# Weird Wounds



## kyheirloomer (Feb 1, 2007)

We all know that kitchens can be dangerous places. There are knives that cut, and graters that bite, and hot stovetops and pots waiting in lurk to burn us.

Last night, however, I hurt myself in a totally new way. I'd sprinkled some coarse salt on a dish I was preparing. Grabbed the pepper mill and started turning it. Ouch!

Seems that one or two salt crystals had adhered to my finger. When I turned the mill the salt actually scraped my finger tip---one of those cuts that doesn't go deep enough to bleed, but which hangs around two days longer than forever.

Anyway, I got to be wondering what other kinds of weird wounds you've suffered in the kitchen????


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## just jim (Oct 18, 2007)

The wierdest would have to be when I was stabbed by a piece of cheese.
I worked in a pizza parlor that had frozen bags of shredded mozzarella.
I took one out of the freezer and was banging on it with the palm of my hand to break it up when a shard of cheese punctured the bag, and then my hand.
Always get a funny look when I say I was stabbed by a piece of cheese.


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## talkinfood (Oct 31, 2007)

Cut by cheese? That is a first. lol I can't think of any weird wounds that I've gotten but I do know that I get poked by lots of veggies: okra, artichoke, bamboo shoots, etc. It's not fun getting poked by veggies.


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## kyheirloomer (Feb 1, 2007)

Hey, Jim, can you imagine that on your tombstone:

"His heart was punctured by a psychopathic shred of mozzarella gone wild." 

How mortifying!


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

I don't know if this is weird or not but every time I squeeze lemon juice or grate fresh tomatoes the juice gets into any miniature invisible little cut in my hand and stings like heck.:talk:


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## ed buchanan (May 29, 2006)

A young Sous Chef I had in a country club in Florida dropped a frozen rib of beef on his toe and broke the toe. Ah but the rib was ok.:roll:


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## oregonyeti (Jun 16, 2007)

I once put a heavy box of frozen steaks down onto a table and pinched, um, something, between the box and the table :suprise: I recovered and went on to have children (whew). That was when I was 18 and working at Ponderosa Steak House.


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## maryb (Mar 21, 2008)

I was trimming spare ribs with a boning knife and had greasy slippery hands. Someone ran into me from behind and I dropped the knife to avoid stabbing my other hand. The knife bounced, went off the counter and managed to land point first on my foot. Penetrated about 1/2 inch :lol: it was fun explaining that one to the doctor as he put in a few stitches.


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## just jim (Oct 18, 2007)

During a busy Sunday brunch, cold table had the lid open, and I was quickly placing plates on the pass bar above.
A waitress pushed a plate from her end, and a plate started to slip off of my side, and when I shot a hand out quickly I missed and jammed the cold table lid between my index and middle finger, ripping open the web.
Frantically kept applying super glue until i got the wound sealed, then finished service.
The bad part was that I had sealed the wound open instead of closed tight, and it took forever to heal.

The cook always goes down with the ship.


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## gunnar (Apr 3, 2008)

almost as bad as getting stabbed by cheese. Was peeling a 50lb bag of carrots. Reached into the bag while talking to someone, somehow a fingernail caught the edge of a carrot and ended up with about a half inch of carrot wedged nice and tight under my thumbnail. Looked really weird with an orange stripe running up the middle of my nail.


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## katbalou (Nov 21, 2001)

stabbed by a caramel shard from a croquembouche i was assembling. the shard went into my finger, which later developed quite the infection. had to have a ring sawed off - the dr. in the emergency room just couldn't understand.....
beef blood getting splatted up into my eye, causing another weird infection.... and the other numerous burns and cuts on my forearms that always made people look at me funny.....what can i say, i'm short and the oven for the onion soup was above the line. :smiles:


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## deltadoc (Aug 15, 2004)

Tombstone says "He died trying to cut the cheese, but the cheese cut him!" 

doc


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## chefelle (Feb 17, 2007)

I was carrying a full size sheet pan up around shoulder height....got distracted and while I was turning to look the other way walked directly into a wall with the sheet pan which slammed into my shoulder and sent me flying. Oh...while my sous watched. I still haven't lived that one down....AND I bruised the rat snot out of my shoulder...and my ego!


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## welldonechef (Sep 28, 2008)

I have a multitude of these kinds of cuts. It is so ironic that after one becomes skilled with a knife, he or she never cuts themselves with them, but on things like Platic Wrap containers, metal inserts, etc.

I was once cut by a cutting board that was new, the plastic edge was too sharp. Lets see, boning out a chicken, and the bone attached to the keel had splintered, so it jabbed me good.


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## chefelle (Feb 17, 2007)

Me too, Welldonechef. I cut myself regularly on the lids for catering trays....on lids for those huge buckets of canola oil....on the lip of the shortening can. My hands are riddled with little cuts.

Oh...and the shrink wrap machine....burn myself on that often while trying to clean the thing!


