Haha, alright...
...I was working at Zuma Fun Center last year where they had me in charge of the go-kart track. A co-worker just fixed a go-kart and asked me to open the gate for him so he could drive it from the mechanic-shop to the pit-stop...while other people were still racing. I had seen other people do it, so I had assumed this was standard procedure as long as I looked out for the blind-spot right in front of the gate.
The gate's a big ~twenty-foot metal gate on wheels; while it's a fence at the top, it's on a wider steel foundation at the bottom to hold the wheels. When closed, people racing could only continue racing. When opened, it would block off the track so you had to go into the pit-stop and end your race. I waited on opening it until all the racers were on the other side of the track, then l let my co-worker into the pit-stop. As I pull the gate back, here comes a red go-kart with my lucky number and a twelve-year-old kid who decided he was done racing...and he's coming ~30 MPH from the blind-spot. The gate was almost closed, too, but he just HAD to shoot the gap...
...remember that steel foundation that's wider? Yeah, that's ankle-high, so that hit me there first before jamming the rest of the fence into my ribs and knocking me down. I wasn't knocked out, but I purposefully laid and kept my eyes closed and tried not to panic as people swarmed over me. Zuma eventually took me to ER, where I had bruises and bad scrapes across my left side; they also feared I had fractures and a concussion, which were later proven wrong. It was awkward calling my parents while they were at a Titans game about this...!
I had already put in my two-weeks notice before we went to ER, but they fired me the next day. Not because of the accident, mind you, but because the hospital failed to give me the drug test I signed off to take. Zuma called me the next day and demanded I take the test within two hours of that call, but I had already requested that day and the next day off before the accident AND they already had the opportunity to give it when I was there the night before, so I couldn't make that exception for them. I suspect it's illegal for them to have treated me like this, but I failed to look further into it.
Worker's comp has been after me ever since because of that. I only recently found out they were paid afterall -- fifteen months after the fact -- but insurance companies are still calling and mailing me.
Fun times. I'm just glad it was a go-kart and not a blue shell.
--
http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/3492/eponaharr.jpg
Nominate E P O N A.