# Skin loss



## rabbit (Apr 17, 2003)

Just a thought about drawing blood...The other night while cooking dinner for my bride to be I hacked a good chunk of my left thumb off. We have all been there, but what I want to know is why are the first few seconds of realization so humiliating? Who saw, who was watching? Blood on the cutting board, on the knife, on the pepper i was cutting, etc...I wasn't even at work sweating behind the line. Why after 17 years should I still feel so small? Maybe because after all the talk over the years and, after all the years pain and skin loss, put us all in the same boat for just a sec... Which makes me come to the conclusion once again that talk is cheap...

Bloody Rabbit, tricks are for kids...

So, chime in, how do you all feel on the topic?


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## bdwillms (Feb 26, 2001)

The cutting of ones finger would be equivalent to any skilled tradesperson cutting themselves with their tools.
A carpenter who hits his thumb with a hammer.,or cuts himself with his saw.A meatcutter who cuts himself with a knife.This is why factories have first aid attendants and first aid rooms.
Bandage the wound,thow out the pepper and clean up the blood and carry on.


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## chrose (Nov 20, 2000)

Ahh you're just embarrassed because it was in front of the wife to be. It's nothing that won't happen again and again. She'll get used to it and so will you. It probably doesn't bother you at work, so like BD says just bandage it and keep on going. Tell her it's how they do it in France! Pressed thumb instead of Duck.:bounce:


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## jock (Dec 4, 2001)

Maybe we are embarrased because we are supposed to be the experts and this isn't supposed to happen to us. The reason I try to hide it is because my wife and daughter make such a fuss over it. I try to sneak the bandaid without them noticing.

Jock


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## mezzaluna (Aug 29, 2000)

I wasn't around anyone else when I sliced off part of my left thumb many years ago, but my first reaction was outrage at the knife- then being p.o.'d that I'd made a mess which I would have to clean up. Not exactly a logical reaction.

Being alone when things like that happen can be downright frightening. The last serious cut I incurred needed stitches (left wrist- accident, really!!!), and I had to drive myself to the e.r. , in my car with a stick shift. Not an easy job.


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## leo r. (Nov 10, 2001)

This kind of nonsense happens to all of us at some time.The last time i cut myself,i was angry as i`d done the task countless times before.I can also understand the feeling of frustration of having to diddle about clearing the mess up & the inconvenience.
My party piece,if you can call it that,was done in front of my sister & teenage niece.They`re not keen on the sight of blood at the best of times.I also thought of some old Anglo-Saxon words,but did not say them. Leo.


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## isa (Apr 4, 2000)

Cut I don't mind too much, I find burns a lot worse and the pain can last for so long.


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## thebighat (Feb 21, 2001)

The injury that really lives with you is tendonitis from shaking frying pans. At the end of a busy night at the end of my restaurant days, I could barely pick up a big pan.


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## nick.shu (Jul 18, 2000)

err, is the tendonitis, the pain in elbows? that explains it.

As for burning yourself, if you completely ignore the minor ones, and you do it properly, they wont even blister.

I only seem to cut myself on things other than knives - go figure!. i did cut myself on a knife once and needed stitches, but that kind learning only really needs to happen once to be learnt.


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## pete (Oct 7, 2001)

Luckily, I don't cut myself often. Unfortunately I can't say the same thing about burning myself Usually it is a stupid mistake, such as grabbing at a saute pan, during the rush, and without a towel, only to find that the handle has been sitting over a lit burner, etc. It drives me nuts because I know better, and it was a stupid move on my part. I usually try to hide them from my wife because she makes such a big deal over it. To me, personally, its no big deal (definately not life threatening) and besides, what's another little scar anyway? I've got a million of them, most with some story of stupidity behing them!!


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## mike (Jan 24, 2003)

i only ever cut myself when i say to someone that i never do!!!!!


