The Big Fall

"Ya'll better watch out when you start work at La Fleur de Sel, the stairs that go down to the dry storage/everything room are so steep and small, I fell down them, split my head open and had to be rushed to the hospital one of the first days I worked there." This is what Nathan told us before we began work and though I took his story seriously, I knew I would be cautious, and I'm no 19 year old boy who takes risks leaping down stairs...I was sure Gina and I would be fine.

First week of work, day four I believe, Gina came up to me during service with a serious face and told me she had just fallen down the stairs. "Are you okay?" "Ya, I only fell down the last third of the way so I'm fine but I pulled the right side of my body from grabbing the bar with my arm. It all started with me trying to grab that white wire thing on my way down...don't grab it, it doesn't hold you up." Cool, some more advice from another victim, I won't grab the white thing and I'll watch my head. Done.

Two days later at the end of service Nicoli, one of the cooks, threw a carton of eight eggs in my arms and told me to bring them down to the fridge, "pleees!"
I grabbed them and with just a tiny bit of sarcasm said, "Gladly!!"
I opened the white door to the dungeon, stepped once with my left foot, went to step two with my right foot and caught my slippery arch and lost it. Totally lost it all the way down, on my butt, elbows to the rails, eggs in the air and for the finale at the bottom I knocked over two cases of Evian glass water bottles. All I could do was laugh and make sure I was still in tact before I heard Gina's voice from upstairs yelling down to make sure I was okay. "Ya, I'm fine" I said laughing and gasping for breathe, "I just wish you had my camera to get a picture of this!" My final position after falling was straddling the bottom handle bar. There were eggs in every direction broken on the ground and Evian bottles all over the floor. I think I took the cake for loudest fall.
Gina told me later that they heard the whole fall from the kitchen and everyone looked up at one another with horror at what could have happened.

I have images of the fall and get little butterflies in my stomach right before I go down those stairs the sixty times a day that I do but I'm oober careful now....oober oober oober careful.

It was two days ago and I'm pretty sore at this point with a big bruise on my left elbow that if touched doesn't stop shooting pain for a good couple minutes and a less intense bruise on my right elbow with a fatty bump. I'm healing though and according to Gina I played the tough card at work so that's a relief. Number one rule, don't let them know your weakness....ever.

the back of my feet are touching the stair...this is really how far they hang off...and no, my feet aren't giant.

The pole I straddled

Aint she a beauty?