I'm a klutz.

Boss is away for the week on business, my best cashier is on vacation, and I go and hurt myself at work. Fantastic timing.

The injury happened at the end of a LONG day and the last thing I felt like doing was sitting in the ER for who knows how many hours. I also hoped that perhaps it wasn't so bad and would resolve itself overnight. Nope. Got worse. So the next day I went to work in street clothes to file the necessary paperwork and get authorization to go to a walk-in clinic.

The manager on duty helped with the mounds of required paperwork. She was on the phone with the insurance company, I was filling out papers (in STREET CLOTHES, did I mention?) and MULTIPLE customers entered the employees-only area to ask for help. She finished on the phone and returned to the sales floor to assist customers, and people CONTINUED to approach me (IN STREET CLOTHES) to ask me where something was or what accessories they needed, etc. DOES IT LOOK LIKE I'M WORKING?! I actually said something like that to one lady and she asked me to find someone who was working. I CAN BARELY WALK. I AM IN PAIN. LEAVE ME ALONE.

I went for the drug test first since they have limited hours, then to the doctor. Go figure.....we have to make sure I'm not on illegal drugs before I can even get treated for an injury! Then, unfortunately, it was back to work. With Boss gone I have to work more than normal…..not going to work is not an option. Death MIGHT be an excuse, but injury is not. Can you imagine working retail on crutches……not fun.

Surprisingly, customers were a little nicer and less demanding than normal. With my limited mobility I'm relying on the junior managers a LOT. I'm delegating more than normal and trusting my employees to do the job like they know they're supposed to. So far it's working well. As far as I can tell they're not taking advantage, but I'm not giving them much chance to, either. I've asked for frequent progress reports and hobble over for a surprise inspection every now and then.

This is going to be a very long week.