Hand Gash in Dallas

Last week, I was traveling for work… First stop on Monday was Bentonville Arkansas for 2 days, followed by Dallas, Texas for 2 days… Needless to say, it was a long, taxing week.

On Wednesday evening, we took out some clients to dinner (with an Evander Holyfield siting - and yes his ear is pretty messed up)… After dinner, I went back to the hotel and got ready for bed. Before getting into bed, I thought, “you know what, I should really hang up my shirt for tomorrow…" So I went to the glass closet door, put my hand on the nob to open it and pulled. In an instant, the entire mirror panel shattered in about 50 pieces. I was obviously scared out of my mind and jumped back (and dropped my shirt). The next thing I know, I look down at my hand, which is pretty much covered in blood… and not stopping. So I grab a towel, rap it firmly across my hand. I then call downstairs… security comes up about 10 minutes later. Within this time, I check out the rest of my body… I have some cuts on my feet and arm, but for the most part – the one large gash on my hand is the only major injury…

I won’t go into all the details that follow, but let’s just say that I (with the help of Hotel security) decided that going to the emergency room at 11:30 PM with a cut on my hand will probably be the last priority there…So I went to sleep with a bandaged hand… I woke up and it was still bleeding. So I got dressed, packed my things and drove to the hospital (primarily via confincing of a co-worker). This meant I was going to certainly be late to my meeting… The whole process took a little over an hour – which wasn’t too bad. They cleaned the cut and then “Stitch glued” it (new form of stitches). They also gave me a Tetanus Shot, which has provided me with a lovely dead-arm all week…

Anyway, fast forward, I race to my meeting and was only about 30 minutes late… I couldn’t shake anyone’s hand (which has been somewhat awkward all week), but everything went fine…

I tell this story for 2 reasons:

1. If I run into you – and give you a weird left-handed fist pound as a greeting, please understand
2. Atleast every other person I tell this story, their FIRST reaction is: "Are you gonna sue them. You should." And my answer is always "No, it's not my style."

Do I wish that the hotel was a little kinder to me, asked to move me to another room, and comped me the room? Sure -- but they didn't. When I called two days later to complain, they offered to pay any medical bills associated to it...
So, why am I anti-suing in this instance? Because first of all -- it could have been MUCH worse and I'm grateful that it wasn't... Secondly, too many people who get injured abuse the right to be financially compensated for thier injuries. And lastly, God forbid something worse happens to me in the future - I definitely don't want a previous suit to be held against me in that case - just because I thought I could end up with a little extra cash.

Through this experience I will end up with a minor scar on my hand and possibly a small fear of hotel glass closets... Other than that - I'm hopeful that I walk away from this annoying experience with my head up.