CASES FROM THE TRENCHES

THE LITTLE MEAT CUTTER 

THAT GOT CUT 

 BY A LOUSY AND LAZY 

ARROGANT LAWYER

 

"I just wanna be a Meat Cutter, just like my Dad"

 

 Part I.

This is the POST about a LOUSY, LAZY AND ARROGANT LAWYER who lost a case for a hardworking meat cutter and left him hanging. 

 

All Ricky (Not our meat cutter’s real name to protect the innocent and the guilty) ever wanted to do was to be a meat cutter just like his dad. Til today, Ricky remembers how he used to help his Dad clean the “meat room” in the local grocery store his dad was the meat manager at. Ricky was only 15 years old at that time. Ricky loved to see the seasoned meat cutters “Break” the big sides of beef as they were unloaded from the huge refrigerated 18 wheelers in the market’s loading dock.

When he turned 16, Ricky was officially “hired” as a “clean-up” clerk to actually clean up the meat department after school. It was during that time that the night meat cutter would teach Ricky the tricks of the trade about cutting meat. Ricky became agile at cutting poultry with an electric blade saw. Ricky became so good,  that would cut up a whole chicken into quarter pieces in under 10 seconds. Ricky was so proud of himself, because not even the senior meat cutter in charge of cutting poultry at that store, could cut a chicken that fast.

Soon the word spread around the other meat managers in other sister stores, that there was an excellent clean-up kid named Ricky who was able to clean a meat department spotless and win praises and prizes from the big shot visiting supervisors.

Next thing Ricky knew, he was chosen by the big wheel meat supervisor to teach all the other 10 clean-up kids in the district on how to properly clean up a meat department. For doing this, Ricky was handsomely compensated with a promise that as soon as he turned 18 years of age, he would be given a chance to be a First-Year “Meat-Apprentice” and be on his way of becoming  a “Journeyman meat cutter”, with the potential of earning  a salary starting at $3.95 per hr. The year was 1976. That was BIG money in those days. Specially to Ricky, who was in desperate need of some wheels because he was getting tired of riding the RTD. At that time, $3.95 per hour was the equivalent of almost $15.00 per hour in today’s economy.

A man could support a family in those days if he earned $3.95 per hour. That’s what Ricky wanted. He wanted to be able to support himself and stop being a burden to his parents by being able to contribute and pay some of the household expenses at least,  he thought.  Ricky was the oldest son in a family of 5. But those were only pipe dreams, because Ricky was only 16 years old. He would have to wait for two more years before embarking on his life’s ambition.

But time flew by like the birds, and with it, the realization of the Supervisor’s promise to make Ricky an “Apprentice” meat cutter, once he became 18 years old. Ricky still remembers how bad he felt when all the stores got the word that the entire 15 store chain, would be sold to a bigger supermarket chain in the Los Angeles area. That meant not only that the name on the marquis would be changed but also “new” meat managers and supervisors would take over and they may not offer Ricky the same opportunity. Soon Ricky’s dad was also demoted to a simple meat cutter, and  Ricky’s 

glamorous job as a clean-up kid also went up in smoke. Ricky’s dad could not rock the boat too much because he could also be disciplined  and transferred miles away to a store far away from home. And to make matters worse, Ricky was just two months shy of turning 18 yrs of age.

But Ricky has never been a quitter. Armed with his cleaning knowledge he had acquired, and his desire to work, he began searching for a job as a porter in the grocery store business, with the idea and plan that he could at a later time, “transfer” himself to the Meat department when the opportunity arise, and thus begin his journey once again of becoming a “Meat-Cutter”.  Soon his patience paid off.

In 1978, Ricky was offered a Porter’s job in a large supermarket. Although his cleaning skills and experience had been based exclusively on cleaning Meat Departments, Ricky bluffed his way through his Job interview and landed the job as a porter. His pay was to be $1.89 per hr. His work schedule was to begin at 3:00 a.m.

