Posted this elsewhere (another coin-op forum) but wanted to share with you guys too.
I was helping my cousin and her fiancee who are getting married this Saturday (I'm also in the wedding) move into their new rental house (split house, common here in Pennsylvania) which I heard earlier from my aunt that it was caked with dirt from the previous tenants and the landlord wasn't a very good one, so I felt kind of bad as these are two hard working great clean middle class people.
Well I got there and to be brutally honest it was a total shithole and I was expecting better: light green paint all around, old smell, stairs were wooden and painted black with a runner of black "star" carpet all the way up, with the floor in front of the stairs painted dark green. I think the house was built in the olden times and then remodeled sometime in the 70's. (It's a guess) It is a split home. Bathroom was tiny and had those stick on tiles with candleholders and stained wooden cabinetry.
Really actually kind of creeped me out (think Camp Crystal Lake/Friday The 13th cabin, like it was literally 70's all around and it made me really uncomfortable as I haven't seen any building like that for quite a long time, it was not well lit either, I know they were trying to make the best of it so I kept my mouth shut) and was surprised how low of a standard they went to from their previous place with roommates which was actually really nice, new, and modern. They basically got tricked into a lease because it looked pretty nice when they previewed it with people's stuff in it. The landlord did no cleaning or repainting when the previous tenant moved out, and they had only gotten to see the place before the other people had moved out (they were just dirty, but not messy, they could only tell by walking around and their feet turned black as did a swiffer with 4 wipes) so they didn't quite see all of the problems.
I hadn't been in a non-commercial building of that kind for years (commercial doesn't really matter, and it's less obvious usually), usually every house these days has at least been remodeled since the 90's or so based on standards. It was weird going back in one. They're all kind of the same every time, very outdated, dark, smelly, with badly painted trim and painted over two-prong outlets.
Anyways, we were moving stuff in and the wide box spring wouldn't fit up the stairs because of the low ceilings. So they had this idea to try and lift it from the ground and have other people pull from the balcony. It wasn't going to work and most of us knew that but they wanted to try anyways and just figured if it looked too difficult we'd just stop, it sounds really stupid reading/writing it but in person based on how everything was laid out it didn't seem too far fetched, everybody in that group is pretty rational.
It was a tiny little porch with the door in the spare bedroom (think one of the ones you shouldn't have like more than 2 people stand on, if 3 or 4 could even fit; again, old as hell of a concept), and then directly below it was the driveway which was like 2-4 feet below the foundation of the house and the ground floor, so they had to stand in the back of my truck to lift the thing up. Yeah it sounds pretty dumb but in person it was really a decent theory for accounting for how the driveway was. I noticed the railing had a few extra "quick fix" screws in it and felt like I could snap it in half even if it was installed perfectly. I warned them several times about it. Pretty tall building too, maybe about 10-14 standard sized stairs going up.
So I walk downstairs to my truck with the key in my hand, start to tuck the mirror in so I can get it closer to the cement wall next to me, and then out of nowhere I hear loud screams of the women (my aunt, mom, and other cousin had come to help, I'm pretty close with everybody involved as that's how our family is) and a loud "OH SHIT!" from my male "cousin-in-law". I figured, oh fuck, they dropped the boxspring and this thing is going to land on my head so I quickly dashed out of the way. Then I quickly turn around and hear "Call 911, now!". Turned out the shoddy railing had given in before they even really got the boxspring ready to be lifted, and he had just fallen from the second story chest first, hit the left side of my back of my truck (like actually landed in some way, not just swiped), then fell to the pavement and hit his head on the wall.
I then waited with them for 5 minutes or so for the ambulance to arrive, no blood and he was still conscious, just in a lot of pain and kind of quiet, as his fiance (my cousin) stayed with him and told everybody not to move him and told him to stay still. She is a nurse. As the EMT's arrived I felt a little nauseous, then dizzy, and within a few minutes I went from that to laying up against the hood of my truck face down as I tried not to lose consciousness. Never happened before, but I guess from the hard work that evening, lack of eating enough, the heat, and the scare, my body just pretty much lost it and my vision and hearing blurred for a good minute or two as I tried to hold it together.
Luckily he went to the hospital in the ambulance with a neck brace and I got the message that incredibly everything is fine, nothing broken and no concussion, just a big bump. I am very thankful he landed how he did and things could have been MUCH worse. As for me I was able to walk again after a few minutes, drove back to my aunt's house where we started, and I left my truck with family there and got a ride home and I'm feeling better now. I've seen some scary shit in my life but this definitely is at the top of the charts and almost feels unreal even though everything turned out okay.
Unbelievable. Of course actually being there adds a certain scariness and realness to it I'm sure, but I tried to portray it as well as possible here and it feels better to get out that "holy shit, listen to what just happened" feeling.
Stay safe out there with all of those big machines and steps. Luckily we can't compare to lifting these things up balconies (or hopefully not) but I had a real life testament today that sometimes the worst CAN happen and is not always a "fuck dude, can't believe we did that!" story as they usually seem to be. It's so weird how normal things can be for years and then something truly awful and unforgettable happens, like a bad accident like this that was bad enough to have to call 911 about and to be the only one sitting there with those two holding a light as everybody else scrambled away to move their cars out of the way before the ambulance came. Such a weird feeling, can't explain the feeling. All I know is I'm going to sleep good tonight. "Damn, didn't think this would happen to ME! (or my life!)", the thing people say all the time ironically, comes to mind. Be safe our there my arcade (edit for this post: pinball!) brothers.
They are getting married Saturday and I am one of the groomsmen. Sounds like it it'll go on as planned. Thank god.
