The Side of the Cereal Box

I had a colossal fall at work last night. No, I didn’t break anything (on me or anything else), but it was a spectacular fall nonetheless.

It was around five o’clock - about an hour before I got off work. I was looking for something to do (since there weren’t any customers at the moment), so I grabbed a few of the candy containers to take them to the back to fill them (in preparation for the busy evening that surely lay ahead). I had Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Heath Bar in one hand and Chocolate Curls and Snickers in the other. I passed by Amber, who was preparing waffle cones, turned the corner by the sink, and passed Shalonda, who was washing dishes. I made a comment about how hot it was, and then realized that my right foot was sliding to my left.

As if in slow motion, I felt myself lift off the ground, saw the candy containers launch skyward, landed (HARD) right on my butt (my right side taking pretty much all the impact), and heard the clatter of plastic containers on the tile floor. Snickers to the left of me! Heath Bar to the right of me! (The Chocolate Curls and Reese’s PB Cup managed to hang on.)

And as I sat there on the wet floor, feeling so foolish I had to laugh, all I could say was, “Back’s wet!” (This is what someone usually hollers when they’ve been moping the floor in the back, just to warn the rest of us that it’s pretty slick and we should be careful.) I heard Mrs. Cox giggling from behind the nearest shelves. She and Mr. Cox came around the corner (as I sat there laughing) and asked if I was alright. I said, “Yeah, but we have some candy casualties.” “That’s alright,” she said. “We’ve lost worse than that before.” (She later described to Shalonda and I a fall she’d had last year when she put her foot through a fan (off and unplugged) that had been sitting on the floor near the shelves.)

We all got a good laugh out of it. And I think they all knew it was alright to laugh since I was laughing the hardest out of all of them. What else could I do? It was hilarious! I had Heath Bar all over my arm - little indents from all the little bits that I had mashed upon landing. My pants were wet. (Though I was a little sore for a minute or two.) And thankfully, there’s no bruise - though if there were, I’m sure that would be spectacular too!