He soon struck a friendship with the Meat manager at that store, who was a depraved

Dodger’s fan. On one occasion, Ricky was able to get a pair of Dodger tickets for some Play-off game from a friend whose Dad owed Ricky’s Dad a favor.  The set-up could not have been sweeter. When Ricky GAVE the tickets to the meat manager to the supposedly “SOLD-OUT” event, he began looking at Ricky with a different set of eyes.

Ricky followed through with his plan. After a couple of months after the Dodger ticket event, one day, the meat manager confided in Ricky that the night meat cutter had gotten arrested the night before and could not come in to work, and he was desperately looking for a replacement night man to cover the weekend shift. THAT WAS THE OPPORTUNITY THAT RICKY HAD BEEN WAITING FOR SO MANY YEARS.

“Hey don’t sweat it. I can cover for you. Don’t worry about anything” Ricky told the meat manager. “I wish you could Ricky” said the meat manager, “But you don’t know how to cut meat” to which Ricky proudly replied: “Oh YES I do. Let me show you” and with that, Ricky grabbed a nearby 10 inch boning knife and expertly used the sharpening steel as he’d practiced thousands of times, and deboned a whole round (leg portion hide in a cow) in under 3 minutes. Then Ricky grabbed a whole pork loin and also deboned it in under 2 minutes, and then for the grand finale, He grabbed a WHOLE CHICKEN and quartered it in under 10 seconds flat.. AND TRAYED IT as well. 

“WOW Ricky..where did you learn how to do that ? Why didn’t you ever tell me you knew how to cut meat. I could have used you months ago instead of that dead beat night man I got” said the Meat manager ..”Well I am all yours if you want me.. Starting tonite” Replied Ricky. “ OK. Do a good job for me this weekend, and Monday morning I’ll talk to my meat supervisor to bring you on board as our night man meat cutter for our store,  would you like that Buddy “ and Ricky still gets goose bumps when he remembers replying “ I SURE WILL”

So that was the beginning of Ricky’s illustrious career as a meat cutter. Two months after, Ricky bought himself his first car. It was a 1969 Ford Falcon. Ricky loved its design. A bit old, but Ricky would polish and polish said car till it looked new. He loved that car. The years passed by and Ricky felt on top of the world.  One early Monday morning he got a surprised of a lifetime. On that morning,  he was approached by a district supervisor and offered Ricky an assistant meat manager’s position at a brand new store. Such was his desire to triumph, that he said “YES”, before thinking things over. Ricky soon found out he had made a mistake. His new “management” position turned out to be in the South Bay area.  That was nearly 2 hrs. away from his home. One way.  But it was too late to turn back. He’d given his word.

So Ricky drove his beat up 65 falcon to South Bay and back for nearly 2 yrs, till one day it refused to even start. Ricky had no choice but to put in for a transfer. Ricky soon found out that once in management, only one thing matter. YOUR employer. As such his “transfer” request fell on deaf ears for almost 6 months. Ricky’s supervisor felt betrayed by Ricky. He felt he had given Ricky his big time break, and now here he was turning a choice position down. Ricky thought that it was easy for his supervisor to feel that way. He drove a new company car. Every year.

Soon Ricky was demoted not only to a regular meat cutter, but he was given the worst shift available. He got the “Midnight shift” Ricky would go in at 3 pm, and come out at Midnight. AND he had to do his own clean up before going home... Ricky began to hate cleaning up. And riding the bus.

One day, Ricky met a unique person on the bus. It was a man whose own son was a meat manager in another grocery store chain, different than Ricky’s. Soon they struck a friendship, and one day on Ricky’s day off they visited that man’s son’s store. It was in the Valley on Ventura Blvd. It was a big store. The man had explained to his son Ricky’s predicament and had agreed to meet Ricky for lunch. ( which Ricky paid. Lucky that man liked Mexican food) Ricky explained that he no longer wanted to work for his current company in the South Bay store and he was willing to quit and go to another company if a position became available. The man told Ricky that the only thing available was “the midnight shift”. Ricky was so disillusioned and frustrated with his current supervisor that he said “YES!”  Once again. He asked for two weeks to provide his supervisor time to find a replacement. Ricky had learned never to burn a bridge. “You never know when you will need to cross it again” his dad had advised him years ago.

