“Pain, I like it rough
‘Cause I’d rather feel pain than nothing at all”
– Three Days Grace, “Pain”

I sprained my ankle at work last week. And I didn’t even tell anyone.

Before I explain what happened, I’ll have to explain a bit more about my job.

There are at least two vehicles in the garage at all times: a test vehicle and what they’ve deemed the “Water Truck”. Both vehicles are pickup trucks and both have been fitted with 60-gallon water tanks located in the flatbed. There are hoses running from the tank to the shocks of the vehicle. Because the testing is only done on Rough Road–the part of the testing roads that’s basically like driving over an already-exploded mine field–this heats up the shocks. If you keep driving for too long the shocks will eventually overheat and stop working altogether, but because of the water tank, water is constantly splashing onto the shocks, so this is not an issue. To keep the test vehicle constantly running, one of the test drivers is usually tasked with driving the water truck and meeting the test vehicle at the beginning of Rough Road every 2 or 3 hours to refill the test vehicle’s water tank by transferring water from the Water Truck’s tank to the test vehicle’s. Then once the Water Truck’s tank is eventually empty, it is driven back to the garage, where it can be refilled via a hose.

Which brings us to me and my sprained ankle. It was Thursday. A new test vehicle had arrived (right hand drive SUV) and B.–who, as you know, is my supervisor and the lead mechanic–had to get it ready for road testing. It had a few things missing, such as the back seats, which were being shipped to the proving grounds separately and had to be installed by B. and the other mechanics. This, of course, meant that my training had to be put on pause for the day, which for me meant more sitting in the conference room doing absolutely nothing. Eventually in the afternoon, S. drove the Water Truck back to the garage to refill the water tank. Because there was a guy working on the vehicle scale in the garage, he parked the truck outside on the side of the garage, opened the side door, and ran the hose from the inside wall to the water tank of the truck. He approached me in the conference room and said “Hey Don, I gotta go take a leak. You mind watching the Water Truck for me? Make sure the tank doesn’t overflow.” Sure, no problem, I said. I went outside and stood watch while the water hose did its thing. After a few minutes, I moved the hose back into the garage to its proper place and closed the water tank shut. For some reason, I decided to jump from the door of the truck’s flatbed to the ground below. This was a huge mistake. As soon as I landed, I instantly fell to the ground and clutched my left leg like the Peter Griffin screenshot above. It hurt SO bad, but I didn’t make a noise. Didn’t scream or anything. I just silently laid on the ground for a bit, assessing the damage to my leg. Just a sprain. Nothing broken, thank goodness. So I hopped back up and walked back into the garage like nothing happened. I limped a bit as I walked back into the conference room, but nobody noticed. A couple hours later, it was almost time to clock out. S. decided to ask B. if he could leave a bit early because he had to visit his parents and he wanted to beat the traffic. B. said he was free to go, so a few minutes after that, I also asked B. if I could leave early and he also said I could go.

When I got home, I laid down on my fold-out couch and stretched out my legs. Left one still hurt like hell, so since I didn’t have any other plans for the night, I stayed on the couch and didn’t move for the rest of the night (other than to walk to the bathroom, of course). The next day, I called off of work. Didn’t give B. a reason–it’s none of his or the company’s business anyway and if I had told him it was for a medical reason I’d have to supply a doctor’s note (no thanks). I stayed in bed pretty much all day, hoping this would help my leg stop hurting. Eventually, it did. No problems anymore. But I really need things at this job to start going well. Otherwise I’m really gonna have to find something else.

Thanks for reading.

Song of the Day: Wendy’s feat. Shane Told – I Miss The Sunroom

Have you heard one of the biggest Wendy’s franchisees in the country is filing for bankruptcy? Wendy’s–which has the best social media team in the fast food game–is apparently so sad about it that they decided to make an emo EP. And they enlisted actual emo musicians to do it. And let me tell you…it slaps. This is the best song on it IMO, but honestly, the whole EP is great. Give it a listen.