StackerMistress
What's a team lift?
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2013
- Messages
- 277
I recently had some imaging done on my back to try and figure out what was causing nerve pain in my lower back and legs. Turns out, I have some congenital spine defects (slight scoliosis and a screwy sacral vertebrae), which, combined with 4 years of backroom work, have given me the spinal degeneration of a 40 year old (I'm in my mid 20s), and a pinched nerve root in my lower back. This is almost certainly due to Target, unfortunately.
Here's the thing. Lifting in the power position, team lifts, putting heavy casepacks on lower shelves and lighter casepacks above... these are all things that cover Spot's ass, so you can't sue them for stuff like this, but they fail in practice. No one actually wants you to call for team lifts every single time you need one. You've got to deal with handling heavy loads in awkward positions, and everything is under a time limit. When you've got a 30 lb casepack of detergent in the last row of shelves, all the way up, and you have to stretch from on top of the ladder to get it, good luck doing that without stressing your spine. Pushing, pulling, lifting, twisting, climbing, carrying; all these things put stress on your back, and it's not hard to herniate a disk doing this crap 40 hours a week.
These days, I'll just STO a heavy item if I know I can't lift it safely. Sadly, the damage to my back is permanent, and all I can do is try to avoid further damage to it in the future. Thankfully, I'll be leaving Spot in a few months, and I can work on physical therapy and safely strengthening the muscles in my back to avoid wrecking my spine further.
For those of you working logistics, especially backroom or unloading the truck, wear a lumbar support belt (you'll look like a dork and people will make fun of you, but who cares) and don't risk your back health for Target. We don't get paid enough for that.
Here's the thing. Lifting in the power position, team lifts, putting heavy casepacks on lower shelves and lighter casepacks above... these are all things that cover Spot's ass, so you can't sue them for stuff like this, but they fail in practice. No one actually wants you to call for team lifts every single time you need one. You've got to deal with handling heavy loads in awkward positions, and everything is under a time limit. When you've got a 30 lb casepack of detergent in the last row of shelves, all the way up, and you have to stretch from on top of the ladder to get it, good luck doing that without stressing your spine. Pushing, pulling, lifting, twisting, climbing, carrying; all these things put stress on your back, and it's not hard to herniate a disk doing this crap 40 hours a week.
These days, I'll just STO a heavy item if I know I can't lift it safely. Sadly, the damage to my back is permanent, and all I can do is try to avoid further damage to it in the future. Thankfully, I'll be leaving Spot in a few months, and I can work on physical therapy and safely strengthening the muscles in my back to avoid wrecking my spine further.
For those of you working logistics, especially backroom or unloading the truck, wear a lumbar support belt (you'll look like a dork and people will make fun of you, but who cares) and don't risk your back health for Target. We don't get paid enough for that.
