Whazza Matter, Chicken?

I don’t know what y’all did this past Friday, but I stayed home.  Now I could say I did it because I had no money to spend on those sales; or I could say I just didn’t want to add to my charge cards.  Both of these reasons are true, but that’s only part of the story.  I just didn’t want to get up early Friday or stay up late Thanksgiving night to fight those crowds!  I just couldn’t justify the stress and aggravation that I’d have at those stores.

I read articles all weekend long about what I missed:  a crowd got pepper sprayed because some Bitch wanted a video game, and sadly a man had a heart attack and died at a Target store.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/27/black-friday-target_n_1115372.html?icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-sb-nb%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk3%7C115827 

Have we become so callous that discount shopping is more important than trying to help someone?  The story of that Target shopper reminds me of the time I called 911 at the St. Louis OSHA Office because one of our AARP workers was having a heart attack and none of the Compliance Officers had the balls to take responsibility and call!

Our Area Director and the Supervisors were out-of-town at one of their many mandatory conferences and the CSHO (Compliance Safety & Health Officer) that was left in charge either didn’t realize she was sick; didn’t want the cause trouble with the Area Director, etc; or was just plain chicken.  Meanwhile she kept feeling sicker and sicker.  The ozone reading was high that summer day, and that could have had some bearing on what happened to her, but I remember her getting sicker and sicker, and looking paler (which is difficult for a dark-colored African-American.)

I remember several of the CSHO’s stopping to talk with her, and one of them was a nurse!  I have always felt that she was lucky that day because I was the one manning the reception desk when she came in to work, or who know what might have happened.  The CSHO’s putzed around with her for over a half hour while she continued to feel worse.  They’d come and sit next to her on the couch and chat for awhile, and then scurry away like mice.  After watching this scenario repeat itself numerous times, I called 911 and they told me to have her loosen her bra and that an ambulance was on its way. 

Shirley told me later that she felt my keeping her calm  helped her a lot.  She also told me that by the time she saw a doctor, there were no visible signs of anything being wrong, and that she was stuck with the ambulance bill because those clowns at the St. Louis OSHA Office (including the one in charge) had never even reported the incident to the Kansas City Regional Office!  Wish I’d known that at the time; I’d have reported it myself and then worried about getting into trouble.