Bloody Pretzel

– der Bäcker –

That German baker at Meier looks a lot like Hector, huh? As you know, Hector doesn’t work at a Bakery, so why is he behind the counter helping customers?

Well! After dropping a work package off at the post office at the end of the day, I really wanted to go around the corner and get a sweetie with Hector. But at the end of the day, there aren’t any sweeties left, ever. But a girl can dream, right? So after seeing that everything was gone, I decided I would get a pretzel. Hector was waiting outside with our bikes, so I stepped out to ask him what he wanted. But he didn’t want anything. I decided that his loss was my gain, and I was getting butter on my pretzel!

The young lady helping me started cutting the pretzel to put butter on it and then looked up at me and just stared at me. I tried to smile without feeling awkward. “Ich habe meinein Finger geschnitten. Ich bin gleich zurück.” (I just cut my finger. I’ll be right back.) She turned around and walked to the back. I peaked out the door and told Hector that it’d be a moment because the girl cut her finger off. After teasing him about her cut, I walked back inside, and the girl came out from the back with blood running down her hand and arm while holding a little band aid. She asked me what she should do.

There is nothing more that freaks me out than a stranger’s blood. I don’t know what’s in it, and I don’t want it. My stress level went way up, and my ability to speak German disappeared. I checked my hands and arms for any cuts and then grabbed a bunch a napkins and tried my best to tell her to apply pressure and not to stop. But I said something like push but don’t hold. And she gave me a weird look. I started knocking on the glass window and waved Hector in.

“Please help her…”

Either she was in shock or has a real attachment to her job at the bakery because she wouldn’t close up shop and go to the hospital. The afternoon rush was a little more important than trying to keep all of her blood in her body. Of course. So after she bled through a couple batches of napkins, we got her a hand towel. Then customers started coming in. Um, who wants to be served by someone who just cut there finger down the middle and is bleeding all over the place? Hmm?  … gross.

With one hand covering her finger and the other covered in blood, she looked at us helplessly. Hector went behind the counter and started grabbing the bread. She managed to use a pinky to ring up their order. So after one customer, you’d be thinking, “Hey, this isn’t really working. I should go get my finger sewed back together.” Nope, not her. Hector served five more customers before she had a friend come to take her to the hospital. (During that time, I cleaned behind the counter and put bread away, so she could get out of there sooner. Oh, and took some pictures.)

– die Bäckerin –