The Day I Nearly Died
It still terrifies me now
I am not a dramatic person, although at times I can wear my heart on my sleeve, I would consider myself as a dedicated worker who is loyal to the company I work for, and this lead to me nearly losing my life.
For the past 5 years, I have worked for a company that sells high-end hot tubs and swimming pools, it is a family business of 41 years, now in its second generation.
It was a hot summer's day, as always we had plenty of people asking about swimming pools, we had sold lots of hot tubs already.
Days like these you just forget about the time, it runs away with you, which I enjoy, the days go quickly and you feel like you've earned your money for a good day's work, this particular day was going to be very different though.
Working with a few different colleagues, I looked up to one and indicated I was going to head inside to grab a quick bite to eat, giving me the nod I walked into the retail shop and was about to walk into the canteen when a customer asked me a question about buying a hot tub.
“Yes sir, just give me a few moments and I will be right with you.” I really did not have time to eat, although I know I should, and my employer is always telling us to stop fuel ourselves before going again.
I went to my desk and unwrapped a ham and mushroom slice, yum! I took a bite into the soft pastry and tried to swallow it, I did not really chew my food and this turned out to be a massive mistake that could have cost me my life.
I swallowed a whole piece and it got stuck in my throat, at first, I just thought it would go down, then realized it was stuck. I tried to drink some water that was on my desk, that just clogged my throat up more, this all happened in around 20 seconds or so, but felt like minutes to me.
I was scared, I knew there was a problem, but what could I do? I looked around and saw a colleague on the phone, he saw straight away I was having difficulty and slammed the phone down. run around the desk in a dry humping motion from behind managed to thrust the lump of pastry out of my throat.
I am sure there was more of a technique to it than that, however, this was my recollection of the story. Once I knew I was ok, I then burst into tears and dropped to the floor, by this time there was an audience, was I embarrassed? No, I was simply thankful that I was alive.
I would have rubbished a story like this in the past, however, when it happens to you it really is a different story. I went for a five-minute walk, my boss had heard about the situation and came to find me. He is a good bloke and spent time with me talking and letting me know everything would be ok.
He let me take the rest of the day off even though it was busy, he could see I was visibly upset and probably not in the right frame of mind to work. I found a hero that day, thank you for saving my life.
Written by Robert Ralph
Written by Robert Ralph
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