I have worked many places over the years and some of those jobs were manual labor back when I was young. I learned many lessons and many of which have saved my future companies thousands of dollars. The simple lessons that you learn down in the trenches can help you in the future and I cannot stress how important working young and working different jobs is very important. One of these jobs ended up changing my life and it almost ended up being a very dangerous experience. Now not all jobs are dangerous and some have more risk than other, but I never thought that working at a regular big box hardware store could almost kill me.
I will begin by stating that I started driving forklifts when I was 15. I got a work permit and drove them around moving hay at a feed store. I spent 2 years learning sales and also how to use a forklift very well. I was able to stack hay very high and not have any issues with the swaying of the pallets. So I thought at this point that I was a pretty good driver and was quick and safe. I ended up then working at a big box store several years later for college. One of my tasks was eventually to get certified to work a forklift and many other large vehicles in the store. Being a seasonal employee this was rare and most people who worked only a few months didn't do any of this training. But it made me valuable and allowed me to come back season after season. But working in the shipping supplies area from time to time had some risk.
Each week a full truckload of products would come in and we would have to inventory them. Now each day we would do small inventory stocking, but once a week the large lumber and shingles would arrive. Now I didn't take them off the truck, but the first forklift would take them down and another one would then go and store them in the proper section. The shipping Supplies section was fun in my mind because I could hop on a vehicle or forklift and drive for hours and then go home. It kept me off my feet and it made my seasonal summers much happier.
Now one day I got on a forklift and picked up a large section of timber. I picked it up and drove it all the way to where it was stored and lifted it up. Once it was high enough to put on the next stack I started to drive forward. instantly, my forklift flipped from rear to front. All the lumber shattered open and flew everywhere. The manager and direct manager were walking by at the time this happened. I only saw the store manager once a month, but this time was the time. I almost flew off the forklift but it ended up snapping back down after it almost tipped over. It crashed down and I thought I was lucky. The lumber stayed away from me and the forklift did not flip or blow up.
It turns out that I was not really in trouble because someone had changed the forks on the forklift against the policy. They were actually shorter than normal and I never knew that was an option. So by a small change in forks, I almost died and ended up not getting fired.
