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mimeatguy


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What aches or pain do you have that you attribute to cutting meat and what do you do to live (and work) with it? Anybody had surgery for carpel tunnel or surgery on elbow or shoulders? Any body cut a main artery and live to tell about it? I knew a guy who cut main artery in leg almost didn't make it. Packing house owner saved his life with an apron. Heard of guy in Austin Tx. when I was there who wasn't so lucky and bled to death right there on steakhouse floor. What's your "war" story?

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irish squirrel


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Just coming off of serious Rotator Cuff surgery back in October. Have to watch myself from now on. Dr told me that if it happened again, it couldn't be fixed. (shoulder replacement) Yikes!!! No serious cuts for a while. Few years ago, I was cutting ham chunks and knife slipped and gashed my thumb. Walked over to Med center next door and Dr started stitching it up, and a young nurse who was helping out passed out cold when he had to put a couple stitches into my thumbnail. Thought that was priceless.

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apcowboy


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Interesting post there mimeatman,

this old dog carries 27 stitches, 17 in shoulder ( don't ask lol) and 7 in left leg, have two disk mess up at Food Lion, left knee mess up at A&P. have all the aches & pains old cutters get from to many years in refrigeration. seen some bad cuts in my time, loss fingers, loss hand, meat wrapper with hand caught in cuber, that was a mess !! no one ever died from them.

One meat cutter I was standing beside got shot and killed in market in Atlanta, meat wrapper shot him because he wouldn't leave his wife for her after being with her for 4 years.

didn't see it, I had JUST past car where meat wrapper was sitting with boyfriend, I heard shot gun, look back and her hubby had just shot both of them in car.

Do store managers count  lol seen a few of them get shot, whip to hell

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Leon Wildberger

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All my worst injuries are mental. Given to me by managers.


There was a guy last month who was killed in a meat grinder in California. I think it was a large wholesale grinder and he was inside it to clean it. Somehow it got turned on.


-- Edited by CarniceroLarry on Sunday 13th of March 2011 05:08:48 PM

-- Edited by CarniceroLarry on Monday 14th of March 2011 07:19:13 AM

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butcher29


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lmao just mental like larry.......and loads of stitches here and there and a few hundred yards of duck tape..lol

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apcowboy


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One thing you have to think about is the time element of a lot of this stuff.
untill  about 85 or 6 it was nothing to have 1 or 2  gals. of moonshine or a few pints in the chicken boxes.more moonshine in the 60's early 70's.  most cutters I came up with drink while they worked. I've had to wheel a few out to there car in a grocery buggy. So that is why maybe I have seen so many cut.  Then too, in the late 70's all the 80's you had them smoking those funny cigs. in the back room, cooler, some even fired up in the cutting room. at that time there never was anything said about it, just life in the meat dept. the drink and smoke may be one reason so many women made the trip through the cooler in those days, store workers and lady customers

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Leon Wildberger

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apcowboy


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a after thought, maybe because I saw so many fingers loss is the reason I never drink coming up in the business. once I clock in you couldn't pay me to take a drink, after I clocked out I've had a few in the back room BUT would never go back into the cutting room for no reason. once I took that drink my feet would not go back through the door LOL BUT I would go drive 20 miles home with a half pint on the seat.

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Leon Wildberger

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Leon I remember most of this stuff, it made me think, mmmm i'm about as old as Leon lol

i was lucky, I only have had  17 stitches, 8 from knife, 9 from a wore out saw, the guide slip on me cutting a whole beef lion. seen a lot of drunks get cut bad, some couldn't hardly stand up, you remember what it is like watching a drunk cut pork lions?  have the aches and pain in my back and right leg from the cold

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jlarsen123


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I have had 2 christmas seasons on WCB (workman's compensation) with my shoulder too sore to even pick up a knife to cut meat. Other than that......a couple of knicks here and there. BUT...............

Before I moved from Pemberton, the shop I worked in hired a a cleaner for the meat room. He was old enough to know safety rules (40ish) Had a level 3 first aide ticket. He knew I lived a 3 second drive from the store and NO question is tooo stupid. Call me if you need to I said.