So two weeks later, Ricky found himself riding the Bus once again, but this time it was to his new job in the Valley. By then Ricky was sharing an apartment in the West side, West LA area with a coworker friend who still worked in the South Bay store and would Keep Ricky informed on all the store gossip after his termination.

Ricky once again began to feel like things were going his way again. The year was early 1984. Things were working out for Ricky, that he even bought a brand new car. It was a beautiful Ford Thunderbird. Fully loaded. Electric seats and the works. BIG monthly payment too.

Ricky even began eyeing a pretty blonde who worked in the delicatessen  department. They went out a few times and they seem to get along and everything. Her parents liked Ricky, and so did his parents. But just when things were running smooth, TRAGEDY struck once again!! This time for the worse...

Towards the end of November 1984, in cold and rainy day, Ricky went to work as usual. It was supposed to be a busy week and he knew he had a lot of work. He’d been trying to impress his new meat manager, and he had heard rumors of a potential promotion. There was even talk of making Ricky a manager amongst the other meat cutters. So Ricky would outperform any of the other meat cutters, by cutting a lot more product than his assignment required. BUT on this one day, Ricky was busier than usual for some unknown reason. Looking back, Ricky can only remember it was probably because there was a chicken sale and that drove a large customer influx.

So there was Ricky all alone. The last meat cutter had gone home at 3:30 p.m. Ricky had come in at his 3:00p.m. shift. The problem was that the last meat cutter had lied to Ricky about filling the sales counter with frozen chickens. And when Ricky walked his counter it was completely empty. Ricky knew that if the store manager walked by the meat counter and saw that there were no chickens in it, Ricky could get “written up” and also his chances of a promotion. So with experienced speed Ricky went down to the large store meat coolers located in the basement of the store. Inside there were hundreds of frozen chickens boxes in anticipation of a large sales week. So as he had done in the past, Ricky grabbed a small flat chicken dolly and began to load chicken boxes so as to take them upstairs to the meat counter. But when Ricky began to turn the cart’s handle, it suddenly popped out of its socket attached to the base of the cart, and since Ricky was already in motion, it launched Ricky against one of the walls inside the meat cooler causing Ricky to strike his forehead on a sharp tin wall plate located on one of the corners of the cooler box knocking him unconscious for what it seemed like eternity.

When he came to, Ricky’s head was pounding with pain, and he noticed a large gash on his forehead and his left eye was very blurry. Unable to stand up Ricky began to yell ot for help, but the doors were closed and it was a sound proof cooler. No one heard him scream. So Ricky gathered some strength, and he dragged himself towards the cooler door, and was able to open it from the inside. He was soon discovered by a produce department coworker who just happened to be emptying out some trash in the trash bins located in the basement as well. He soon helped Ricky to his feet and took Ricky to the Manager’s office. Once there, Ricky tried to explain what had happened, but he felt even worse, and almost passed out once again. The pain was excruciating. Ricky now noticed kis right knee was also bleeding. It seemed that when he fell, his right knee struck a wooden pallet and had caused a huge cut on it.

