True Story. There was a software contractor working on contract at a client’s office (at a Bank). It was during a festive season and people were in a celebratory mood at the office. Some of the coworkers were exchanging gifts, bottles of wine, boxes of chocolates, gift cards….you get the idea.
 |
| Photo by rpeschetz |
Normally opening a bottle of wine at the office is strictly forbidden. But due to the holiday festive season, at this particular office it was encouraged and supported even by the management team….go figure. Now the thing with wine, the only catch of having to open a bottle of wine is that you need to have a wine opener (corkscrew). Without one, you’re pretty much out of luck.
So getting back to the story. The contractor, attempting to find a wine opener with no luck decides to improvise. The closest thing he could come to is a screwsdriver for repairing computers. The screwdriver is good. He manages get the screwdriver embedded just deep enough into the top of the cork to get a decent hold of the cork to pull it out. But the cork is stubborn. It moves a little up out of the bottle but not quite enough to come free. At this point, people are standing around ready with plastic cups ready to fill their glasses with the wine. The management team is getting ready to give a toast for the wrap up and congratulatory speech to the staff.
Meanwhile, the contractor is still trying to work the screwdriver just enough to get the cork out so the party can begin.
What happened next is quite disturbing. Just as the contractor has a strong grip on the screwdriver trying to work the cork free, the cork unfortunately splits apart at which point the screwdrive slips free in an upward arch directly poking himself directly into the retna of one of his eyes. He screams in pain and drops the bottle of wine causing it to crash to the floor. Meanwhile everyone around stops in midsentence to watch in horror as the Contractor screams clutching at his eye.
While there was not a lot of blood from the stabbing into his eye, the permanent damage was done. After having the eye checked out at the hospital, doctors determined that the damage to the retna was too severe and he would be permanently blind in the one eye for the rest of hist life. Being an independent contractor, he unfortunately did not purchase the insurance needed to protect against this type of accidental injury.
Lessons Learned
1. If you’re going to open wine at an office, make sure you have a wine opener. Or, make sure the wine is a twist bottle top. Otherwise, you just may end up blind in one eye for the rest of your life.
2. If you’re an independent contractor, carefully consider purchasing insurance to protect against these types of freak accidents that inhibit you from practicing your craft and making a living.
