So yea like the title says my co worker hurt his back today at work lifting a concrete pad. We work for a small generator installation company in The south eastern USA. Here at the company there is the boss, myself and my co worker we will refer to as R. Yes very small company. I can tell R is in significant pain perhaps because he may not have lifted correctly. The worst part is small companies in this country shames the absolute shit out of you for reporting these type of “walk it off” injuries. Also other various blue collar electrical and HVAC jobs here in the south east have similar shaming methods and it pisses me off that sometimes serious injuries can be made jokes of. The point I’m getting to here is that R ,from working in this country, has been conditioned to feel shame for something that should be taken seriously and where help should be offered. Now that I really think about it I ,too, can recall times where I have been in the exact same position. I was significantly hurt at work but never said anything because I would hate to have to miss work or waste the bosses time or file on insurance or (insert any trivial bullshit rationalization here). I can’t even explain the shame and guilt I felt from potentially having to “miss work”. I now realize that I, too, have been programmed and conditioned this way to feel these things and it pisses me off. Thanks for reading my fellow Anti-working friends.