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## shroomgirl (Aug 11, 2000)

i twist my ankles....get in a hurry and wipe out.....did it tonight and hobbled through dinner. Can't wait to cook tomorrow.

my burns are just crescents up my right arm, I grabbed a spoon handle a few weeks ago and blistered my palm great....just shake my head and move on.

Hm cuts are unusual, but I was working salads one night for a friend and a chef knife landed on my red plastic berkenstocks and nicked a toe....alittle blood but mainly a sheepish grin.


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## mage (Mar 21, 2003)

most of my cuts come from cleaning, although the oddest thing happened last week i cut myself cleaning tyhe broiler and it was so hot it cauterized the **** wound before it could bleed oh and tonight while i watched my day shift counter part argue with the closing shift manager about who was responsible for the kitchen (ultimately i did as normal and closed the kitchen myself) i shaved skin off of my thumb

now burns they are my high point i have battle scars from the military (saudi was hot as **** and i was an avionics specialist who worked on hot planes and assisted in engine pulls) as well as the kitchen


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## mike (Jan 24, 2003)

I once made a medieval meal for friends coming round...a pottage,
spiced rib of beef (you know us rosbifs) anyways the pottage was
a bit thin and as it was bieng served in bread trenchers I thought
id blitz some of the pottage with cooked potatoes to adjust the consistency....except i forgot to put the lid on the blender & blitzed the red hot liquid into my startled face....suprisingly i remember being very annoyed 1;for bieng so stupid & 2; for getting my kitchen messy...so the first thing i did was start wiping the walltiles until i recognized that my face was on fire...odd eh
still no scars ....there anyway...

the meal was disgusting

chow


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## brie (Apr 7, 2003)

My major injury was stupidity-induced. I was slicing onions on a mandoline, and decided it was quicker not to use the safety guide. I wasn't paying attention and the top of my thumb got mandolinned along with the last bit of the onion.

The people in the emergency room said they see lots of injuries of that nature, so I felt a little less stupid. The worst thing was that it was completely avoidable, should I have taken the time to be a little more cautious.


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## chiffonade (Nov 29, 2001)

Move over, buddy. I'm a member of that (red-faced) club. Recently I managed to carve a sizeable piece of not only my middle fingertip - *but my #*@&@ nail as well!* It's just about healed.

I find I'm more annoyed at myself than embarassed when that happens.


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## pete (Oct 7, 2001)

A good friend of mine (a cook at the time, now a chef) was making Sushi for his girlfriend. He cut the top of his thumb clean off on a Benriner mandolin. Well, he was too embarrassed to have his GF take him to the hospital, and not having any surgical tape around, he duct taped his thumb back together. So the next day, at work, we attempted to perform surgery on the thumb. The first part (the hardest!!) was trying to get the top of his thumb off of the duct tape!!! 
Needless to say, our surgery was less than successful. The top part died and fell off. He had a flat thumb for about a year, but it eventually grew back, almost normally!!!

Then there was the time I, being less than observant, poured about 4 gallons of scalding water down my leg. Not only embarrassing because it was stupid, put also painful as we were short staffed that night and I worked with the lower part of my leg in an ice bucket!! Luckily the burns were not bad and I nursed myself back in no time, though chef allowed me to work in shorts for a few days as pants rubbing the burn hurt like the dickens!!

Now that I think about it, I've had a lot of stupid injuries!!!


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## mike (Jan 24, 2003)

mandolins are an evil French device designed to hurt & maim
innocent non French chefs especially Americans & Brits. It was
designed after the revolution where the guillotine had been used
to eradicate the nobles. One monsieur Pepe le Pong had devised
a strategy for a vegetable slicing device called a mandolin. They
would pretend it was a harmless culinary gadget whilst ensuring 
that the vegetable guard attatchment was easily lost or stolen by french operatives during twilight hours.
Knowing non French chefs to be fearless & brave & ones who would risk working without a safety net their cunning plan came to fruition when 200 years later chefs continue to maim themselves daily with this infernal device.
Rumours are that French chefs only ever use a safety device in conjunction with the mandolin & this is called a commis available
everywhere relatively cheap.

chow


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