Last Post of 2007
Dec 31st, 2007 by alyoung
On the last day of the year, I thought I would share a story of what happened to me on another New Year’s Eve 2 years ago. It was the year 2005, on the eve of 2006. My son Marcus had a ceramic piggy bank, and we had been putting our daily change into it. It was now filled, actually stuffed. So, I decided to empty it and get the cash. However, I did not want to spend the time to wrap the coins in coin wrappers and take it to the bank to deposit. I thought I would take it to a coinstar machine at Albertsons. A coinstar machine is a machine in which you dump your change in, and it counts it for you. It gives you a receipt for the amount, and you take it to the cashier which gives you the cash. It charges a fee, or you can convert it to a gift card at a retailer such as Best Buy or Starbucks without paying the convenience fee.
So, Marcus and I headed to Albertsons to empty our piggy bank and collect some cash for the new year. This piggy bank was heavy. I took the plug out of the pig, and tried to pour out the money into the funnel in the machine. Because the bank was so full, the monies did not fall out easily. So, I tried to shake and rattle it to loosen it up. As I did so, the bank burst open, and I cut my left index finger on the sharp ceramic edge. Next thing I know, all my money was spilled onto the machine and the floor along with the broken bank, and a trail of blood.
At first I thought it was a minor cut, but the blood kept coming out. It was only about a 1/4 inch cut, but it was deep. A cashier bought me a napkin and a band aid, but that was not going to help. I was still oozing blood all over the floor. Another customer looked at my cut, and said she was a nurse. She concluded that it was a pretty big cut, and would need to go to the hospital for stitches. The hospital was nearby, but with Marcus with me, and still bleeding a lot despite more towels wrapped around the cut, the nurse offered to drive me to the hospital. The manager at Albertsons took down my name and phone number and said they would count my money for me.
So, here was my dilemma. I was bleeding profusely. I thought I might pass out soon from all the blood loss. Yet, my money was out in the open for all to see. I did not want to leave my money. I thought it might be a couple of hundred dollars there right out in the open. I finally decided I needed to go to the hospital now. After waiting for three hours in the emergency room, I had 5 stitches to close the cut. After leaving the hospital, I returned to Albertsons to get my money. It turned to be nearly $450. No wonder the pig burst. I don’t know if they “skimmed” some of my money while counting it, but I suppose they are entitled to a fee for handling bloodied money. Hopefully this New Year’s Eve will be more quiet and safe.
