By wasteroftime - 14/08/2014 21:31 - United States - Granbury

Spicy
Today, my friend started choking while at a Hard Rock Cafe. I jumped up and tried to give her the Heimlich maneuver, only for her to throw up all over the table and stagger out of the place. I stood there as the waiter asked if I wanted to split the bill. FML
I agree, your life sucks 38 790
You deserved it 3 295

wasteroftime tells us more.

wasteroftime 8

OP here! Thank you all for the praise, I honestly did not think twice when I jumped up and performed the Heimlich maneuver on her. One thing I want to make clear here was not that my situation was worse than my friends, but the fact that the wait staff had no remorse about what had just happened although they stood there and watched me save her life. Learning the Heimlich can really be life saving before you know it :)

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Top comments

tony1891 22

you at least tried. Probably saved her life too

124 5
allie2590 31

**** her life for choking and vomiting in public...

104 8

Comments

wasteroftime 8

OP here! Thank you all for the praise, I honestly did not think twice when I jumped up and performed the Heimlich maneuver on her. One thing I want to make clear here was not that my situation was worse than my friends, but the fact that the wait staff had no remorse about what had just happened although they stood there and watched me save her life. Learning the Heimlich can really be life saving before you know it :)

73 1
Arwen_Evenstar 37

I've always heard that if a person is choking, you should leave them to choke it up, maybe giving a firm pat on the back. The heimlich should be used only if they can no longer get breath to choke. Of course, you may have been being less specific. Or the suggestions vary between countries?

6 68
regib 8

I've always been taught NOT to do the firm pat in the back as it can cause the person to only temporarily breath, they gasp and then the food gets stuck further down the wind pipe.

49 2
ErinRosado 14

I've done a first aid course for work with the Red Cross, they say do 5 slaps to the back, then 5 abdominal thrusts. Repeat until whatever you're choking on has been dislodged.

14 2
aubama_fml 15

#35 seriously let someone choke??

22 1
Dordanni 10

I teach CPR for Red Cross, the slaps on the back are for infants (5 back slaps flip child 5 tummy presses) And for the sake of CPR, do not start any life saving techniques if you can hear the victim taking in air. As known as gasping. Only when the air way is completely blocked should you step in and help. Coughing is the sign of breathing. Vomiting is a completely normal reaction.

36 1
SonOfAMitch 14

Health and safety person here. The pats on the back are correct. You wait until they cough up the object.If they don't stop choking, you just have to position your heel of your hand between their shoulder blades and hit 5 times. It doesn't cause irregular breathing or anything, it hits the neck point so you can dislodge the food. I'm worried if I ever choke in public - if someone did that to anyone, they could die in a much more painful way.

2 19
TypeOneDiabetic 4

@36 He said it could cause the food to go down further, which means it would be harder to get up. So basically what you are suggesting is that instead of them choking, you would rather be the cause of them not being able to cough it up.

4 0
koalabear_55 11

That's for infants... You smack them on the back five times flip them over and do 5 compressions. When someone is choking in public I was taught to not step in if they're coughing because coughing means they're still breathing. Instead we are supposed to be encouraging and tell them to keep coughing. We are supposed to step in when they can no longer cough. Honestly i would probably step in sooner than that.

13 1
droid1126 25

@42 #36 was saying not to let that happen

1 0
noah_1234 24

which one the pat or the heimlich maneuver

0 0
peacheso 31

Kudos OP! You did a great job. Ignore the waiters, I'm sure their indifference was towards the fact that they would have to clean the mess up.

9 1
siggy_mcsigx 22

Pay the bill I'm sure your friend will reimburse you her portion later. Good you had quick reflexes and saved her.

1 7
Mochionnaa96 2

well at least she didn't choke again...

2 1
MacWorms 10

You shoulda told the waitress "I'd rather "SPIT" the bill" BA DM CHIII Thank you Thank you, I'll be here all night

6 2
AnimalWorld 11

While I agree that the waiter should've been a bit more tactful, a lot of times OP not paying would've meant the waiter had to. They should've gone to their manager or something instead of just immediately asking for the money.

0 0