I found that out the hard way today. After doing a couple local runs in Cincinnati, I was off to Dayton with a couple loads, one of them a skid piled high with document boxes for the Federal Records warehouse in Moraine. I got to Moraine and pulled into the warehouse and waited a few minutes for the forklift driver to come and unload the skid. He finally got the skid off my van and I walked over to get him to sign my manifest so I could leave and go deliver the other load. I walked over to the side of the forklift and handed him my clipboard and waited there for him to sign the page. At that point he must have decided that he couldn't sign for the load and he wanted to have his boss sign. He also decided that he would just drive the forklift over to where his boss was, but he didn't bother to tell me that he was about to move. He just hit the gas and proceeded to drive the rear wheel right over my left foot. OUCH!!!

I let out a pretty good scream, he ran over and apologized profusely, and I just stood there wincing in pain and trying to decide how to reply to his asking me if I was ok. Finally I sat down and took off my boot to see how bad the damage was and I just had a bunch of swollen toes that were turning some interesting colors. I was still able to move the toes, so I put my boot back on and got ready to pull out. There was a report taken and I got a free trip to the E.R. courtesy of the US government. Here's the miraculous thing. Nothing was broken, just some nasty bruises and a lot of swelling. I went and delivered the other load and continued to work the rest of the day until I got home a little after 10:00 this evening. I can walk ok with shoes on, but barefoot is a bit difficult since I can't put much weight on the toes without a shoe to lend support. I hope it feels a bit better tomorrow because right now it's still hurting quite a bit. Beware absent minded forklift drivers.