Ricky tried to get up and walk towards the office’s door but he almost fell again. He was very dizzy. Somewhat reluctant, the Store manager had a grocery bagger employee, take Ricky to a nearby hospital for treatment. At the hospital, several strong injections were necessary to begin to ease the pain. AND that was it,. The Doctor kept Ricky overnight for treatment and testing . It was discovered that his eye was bleeding from behind its retina, from the impact, and that was the reason for the blurriness. His forehead’s gash was required 15 stitches. His knee required 10. Afterward it was immobilized with some type of brace to keep it from getting worse, until the results of a CAT scan could be obtained. ( there were NO MRI’s in 1984)

The next day, Ricky’s roommate came to the hospital for a visit, and brought Ricky some very depressing and disturbing news. He told Ricky that BOTH his meat manager and the Store manager were extremely upset at Ricky because the next day they had found the meat department in a state of disarray. No meat was cut, no chickens in the counter, no ground meat ready etc. They even wanted to “write” Ricky up for the incident. Never mind that Ricky almost had gotten killed in the process.  That did not matter. Ricky was a “new” employee, and he had let his “new” employers down. In the grocery business world they lived in, the meat manager would look bad to the store manager, and the store manager would look bad to his district manager, and the district manager who managed some 20 stores, would look bad when this one Store would look bad in the District because of low sales for that ONE day, all because Ricky had had an accident in the basement cooler, so that meant Ricky had to get punished somehow.

 To make matters worse their own doctor had prohibited Ricky from working for TWO months, due to his injuries. So this infuriated them even more. But then it got even worse for Ricky. The Cat Scan results revealed a substantial bulging disk in Ricky’s lumbar spine, which was causing most of Ricky’s numbness and pain in his legs and back. Also a much smaller bulging in Ricky’s cervical spine was discovered which occurred when Ricky had struck his forehead against the metal plate. And lastly, there were some bone fragments in Ricky’s knee that was also causing pain. But required no surgery. The bleeding behind the eye had stopped and Ricky’s sight began to get a little better. And so did the cut on his forehead and the cut on his knee.

But then on one of his Doctor’s visits, the Doctor told Ricky that he would never be able to be a meat cutter once again, and be able to do any type of heavy lifting. This demoralized Ricky a great deal, since there was nothing else Ricky knew  except cut meat. It was the that his roommate suggested Ricky consult with a lawyer firm he had heard. NEVER in his life had Ricky even remotely thought of consulting with an attorney. Ricky thought that attorneys only helped people get out of jail and stuff. What could a lawyer do for him to make his injuries go away so that he could get back and cut meat again , he thought. “Let the lawyer explained it to you” said his roommate. Next thing he knew, Ricky was sitting in the BIG and luxurious offices of a huge law firm in Encino. 

 This office had all the trappings of a successful law firm. It claimed to have 10 partners, and 15 associates. Ricky felt good when his his roommate had made the  appointment with the main senior partner. Ricky felt in a dazed hypnotic trance when the senior partner of this BIG Encino firm, began to tell Ricky all of the wonderful things his firm would do for Ricky, and how they would take care of each and every problem plaguing Ricky. In fact they would even SUE the makers of the chicken dolly that had caused the fall. “Your case is in the 6 figure range Ricky” said the senior partner with a wide grin. 

“When you retain our firm, Ricky even judges run for cover if they try to rule against our clients. You know why ?, becoz we go all the way Ricky, we'll appeal their asses faster than a virgin could say "Ouch" her first time.  Yesiree, Ricky. At our firm,  We fight for our clients all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary..and if some poor dumsumafabitch adjuster tries to low ball us with some rinky-dinky low ball bullshit offer, hell, we’ll make sure he’ll be in the unemployment line looking for a new job the next day. You know Why  Ricky? Becoz, they know we go all the way Ricky. They don’t mess with us No sir-ee Becoz we are in the winners circle Ricky all the way, that’s why.. So sign this here re-tainer and put us to work baby. Yesiree...I got lots of hungry lawyers to feed Yesiree..”

Ricky gave his roommate a puzzled look as if to say should I do this? And all he got was an approval nod. “Sign it, Ricky, Go for it”, said the roommate “Otherwise those bastards at the store may fire you and then you got nothing”.

And with that. Ricky was now Represented” by the “best” law firm in Encino.. Or so he thought....

READ PART II in upcoming  posts...