Last night we arrived at an airport in the Midwest. Nearby, while waiting for an Uber, a limo-bus driver in uniform and working, tripped and really gashed his head open. He lost consciousness for a few seconds and was bleeding badly. We ran over to help, got him a cushion for his head, and the cleanest compress we could apply to the gash. He was certain to need 20-40 stitches.
After calling an ambulance and airport dispatch, I called his supervisor to get them to help. He definitely needed to go to the hospital and needed support.
Their response? “We’ll send someone over right away to get his keys so we can get the van.”
Seriously. That’s it.
I was freeking furious, and let loose.
What in the F kind of place do we live where an on-the-job employee is bleeding in the street, waiting for an ambulance, and all they care about is the machinery?
I mean, I really pushed the concept of some empathy for the employee – to try to help him through the hospital process (he did not seem to have family in the area). It seemed to fall on deaf ears.
Once the cops arrived and were giving good first aid attention and the ambulance was imminent, we left (because our Uber driver was long-since waiting and anxious to leave).
On the way home, we tried to get the hospital information so that I could visit and see if I could help – lacking the company seeming to care. But, no one would release the information.
My only option was to leave as many messages with management as possible, threatening to raise hell if they did not take care of the injured driver.
This afternoon, I was able to get a supervisor who said that they got him an Uber home from the hospital. Wow, such generous.
It’s just infuriating that a company would treat their workers like 1870 railroad workers, leaving them to die in the dust with zero repercussions.
Things have got to change in this country.
The people who profit from their employees need to be more accountable for those workers.