My office's front door has been broken for several years. On cooler fall and spring mornings, the owner will prop open the door with the rubber floor mat that normally serves as the first defense against mud to the lobby. Folded over, it acts as a workable, if rather oversized doorstop.
Normally, we avoid this particular hazard without any issues. But yesterday, for some reason, I failed to completely avoid the door mat, and I went sprawling into the lobby of the office. Two of my coworkers, who were clocking in, saw my epic prat fall, and it was probably captured on the office camera as well.
I went to my boss's office and complained about the door mat.
A short while later, my right knee started swelling up.
After I let my boss know about the knee, he asked if I needed to go to a doctor. I declined, as it was probably nothing more than a bruised kneecap.
But a little while later, I was told to get my ass to urgent care and get it looked at any way. After all, the company pays for workers comp insurance.... might as well get some use out of it.
We're in a unique situation, in that the "urgent care" is owned by one of our clients, a large orthopedic clinic. It was a bit of bizarro world for me, to be in the lobby waiting to be seen as a patient, to interact with people whom I've spoken with on the phone many times regarding computer problems. I had X-rays done, ligaments checked, the full nine yards.
As I suspected, I have a bruised kneecap. ("A contusion on the patella," he said, "or in layman's terms, a really banged up knee.") Nothing broken or fractured. The PA who examined me warned me that it'll probably look ugly for a few days, and suggested picking up a neoprene knee brace at Target to help support it in the meantime.
After I was checked out, I realized how painless the whole process was - the hardest part was just filling out the half dozen forms since I'd never been there before. When I checked out, they scheduled a follow up appointment.
No questions for payment were asked of me.
No doubts for the veracity of my story - no attempts to get me to say it wasn't my employer's fault (although it did technically occur before I was officially on the clock, because we keep our time badges in the office to avoid leaving them at home by accident.)
Why can't all healthcare in the United States be this easy? If I had been relying on my own insurance, I'd have had to fork over at least twenty five dollars as a copay to UC.
The final icing on the cake was my boss asking for the receipt for the knee brace - they'll cover that too.
And they've finally ordered the missing part to fix the damn broken door.