An experience today which made me sad

[georgina]

Thanks everyone for your thoughtfulness and kind words!

How’s your ankle and head today @georgina ?
Please give us an update with how you’re doing.

So yesterday I couldn’t put much weight on it and DH pulled out the walker he used after his hip surgery. Lots of ice & ibuprofen, which I think masked a bit the soreness of my wrist which is hurting some today. I can shuffle around more today. Wearing my ankle compression elastic for the swelling. Somewhat sensitive bump next to my eye. I hadn’t been aware it was bleeding until DH pulled up, with all the blood vessels in the skin there it looked worse than it was! I’m sure it will be much better in a few days.

ive been doing a lot of reading, I have sprained both ankles over the years to varying degrees. Stepping on an uneven sidewalk has caused a mild roll. In college I stepped on a carrot stick in the cafeteria and injured an ankle. One website talks about the need for strengthening exercises after a sprain to avoid chronic instability, which I suspect may be an issue for me. Some of the sidewalks around here (not the one I was on yesterday, that was just a stray rock) are over 200 years old and rather uneven. I always wear high boots when hiking, maybe consider some everyday walking shoes with more support.

 

[LoveSpringsteen]

I’m glad you’re feeling a little better today @georgina. Sending best wishes to you for your continued recovery.

I would have been sad, too, because there’s no way I wouldn’t have stopped to help someone who had fallen. If I felt any concern for my personal safety in a similar situation, I would have called the non-emergency police phone number and I always have my cell phone on me when out walking.

 

[kymom99]

I thought of this thread today when in Kroger. I was trying to get some 2 liters off the shelf. I’m short and it was too high for me to get them out of that wire thing. Usually they have them in an end cap somewhere but the Coke guy was filling stock and I couldn’t find any. The Coke guy ignored me as I stretched and grunted. Didn’t even offer to help. Then another shopper came down the aisle and said let me help you. It’s hard to understand why some people go out of their way to help while others look right past you.

 

[hrhdhd]

I thought of this thread today when in Kroger. I was trying to get some 2 liters off the shelf. I’m short and it was too high for me to get them out of that wire thing. Usually they have them in an end cap somewhere but the Coke guy was filling stock and I couldn’t find any. The Coke guy ignored me as I stretched and grunted. Didn’t even offer to help. Then another shopper came down the aisle and said let me help you. It’s hard to understand why some people go out of their way to help while others look right past you.

Not to repeat myself, but did you ask the Coke guy for help instead of using the passive-aggressive grunting? Why not just say, "Excuse me, can you hand me two Cokes?"

People should help when they can, but they're not mind-readers. Ask.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I thought of this thread today when in Kroger. I was trying to get some 2 liters off the shelf. I’m short and it was too high for me to get them out of that wire thing. Usually they have them in an end cap somewhere but the Coke guy was filling stock and I couldn’t find any. The Coke guy ignored me as I stretched and grunted. Didn’t even offer to help. Then another shopper came down the aisle and said let me help you. It’s hard to understand why some people go out of their way to help while others look right past you.

That's a tad different because pop suppliers are 3rd party people. He may have been concerned about liability with respects to you if something were to happen and liability to the grocery store should something have happened with their merchandise.

If it's a bread supplier or pop supplier it's not their store normally and would complicate things. A passerby or a store employee totally different. My husband has been asked by strangers to get stuff off the top shelf because he's tall, I've asked a stranger to help me get something off the top shelf but it would not occur to me to ask the person stocking pop because I understand the situation differently. I wouldn't leap to them being rude or something like that just because they didn't offer to help. Just take it as they are doing their job just like you may be doing your job at your workplace and deviating from that (especially for a non-emergent aspect) is not the thing to do no matter how you may view it as they should because they are another person there in front of you.

 

[flyingdumbo127]

Georgina and prayers! I am PMing you.

