We all have regrets in our lives. Some are major and some are minor. The following story is a minor regret, one of no consequence.
It must of been in 1979, I was working at Floating Point Systems, a manufacturer of computer systems. At that time their product was pretty state of the art and we were doing some exciting things. The company was small, between 200 and 400 employees. I was working on an important project for the company. The project was going to the the largest system to date and the first major sale in France.
Now I was young and unmarried. The project was exciting and challenging. So I soon found myself working long hours. For many weeks I was working probably 16 to 18 hour days, seven days a week. I was catnapping at work, sleeping at my desk, going home for a quick nap and a shower, etc.
One day during this time, one of my co-workers (Mark) and I go to lunch at a Herfys restaurant. Herfys, no longer in business, was a fast food restaurant like McDonalds. Anyway, Mark and I are sitting at a table, eating our hamburgers when I suddenly feel light-headed. I don't think anything of it, and I pivot in my seat and start to lower my head as "first aid". I don't say anything to Mark as this happens. Well I lowered my head, but unfortunately I also blacked out and just kept going to the floor!
I hit the floor head first. My glasses shear across the bridge of my nose, breaking my nose. I don't know how long I was out. I remember coming to and thinking.... "Oh crap, I'm late for work. Hmmmm what is this shoe doing next to my head... And why is everything bright blood red?"
The paramedics arrive. I'm on my back now. One of the paramedics leans over me and asks, "Did your nose always point that direction?", as he gestured to the right. I mumble "no". "Hmmm, have you ever broken your nose" he asks. "No" I replied. "Well I think you broke your nose."
Well they get me bundled out on a stretcher and into an ambulance and haul me off to a hospital.
So Mark goes back to the office to tell our boss. According to my boss, Mark walks into his office, white and shakey and all Mark can say is "They took Bob away." When my boss gets the story out of Mark they start calling hospitals trying to find me, but they can't. When I got to the hospital my vitals were steady. The hospital ER was real busy with stabbings, pregnant women etc. so I was parked in the hall on a gureny waiting to get processed.
So, what does this have to do with regrets. Well I have two regrets from this experience. First of all I wish I could have seen the look on Mark's face then I turned in my chair and passed out. Put yourself in his position. You are having lunch with a friend and they turn and collapse. Second, I wish I could have seen him tell our boss.
P.S. The doctor said the fainting was caused by stress and lack of sleep. He said it wasn't uncommon and as long as it didn't recur there wasn't anything to worry about. They set my nose and stuffed it with gauze. The next night I got a little drunk and pulled all the gauze out. Well the nose didn't set straight so when I went back to the doctor for the follow-up, they had to reset it. They took a long needle full of novacain, stuck the needle up my nose and deaden it. Then the nurse got on one side and braced my head, while the doctor got on the other side and put both of his thumbs against my nose.
If you have every torn the leg off of a turkey or chicken, then the noise it made was similar to the noise my nose made as the doctor pushed hard and reset the nose. There was a lesson there, but I have forgotten it.