My Boss Gave Me A Lifelong Injury But I Didn’t Sue Them — Here’s Why
I was fine until I wasn’t fine
My first job was at Toys R Us for £4.50 per hour. If you’ve not read about why I was paid so little, I recommend doing so here.
My role was to specialise in the baby department, but I had a lot of knowledge about the general store too (apart from bikes). When it came to stacking shelves and restocking items, the heaviest thing I had to lift was a car seat. Some were lighter than others, and most of the time I was able to get away with someone lifting it for me. All the soft toys, duvets, blankets, and dummies were no problem to carry.
At the age of 16, I had no strength. I don’t think it was legal for me to get into a gym and I had no car to get there anyway. There were other things on my mind like exams and school gossip. So when it came to lifting things at work, it was clear I had no strength. Being only 156 cm doesn’t help matters either.
60% of the time I needed assistance in the store room. There was standard manual handling when I started my job, but when you would see the awkward shape and sizes of the boxes, all of that went out the window.
Now, my manager was a very stern female. She wasn’t to be messed with and many of my colleagues feared her, apart from me who…