 

[BLTtinkerbell]

I’m sorry this happened to you.
I hope you recover quickly

 

[fly girl]

@georgina, wishing you a speedy recovery. I am sad right along with you that you were laying and bleeding and she walked right passed you. We have become such a cold society sometimes. Easy to become cynical, but I do think there are still wonderful and helpful people out there. Unfortunately, you got a heartless one yesterday.

I thought of this thread today when in Kroger. I was trying to get some 2 liters off the shelf. I’m short and it was too high for me to get them out of that wire thing. Usually they have them in an end cap somewhere but the Coke guy was filling stock and I couldn’t find any. The Coke guy ignored me as I stretched and grunted. Didn’t even offer to help. Then another shopper came down the aisle and said let me help you. It’s hard to understand why some people go out of their way to help while others look right past you.

This is me every time I visit Kroger. I sometimes climb, but if it is still too high I will flag whomever is down the aisle with me. I just politely ask, "can I use your height for a moment?" They typically laugh, then help. Never had someone say no. But now that I put it out there, it'll happen.

 

[sasywtch]

More than Oakland, San Diego, Los Angeles, or San Bernardino? Not sure about that. California leads the nation, no question about that.

They did statistics and Sacramento came out on top YAH for us LOL Unfortunately I thought the same as TVguy since we see so many homeless and addicts on the sidewalks. I would be leary especially if you were laying on the sidewalk and not sitting there holding your ankle in pain.

 

[luvthatduke]

OP, prayers for a quick recovery.
I would have helped you

 

[PrincessJo]

I was in the kitchen at work a couple of weeks ago and someone I didn't know said, good morning, how are you? So I replied, good morning, I'm good, thanks. And she replied, what... you're not fantastic?????

I almost said, you know what lady??? No, I'm not fantastic because the doctors think my husband has bladder cancer and his biopsy is in two weeks... SO NO, I'M NOT FANTASTIC.

My point is, you never know what someone else is going through and maybe we all need to be a little less judgemental. Maybe that woman was lost in her own thoughts and was dealing with her own crisis.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I was in the kitchen at work a couple of weeks ago and someone I didn't know said, good morning, how are you? So I replied, good morning, I'm good, thanks. And she replied, what... you're not fantastic?????

I almost said, you know what lady??? No, I'm not fantastic because the doctors think my husband has bladder cancer and his biopsy is in two weeks... SO NO, I'M NOT FANTASTIC.

My point is, you never know what someone else is going through and maybe we all need to be a little less judgemental. Maybe that woman was lost in her own thoughts and was dealing with her own crisis.

You should’ve said it. That would’ve annoyed me too. It reminds me of this video we watched for work that demonstrated how everyone is walking around with things going on in their heads. We all need to realize that and give people space sometimes. My DD is a nurse and has been recovering from illness herself. Last week she had a patient tell her she was to come in his room with a smile.

 

[Dan Murphy]

am no stranger to ankle issues, this one feels like a pretty bad sprain. I also hit my head on the sidewalk and have a small cut where my sunglasses were pushed into my head. Guess I’ll be sitting around this afternoon with ankle up & ice packs,

Hope you are feeling a bit better today, @georgina.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

I can understand feeling sad that she didn’t check to make sure you were ok. I would feel the same way, but then, it is in my nature to be helpful, so hard to understand when people don’t try and help.

Hope you feel better soon

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

I thought of this thread today when in Kroger. I was trying to get some 2 liters off the shelf. I’m short and it was too high for me to get them out of that wire thing. Usually they have them in an end cap somewhere but the Coke guy was filling stock and I couldn’t find any. The Coke guy ignored me as I stretched and grunted. Didn’t even offer to help. Then another shopper came down the aisle and said let me help you. It’s hard to understand why some people go out of their way to help while others look right past you.

I am 5’ even so am used to asking for help. (Better than me trying to climb the shelves and breaking them.) I wonder if he would have helped if you had asked him.

 

[JLTraveling]

Hope you're feeling better by now!

