No Pain, No Title Gain

(According to my friends and family, I rarely notice when I hurt myself; I’ve also told this to my coworkers, but they laugh it off. One day, I smack one of my legs into the receiving table’s legs, which are very sharp metal. I don’t even notice what damage was done until about an hour in my shift when I notice my work uniform pant leg is sticking to me and notice blood seeping through it. My manager notices the same thing.)

Manager: “What happened!?”

Me: “I guess this happened when I bumped into the receiving table.”

Manager: “THAT’S from a BUMP?!”

Me: “I don’t register pain, remember?”

Manager: “Go to the bathroom and get that cleaned out and [other manager] will bandage it.”

Me: “Can you get [coworker] to hold front, then?”

(My manager calls a coworker through the walkie talkie, and I hear his response.)

Coworker: “But do I have to? Are you sure she’s not faking?”

Manager: “There is a puddle of blood up here! I doubt she is!”

Coworker: “How do you know it’s blood?”

Manager: “Just get up here!”

(When my coworker get up to the front…)

Coworker: “See! She’s not even crying! Girls are pansies when it comes to pain. She’s just being lazy!”

Manager: “She’s not. If you would come around—”

Coworker: “You favor the girls so much! And she’s new! I’ve been here for 6 years!”

Manager: “I’m not! She is injured and—”

Coworker: “A paper cut ain’t no injury! I knew you shouldn’t have hired her! All girls like her are lazy b******!”

Manager: “You DO NOT use that language up here!”

Coworker: “This is what you get for hiring a college student!”

(Fed up, I step out to my coworker, pull up my pant leg and show him the gash. He instantly goes pale.)

Coworker: “Um… I got it up here… You go….”

(A month later, my leg is healed but I have a wicked scar on it, but also I receive a title promotion. Although it doesn’t mean much, I get to make the calls at the storefront when a manager is unavailable. Guess who got to be on my first shift for this promotion?)