Folded & Boxed

It was in the mid 90s before LCD projectors became the norm for office conferences. Our company was specialized in manufacturing tarp and other similar product. Our plant was producing heavy duty rubber coated cotton tarp. I had just been promoted to the personal secretary to my new manager on the 2nd floor 3 weeks beforehand.

On that dreadful morning, I was just finishing copying a presentation that my boss was going to make. The presentation was scheduled to start in 2 minutes and I was running late. As soon as I finished putting them together, I headed for the conference room, taking a shortcut on the pathway that overhung the production floor behind the office. I don't usually go this way as the noise is so loud. On my way to the conference room, my right heel got caught in a crack in the old concrete sending me off balance. Trying to regain my balance, I dropped the presentation on the floor and my worst nightmare happened. One of the copies glided toward the edge and dropped below on to the production floor.

I quickly gathered and picked those that where on the pathway before looking through the horizontal steel pipes that where creating a protective guard rail. I saw that the copy had fallen on the top of an electrical control box just below the pathway. I bent over trying to reach it but I was  still over a foot too short to reach it. Just what I needed the day I was dressed in a really tight skirt and ruby satin blouse as our CEO was to visit our plant in the afternoon.

I then neatly placed the pile of presentations on the floor, put my knee on the concrete trying not to ruin my nylons while making sure that my short skirt didn't ride up exposing me and tried again, still about 2 inches short. I then moved my left foot closer to the rail, put the right one over the rail and on the edge of the concrete while holding the pipe with my left hand bend again over, and I was just about a quarter inch short, I tried to stretch as much as I could when suddenly my right foot slipped and my left hand slid from the pipe and I felt down headfirst.

I landed on a conveyor belt a few feet below, hitting my head as I made contact with the belt, my left leg overhanging on the side, I was a bit dazed from the impact. As I was carried upward by the conveyor, my leg hit some pipe work on the side and was pushed on the belt. I just hoped that my nylons are not ruined.

Before I began to realize my predicament, I came to a stop and immediately after, felt a trap opening under my belly and air sucking me in as an automated arm quickly hit me in the stomach. I immediately lost my breath from the pain. I was sliding bent in 2 with my knees to my face in a conduit that rapidly come horizontal. My bottom hit the wall and right after a trap opened under my back and I dropped in.

I was still trying the breath normally again from the shot I received to my stomach when I was almost knocked out as my neck was bent by the conduit and my head was pushed forward as the hole was a little shorter then me. My legs also bent at the knees. An instant later, as, I felt the conveyor belt moving again my legs where pushed close to my thigh by the sudden movement.

I was now in stuck in a ball position on my back as I was quickly pushed forward in to a plastic tube that was sealed at my feet as I was still moving. A fraction of a second later, the plastic shrank as I passed in a warm air chamber. The plastic did feel really hot on my skin. The conveyor went upward a bit before I dropped a few inches at the end of it. I quickly started to move side-ways on another conveyor going upward. Even if I was still stunned, I then realized that I was sealed in plastic and tried to rip open the plastic with my nail so I could breathe. I managed to make a small hole to let air inside.

I then dropped a few inches into a small metal box before the bottom opened under my weight. I then fell another couple of inches into a cardboard box. The box started to move side-ways and the extremities closed as the box moved along. As my head was just a little higher that the box, I felt pressure as the top was closed by the box moving along a sliding edge. My head was pushed down on my chest preventing me from opening my mouth. The box stopped before moving forward and the 2 sides closed on me. The box made a quick stop as I heard a series of loud noises as big staples where driven through the top. Not long after, I heard a different noise as the box made 2 more stops.

Having now regained full consciousness, I realized at that point that some nylon strapping had been put around the box. There is no way I would be able to get out of the box by myself now. The box continued to move and was pushed on to an automated palletizer. I tried to move my hand but my arms where trap at my sides and I could not move a lot in that small box. I felt weight on top of me as more boxed where pushed over the one I was trapped in. Less than a minute later, I felt that pallet moving forward shortly before coming to a stop, then spinning for about twelve turns. I felt really dizzy from all that turning around. Nothing happened for a few minutes so I tried to shout but with my mouth compressed on my chest, wasn't able to make much sound. I then felt the pallet moving upward a little then side-ways. The small ride was bumpy as the lift truck carried the pallet into a trailer.

Half an hour later, the doors of the trailer where closed as it started is journey to reach the distribution center of a big department store with me still trapped in my box.

22.10.09