When I got to work the next morning I found out he had taken parts of his left hand off in the auger of the grinder! He couldn't get the worm to release so he thought if he turned the grinder on and off real fast he could push the worm out by hand. Sadly that wasn't the case. He bares the reminder daily that he was WRONG and should have bit the bullet and called me like I said to do!

Safety First my friends...Safety First

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Burgermeister


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apcowboy wrote:

One thing you have to think about is the time element of a lot of this stuff.
untill  about 85 or 6 it was nothing to have 1 or 2  gals. of moonshine or a few pints in the chicken boxes.more moonshine in the 60's early 70's.  most cutters I came up with drink while they worked. I've had to wheel a few out to there car in a grocery buggy. So that is why maybe I have seen so many cut.  Then too, in the late 70's all the 80's you had them smoking those funny cigs. in the back room, cooler, some even fired up in the cutting room. at that time there never was anything said about it, just life in the meat dept. the drink and smoke may be one reason so many women made the trip through the cooler in those days, store workers and lady customers


 

At the little market where I started, we sold beer. Lots of it. A dozen or more different brands. Coldest in town.  I was only 16, but once in a while the boss gave me a beer late in the evening when restaurant owners came in for their order which we cut while they waited. Beer didn't/doesn't taste good to me. I turned down a beer once from the restaurant owner and the bosses daughter told me I offended him. So I changed my mind and took it. I was only 16 how can refusing be offensive?!! They were good friends and we'd all have a few together while cutting their large orders. I think I never had more than two at work. It was a culture thing for them I guess. For me, that was only about a year and during that year, probably about 10 times. I never really drank before or since. I never really liked the stuff. I did go through a very short WPOD stage (the entire meat dept was in 1982) but never saw anyone get hurt on the job from it). I think it's safer than alcohol.


-- Edited by CarniceroLarry on Monday 14th of March 2011 08:08:27 AM

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apcowboy


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I think maybe I knew 15 cutters in my time that couldn't cut unless they were drunk.

In the markets where I did my hardness work were markets where we all were on speed pills, the old ones, the women's diet pills, pop two of those and three meat wrappers couldn't stay up with you LOL the last good ones were gone in  1980 after  that I didn't touch any of the stuff they came up with.

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Leon Wildberger

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apcowboy


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Do any of ya'll go back to the days if you cut yourself and only need 5 or less stitches, you better not ask to go to the Doctor, you clean it, took the salt off salt meat, packed it in it, wrapped it and kept cutting. the next day you had a black scald over it and it wouldn't be sore.

I have took care of a few like that, you cry like hell when the salt hit but the next day you were fine.

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Leon Wildberger

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masteryeti


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Ten stitches in my left hand, three in the left arm. My neck and back ache all the time. Got burnt pretty bad on my right wrist while feeding a wrapper, laid my arm right across the bar. Had to pick an inch of thumb off the ground after a cutter took it off on a slant saw. Slant saws were the worst. Worst thing I saw was a wrapper who was being a smartass get dunked into a bone barrel that was over a month old...disgusting.

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T-Bone


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Man, I feel like a wuss. However, I almost cut my finger off one day while cutting a frozen femur bone. It was micrometers from the bone. Everyone stared while I went over to the med cabinet, taped it up and went back to work. They made me stop when my entire clear plastic glove was filled with blood. I retaped it a little better and still went back to work. I know...pathetic really...

Most aches and pains can be solved with some hard liquor and a good bed. As a doctor told me, "There's two things you really need in life: a good pair of shoes and a good bed because your're either on your feet or on your back." Good advice.

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jlarsen123


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I have a Hobart "Slant" saw in my room. It's one scary looking  machine. I use it almost daily tho with HUGE respect.

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masteryeti


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I worked with a Hobart as well. That'll throw a knuckle bone across the room. Cutting shanks is a risky operation.

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mimeatguy


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it's been a long while since I worked on a slant saw. They're wicked! They will spin a knucke bone won't they! As I remember they pulled pork chops through real nice and smooth tho.

