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Work Hazards & Servant Leadership

August 3, 2011

I just got antibacterial hand gel in a paper cut – ouch! I have such a hazardous job. 🙂

It does remind me of the time I hurt myself pretty bad out at Stone Mountain where I used to work.

It was summertime. Maybe in ’06 or ’07. I was outside, working, doing my thing, talking to guests, etc, when it started to rain. I took shelter underneath a porch with a family of guests – a mom, a dad, and two little girls. It was really starting to pour, and it didn’t look like it was going to let up – it wasn’t a normal Georgia afternoon shower. The little girls were obviously getting bored…and I started to feel bad for them. I knew we had some toys in the breakroom, so I decided to take a chance in the rain and make a run for it to grab the toys. I took off my slipper-like shoes (didn’t want to ruin them!), hiked up my hoop skirt and off I ran!

All went well, until I was on my way back to the family, running like crazy, trying to get out of the rain. I slipped, but caught myself and didn’t fall. Score! My foot hit the side of the building, but I didn’t think anything of it. I got back to the family and showed the little girls the toys. We played for a little while…but then my foot started hurting…BAD. So I looked down – and I was POURING blood from part of my foot and my toe! “Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, oh my goodness. Don’t freak out…don’t freak out…” I didn’t want to scare the family, so I politely excused myself, and ran back out into the rain, and back into the breakroom.

I called my boss (a very kind woman who I’d know for a few years by then) and explained to her what had happened. She told me to come over to the farmyard (yes, there was a farmyard a this “unnamed attraction”) and she would bandage me up. (She used sterile items from the veterinary area of the farmyard.) So back out into the rain I went, limping all the way. When I got there, she sat me on a stool, washed my foot and bandaged me up. I didn’t get in trouble – she didn’t even lecture me about safety and the importance of wearing shoes at work.

But I learned my lesson. Don’t run in the rain. Especially barefoot. 🙂

 

Yep, that’s me – walking in the rain. At least I’m wearing boots!

Pretty amazing, hu? What boss do you know that would wash and bandage your nasty bleeding feet? I still think of how incredibly kind that was of her.

The company I work for is based in the principals of servant leadership. In fact, there’s a statue in our hallway of Jesus washing the feet of a disciple.

That day, my boss def took those principals to heart. I always think of her whenever I hear about servant leadership.

 

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