I'm not a 'pick up the phone and call injury lawyers r us' sort of person, but this really peed me off!!!
To set the scene ... rainy, early evening. I'm late for pick-up, it's dark - before the clocks went back. I'm running because my 7 yr old is going to bollock me for being kept waiting, I leap over a puddle onto 'paving' . 'Paving' is in inverted commas, because 'paving' was actually a very slippery (like ice-slippery) wooden sleeper that 'trims' the side of the length of the pavement. I end up doing a comedy, whole body in the air, landing on my side, in a puddle, car keys flying out of my hand fall. A nice, young guy in his twenties walking past offers me a hand and picks up my keys for me, I'm trying to recalibrate and know something's happened to my knee, a lovely mum I know comes running over and tells me she's mentioned the wooden sleepers to the headmistress ... so I arrive at school entrance limping, my suede coat dripping and feeling like I'm stupidly about to cry!
The first person that sees me is the headmistress who looks suitably sympathetic and tells me she's going to fill in an accident report form. I warn her about the wooden sleepers - they're truly dangerous. And it's great, the next day there's an email warning all parents about them, signs go up, and three days later the metal plates are put on top of the sleepers.
Eight weeks later, after a twisted knee and realigned sacroiliac joint, signed off by my chiropractor, I'm okay but feeling totally peed off. Why should I have to pay for these sessions, couldn't they at least have paid for my dry cleaning and said 'sorry' , an 'are you okay; email wouldn't have gone amiss. I know we now live in a libellous society, but it all felt so wrong.
I called the school and asked them to pay for my four chiropractic sessions. I felt almost fraud-like asking them to do this. I felt like a grabby, faker and very even worse when the accounts dept sent me an email saying 'accidents do happen', no, they wouldn't pay for my chiropractic sessions, their insurance wouldn't cover it and they were glad I felt better. ARGH!!! Just so you know, I've never done this before - claimed for an accident, I have had 3 children at the school - and...and ... argh!
So, I'm left with the sad, realisation - which has probably always been the case with some schools - that they are, after all, businesses, company policy comes in front of all the moral values they say they teach our children - compassion, kindness, respect for others ..and I'm just lucky I came out of it unscathed, but massively peed off/let down/rather sad/disillusioned/peed off etc.