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Burgermeister


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jlarsen123@hotmail.com wrote:

I have a Hobart "Slant" saw in my room. It's one scary looking  machine. I use it almost daily tho with HUGE respect.


I've never heard that term. What is a slant saw?

 



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apcowboy


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ahhh Larry, I know your old mind is getting like mind now LOL I had a post about " slants " in the old site ( I think lol) or it may be in this one. I'll look for it.

BUT more or less, It was ONE dangerous saw. below is part of a lawsuit against Hobart

The Hobart Corporation knew as early as 1982 that it was exposing meat cutters to the probability of losing fingers and hands in this saw. In spite of its knowledge of the dangers of the saw, the Hobart Corporation made a conscious decision not to eliminate the known hazard of this dangerous slanted blade. As a result, the Hobart Corporation has been sued over 25 times regarding the model 5700 slanted blade saw. In 3 of the cases that were tried, including this one, juries returned multi-million dollar verdicts because of the horrific conduct exhibited by the Hobart Corporation.

JOLEEN YOU BE CAREFUL !!

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Leon Wildberger

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apcowboy wrote:

ahhh Larry, I know your old mind is getting like mind now LOL I had a post about " slants " in the old site ( I think lol) or it may be in this one. I'll look for it.

BUT more or less, It was ONE dangerous saw. below is part of a lawsuit against Hobart

The Hobart Corporation knew as early as 1982 that it was exposing meat cutters to the probability of losing fingers and hands in this saw. In spite of its knowledge of the dangers of the saw, the Hobart Corporation made a conscious decision not to eliminate the known hazard of this dangerous slanted blade. As a result, the Hobart Corporation has been sued over 25 times regarding the model 5700 slanted blade saw. In 3 of the cases that were tried, including this one, juries returned multi-million dollar verdicts because of the horrific conduct exhibited by the Hobart Corporation.

JOLEEN YOU BE CAREFUL !!


I couldn't  picture what a "slant" saw must look like. I mean the images in my mind only came up with something that must be dangerous. I googled it and came up with this picture and yes, it looks dangerous.
http://www.acitydiscount.com/Used-Commercial-Butcher-Grocer-Hobart-5700-Slant-Meat-Saw.0.115793.1.1.htm

I can't believe Hobart ever made that saw!

I don't see your link to the specific case you mentioned. I did see this one in my Google search.
http://caselaw.findlaw.com/al-supreme-court/1474024.html

 



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mimeatguy


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Slant saws pull the meat through fast and smooth (except knuckle bones!) so you can really fly but better keep that hand waaay back and slow down and use another chunk of scrap meat to push that last cut through! I prefer my reg straight blade hobart it's plenty fast enough.

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masteryeti


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It was awesome how fast you could cut through full rounds, chucks and shortloins. If would F you up with bones and shanks. It was great when round steak was on sell. Cutting pallets of round SUCKS.

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mimeatguy


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I hear THAT! Cutin' pallets of anything sucks! lol



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butcher29


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i have never use a slanted saw dont think id want to..they look dangerous

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Meat Monkey


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Geez, almost too many to mention without a couple beers in front of me. I once sliced a knuckle completely off cutting ice pack fryers on a bone saw on Christmas Eve. My hands were so cold I never felt a thing.

Lots of cuts and stitches over the years. The most scary was when I stabbed myself, point first, in the wrist. I didn't want to pull it out as I expected blood to fly everywhere but somehow I missed all the arteries and tendons.

I think the scariest injuries back there are the falls. I've seen a couple people take full gainers with an arm full of something. The sound of somebody's head hitting that concrete is sickening. We once had a cleanup knock himself out on a hanging meat hook. The night manager just happened to find him unconscious in the walk-in when he did his final store check.

I've been lucky as far as surgeries go (only the inevitable hernia repair). Certain things my right arm won't do anymore, though, like throw a baseball or swing a tennis racket...

Leon I remember a couple meat managers who used to keep a bottle in the cooler. And I still remember a former boss ranting and raving when they told him he couldn't keep a cigarette on the block anymore.


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