That is so sad to hear. I actually had my faith in humanity restored a couple of years ago when something similar happened. We were stopped at a travel plaza on the FL turnpike when an elderly lady toppled off the sidewalk. I can't really explain it, she stepped up onto the curb, took a couple of steps, and then fell over backward.

Everyone present jumped into action. Three people ran to help her directly. One ran to her car to check on her dogs. The store manager called 911. And my dad and I ran to opposite sides of the parking lot to direct traffic and prevent her getting run over. And back to the dogs, it turns out some other lady lives really close to where the older woman lives, and she offered to take the dogs and care for them while the lady recovered!

I can't even imagine not helping. That's truly an awful way to live

 

[hrhdhd]

Hope you're feeling better by now!

That is so sad to hear. I actually had my faith in humanity restored a couple of years ago when something similar happened. We were stopped at a travel plaza on the FL turnpike when an elderly lady toppled off the sidewalk. I can't really explain it, she stepped up onto the curb, took a couple of steps, and then fell over backward.

Everyone present jumped into action. Three people ran to help her directly. One ran to her car to check on her dogs. The store manager called 911. And my dad and I ran to opposite sides of the parking lot to direct traffic and prevent her getting run over. And back to the dogs, it turns out some other lady lives really close to where the older woman lives, and she offered to take the dogs and care for them while the lady recovered!

I can't even imagine not helping. That's truly an awful way to live

That's a nice story. Two differences: people witnessed the fall and there were several people around. People tend to act as they see others acting, so seeing one or two people jump into action ensures that others will.

 

[cedricandsophie]

I fell in downtown chicago on a crowded street corner last year on my face and ended up with a broken nose. My husband was there but was standing there trying to figure out what to do. I had so many people rush over to help as blood is gushing. A cop on a bike offered to call an ambulance. My fall was in front of a restaurant. A server came running out with ice and got me into their bathroom. We were on our way to a musical at a downtown theater. We ended up driving home and to the ER. I will remember always the kindness of these strangers.
A few weeks ago I saw a lady fall right at a corner as she was waiting to cross. I turned the corner abd parked abd ran back to help. Several other drivers stopped too.
So there are many kind and caring people left if you’re lucky enough to run into them.

 

[MrsPete]

Not a bad point - but should have been offered without asking.

Similar vein;
I was out walking my dog one night when I cam across an older man sprawled out on a rock planter in the common space between the sidewalk and street. I asked if he needed a hand, at which point he countered with some rude sarcastic remark. "what does it look like", something like that, but in a nasty way. For a brief second I tried to figure out how to secure my dog while helping him, then quickly dismissed the idea. I responded, "Forget it, I'll let the police handle it", then called the police non-emergency line. Dude was probably drunk, and I'm sure the police either handed him a citation for being drunk in public, or arrested him if he hadn't found a way to get up and be on his way before they got there - I wouldn't know, I left. All he had to do was be gracious in return, but no.

These stories are quite sad, but this one threw me into the way back machine:

When I was in college I had a blind professor. All of us were interested in the ways he managed his disability; for example, he knew exactly how many steps he needed to take from his office to the classroom building, and he wouldn't speak to anyone while waking -- because he was counting his steps. One Saturday a couple of us were walking through the empty campus, and we saw this professor "stuck" in a hedge (clearly he'd lost count); he was beating the landscape with his cane. We called out to him, "Professor __, let us help you!" None of us were the type who'd make fun of him in any way, and we genuinely wanted to help. He started SCREAMING at us, telling us to go to hell, and waving his cane. He clearly didn't want our help, so we walked away as quickly as we could before he could figure out who we were.

 

[Donna3271]

I am so sorry! I know how you feel. I was on the Dream recently going to Bermuda. I was running on the treadmill, and a wave rocked the boat. I went flying off the back of the treadmill and landed hard. There was a young man behind me lifting weights. He did not even look up at me and ask if I was OK.