My 9-Week College Career

I had a deep fryer blow up on me.

Bet you've never read that sentence before.

Let me set the scene.  I was 19 and off at college.  To make ends meet, I was working in a deli at a local grocery store.  Everything about this job sucked, but I needed the money. The morning staff didn't finish their work which made it so the afternoon staff couldn't finish theirs which meant that the closer (me) had to finish up everything.  I worked for at least an hour after I was supposed to every night finishing everything up.  It sucked.

On top of a crappy job, I was failing a class at school.  Like, really failing.  The teacher graded our first exam on a curve with 60% being equivalent to 100% and I still failed.  I was really overwhelmed and stressed.  On October 31st, I decided that I could fix this.  I could pull my grade up and I could complete my first semester of school successfully.

I was wrong.

November 1st.  I went into work for what I was expecting to be a normal day of work.  I dropped a batch of chicken into the fryer, closed the lid, and turned to help a customer.  My back was to the fryer and when I turned to throw something in the trash, it happened.  Hot oil sprayed all over me.  It was on my face, my arm, my neck, and my back.  I saw it glisten on my arm and felt the burn on my face.  Immediately shock set in.  I wanted to leave.  I wanted to go home, but my roommate had my car so I just walked back and forth saying I knew this was going to happen.  The lady working in the bakery came over and said my name.  I tell you, I would've done anything she said because she knew my name. She escorted me into the bakery and started administering first aid.  The produce lady came and assisted.  One of them told me to remove my oil soaked shirt.  I did and just stood there in my bra like it was totally normal.  The produce lady was kind enough to hand me her sweatshirt to cover myself.

Have you heard the joke that only in America you can get a pizza delivered faster than you can get an ambulance?  I had and when I looked up to see the EMT's walking toward me, my first thought was, "There's no way I could've gotten a pizza that fast."  Yeah, shock. They asked me where it hurt.  I told them my face was burning.  They told me there wasn't anything there.  But my face was burning. They assured me there wasn't anything on my face.  They wrapped me up good and escorted me out to the ambulance. With my head wrapped up and a blanket around me, I felt just like Rick Moranis at the end of Ghostbusters.  I imagine that's how I looked too.  Dazed with a goofy grin on my face looking around like an idiot.

Miraculously, I came out of that without any scarring.  You would never know this had happened by looking at me.  I found out later that the latch holding the fryer lid closed fell off.  Since it was in the middle of deep frying, when the latch came off and the lid flew open, oil sprayed everywhere.  Lucky me, I was the closest thing to it.  This was the final straw.  Sitting in the ER, I decided to pull the plug on college.

Oh, and also on this day the family dog, who we had for 17 years, was put to sleep.