got worse. A *lot* worse. The ache worked its way into my shoulder blade and down the right side of my back, all the way into my hip. The tingling continued, and the stabbing pain happened everytime I moved or turned to reach for something, no matter which direction. Several people noticed I was in pain, and would stop to ask me how I was doing. And I was honest: I hurt. A lot. And it was getting harder and harder to move my arm, so I stopped and just let it rest. But I kept trying to work anyway, because I didn't want to have to ask for them to let Brother take me home (he's my ride, so he'd have to). That and I have Issues with both shift supervisors and really didn't want to talk to either of them.*
Around 4:30, the lady working across from me saw me visibly wincing and breathing hard, and called the area supervisor over. He asked me if I was all right and I said no, so he went to tell our shift supervisor. He came back to tell me she was waiting for me in her office, and sent me to find her.
For the record, she looked totally pissy when she saw me, even though I was clearly in pain. (Which I'm still a bit annoyed about, honestly.) I explained what had happened, and she told me to go wait in the breakroom while she called my temp agency to figure out their injury policy.
So I went. Told sister-in-law, Brother, and the other supervisor who happened to be on their lunch what had happened when I came in. Or hissed what happened essentially, because sitting down sent more stabbing pain through my back. >.< Other supervisor jumped on me to explain what saying 'it happened again' to Brother meant when I was explaining the popping thing to him, then disappeared. Brother thought I might have dislocated it by the way I was holding it, but I wasn't sure 'cause it didn't *feel* out place, but I've never dislocated anything to know.
Half an hour later the two supervisors finally came to find me. The one from the office told me she'd gotten a hold of someone from the agency and they wanted me to put ice on my shoulder. If it still hurt at 8:00, I needed to call the office for one of the local medical centers and then go in to get looked at. She then took another ten minutes to bring me a giant bag of ice from the lab with a towel, then went off to chat with someone else.
So I sat in the breakroom by myself, in pain, icing my shoulder for three hours. I ended up asking someone to grab my coat for me so I could at least listen to music to try and distract myself. I talked with Brother when he came in on his last break and a couple other people who asked how I was doing, eventually got a reply from Shi-chan who thought I was pinching a nerve, and mostly just sat and tried not to think about how much my shoulder and back hurt. The supervisor wandered over at one point to ask if I was feeling any better and commented about me probably not coming in again tonight (looking annoyed again) before walking off when I said no.
By the time 8:00 hit and we were able to leave, I was already more than slightly pissed off with all this. And still hurting. But I wasn't entirely sure what she'd meant about the calling the medical center thing, so I figured I'd call my temp agency myself and double-check what they wanted me to do. As it turns out, *I* was supposed to call them myself when it happened - which I'd honestly forgotten - and I actually needed to go to *their* office first to fill out a report, then to their medical center. All of which was half an hour away. I told her I'd be right there and profusely apologized to Brother, since he had to be the one to drive me there.
We got there just after 9:00. They then made me take over an hour to fill out four pages of paperwork, one of which included explaining the whole story. Which was SO much fun, seeing as I am right handed, and writing while my arm is on fire and my hand keeps aching and tingling was not exactly easy. Then they wanted me to take a drug test. (Also fun one handed. >.<) And all of this was taking even longer than it should have, because she was using it to train a new employee at the same time. All while I sat in a chair, holding my arm against my side, and hissing in pain.
I am seriously starting to hate my temp agency. This isn't the only time they've pissed me off, but OMFG. >.<++++
FINALLY they sent me off to the medical place. It took maybe half an hour to get me in, but they were all pretty nice. Changing into a medical gown was fun. >.X Then there was the exam and x-rays, which the doctor apologized for but said had to be done with worker's comp injuries.
So thirteen hours after my shoulder popped, I finally learned what happened: I tore the muscles a little. Some of the paperwork says it's a sprain, another other says strain, but essentially it's all the same thing. I have my right arm in a sling to ease the pain a bit, but I'm supposed to work my arm a little every once in awhile so it doesn't stiffen up. No pain medication though, which I wish there was. >.O
Technically I *can* work as long as I don't use my right arm for anything, but the agency decided to just have me rest it for a couple days instead. I have to make an appointment with the medical center to get it checked again on Friday. (They said come back in four days, but the agency said Friday namely because they're closed on weekends -Rolls eyes-) The real irony is that we only have work tonight and tomorrow, and then it's our four day weekend.
Mostly I'm just pissed off that again, THIRTEEN HOURS of pain before being told what's wrong. That was fucking ridiculous. I'm still in pain, but the sling does help a little. I'm trying to stick to mostly using my left arm, which is ... interesting. Also sleep is fun, seeing as I'm a side sleeper. x.x
* The shift supervisor who's in charge of everything is the one who declared me unhireable because I couldn't run one of the lines by myself. She hasn't spoken to me since then until tonight. Occasionally she gives me a very tight, bland smile in greeting.
The other supervisor who works just under her ROYALLY pissed me off a couple days ago. My line went down for mechanical issues, which left a lot of other lines down, so there were a bunch of people sitting around the breakroom waiting for it to start back up. She said something to me about wanting me to clean 'the shelves' and then started talking to someone else before I could ask which ones she meant and what exactly she wanted done. Just after that, my area supervisor came in and called me back to the line. We worked off and on for about an hour, then went down again. The other people in my area started walking around hosing things down, and left me sitting there by myself without any instructions for an hour until someone came and told me to go to break. While I was on my break, that supervisor came in and asked me if I was on break and about the shelves. I told her I'd been called back right after she'd asked, and I hadn't had a chance to do them. She stared at me, said 'That was awhile ago' in this very rude tone, and then ignored me to talk to someone else again. Essentially insinuating I was lying about why they weren't done without even letting me finish talking.
Very few things piss me off more than being called a liar. I'm still fuming just thinking about it. She hasn't talked to me since then either, to the point that she sort of showed up and shoved my time card at me - while I was wearing gloves and working no less - before walking off, totally ignoring me when I said thank you.
** I so feel terrible for poor Brother, because we didn't get home after all this until after 2:00 in the afternoon, and he had to go in for work again at midnight tonight. x.x