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## chrose (Nov 20, 2000)

Let's see... Had a clam explode in the deep fryer and shoot right into my left eye. We used to shred 50 blocks of parm and used a large aluminum meat tenderizer mallet as a hammer to a large cleaver to break off chunks. I hammered once and a small piece of aluminum flew off into my knuckle locking the joint into a bent position until the dr removed it.
Had a similar one to MaryB where my chefs knife was too close to the edge of the table and the book keeper came into the kitchen and bumped into it. Point down right through my show into my second toe and boiinnnggg, stuck right in it!
We had a very large mixing bowl on a stand, about 36" or so in diameter. I grabbed it with both hands to heave it onto the dish stand and as it spun in my hand the apparently sharp edge cut right into the inside middle joint of my right index finger. Ohh that was fun!
The grease trap was left open by the roto rooter guy and I fell into it gashing my shin open bathing it in sewage :bounce: Ouch! And you wonder why I left the kitchen :look:


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## nicko (Oct 5, 2001)

HA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

Thanks that made me laugh.


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## token (Jul 11, 2009)

I dont have any real weird wounds but my left arm (as I am left handed) is tattooed with scarred burns, which is cool I guess since chicks dig scars  but other than that the thing that gets me the most in the kitchen is reaching my hand in to grab still shelled shrimp.. I get stabbed so much by their tails it's rediculous


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## bughut (Aug 18, 2007)

Now, you've got to wonder... Yikes!! Yeti, that tickled my giggly pin. Still smiling...How?...


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## oldschool1982 (Jun 27, 2006)

Had a glass explode in my hand once. Set it on the bus-stand, filled it with ice.....and when I went to pick it up.........bam! 5 stitches. Had a walk-in door closer....you know the kind. That spring loaded bar that is mounted after the fact to make sure walk-in doors close......well, someone set the lock for open but didn't get it latched all the way. I was standing in front of the door between the bar and the door and it just let loose. Dang near took out my knee. Bruised for a month. Most stoopid was after a 20 hour day. Had a package waiting for me at our back door. Set it up on the kitchen island to open and took a swift swipe at the tape with a filet knife I had sitting on the counter......stabbed myself in the stomach. Not deep, about an inch deep but it did take 4 stitches. Like I said one of the most stoopid...... 
Ohh yeah here's one for the books...... Opening restaurant in Ft Smith AR the electrician somehow attached the live power wire in place of the ground to the Expo table and window pass thru.......I leaned against the table and then placed my arms against the window. Holy Sh!t what a jolt......240 actually. I wasn't right for a week......(actually some would say........ ahh never mind. Hehehe)


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## gunnar (Apr 3, 2008)

did that back in my baking days. again , talking to someone over my shoulder, and BAM! right into the hipbone. folded me right over the pan and onto the floor

maybe I should start working alone.


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## schuster (Apr 21, 2009)

Three things come to mind.

First is the warning they put on every box of plastic wrap. "Warning! Serrated cutting edge, be careful!" And every time I read that I think "Who on earth would be dumb enough to cut themselves on a box of wrap?" I lost count of how many times I've cut myself on it.

The second... I was taking some sheet pans out of an oven. This particular oven was the masterfully designed kind where both doors close in unison. If you push the left door shut, the right door shuts. You know what I'm talking about. I hate these. Anyway... In tight quarters, a new guy tries to move behind me on my left as I'm taking out a sheet pan and moving it to my right. He didn't realize that pushing the left door made the right door move. It caused me to smack a 400 degree sheet pan right into my neck. As much as I don't care about scars on my arms or hands, a scar on my face is another story. It took a lot of explaining to the owner why I hadn't shaved for the following two weeks. Thankfully it healed up without a scar.

Third, my restaurant was built in the 40's. The basement has a lot of the storage. There are a lot of low pipes and such. I'm in the habit of ducking, but when I was new there, I was walking to a cooler with a mixing bowl of flour. For no reason other than to entertain myself, I was flipping it around. Not paying attention to where I was going, I walked right into a low hanging pipe and completely floored myself and covered myself in flour. I still remember the impact of the back of my head against the concrete as I fell backwards as if Tyson just punched me in the face, and still marvel that it didn't really hurt. I must have laid on the ground for 5 minutes before I had the wherewithal to gather myself up and keep on going. Oddly enough, I didn't feel that bad afterwards, but those 5 minutes really sucked, and I had a couple lumps on my head for a good while.

Honorable mention... Once at a job we were remodelling one of the dining rooms which included large glass panes, probably four feet by four feet. A couple guys and I were carrying the panes out of the dining room and into storage, which involved an outside trip. On the last pane of the trip, the guy was walking outside carrying the pane and it suddenly just shattered. It was one of the strangest things I've ever seen. He stood there with a blank face and a piece of glass in each hand. After a few moments, he dropped the pieces but still had a blank stare. I asked him if he was alright. Turns out he was fine, but I'll never forget the guy's stare when the glass just shattered for some inexplicable reason. He didn't get hurt a bit, which was the most amazing part of all of it.


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