An Angle Grinder, a Missing Toe, and a Big Smile

25 Oct 2026 #misc

“An angle grinder cut off my toe,” he told me.

It was at the butchery counter of my local grocery store. I hadn’t seen him in a while. I thought he was working in another rotation. I usually do my groceries in the afternoons.

“I was on sick leave for two months,” he said.

“Oh boy! I didn’t know. What happened?” Then he told me about his toe. For a second, I thought it was a simple cut that a few butterfly stitches could fix. “What actually happened?”

“The angle grinder did cut off my toe.” It wasn’t a simple cut. “I was doing some repairs at home, the angle grinder fell over, and I wasn’t wearing shoes.”

“You’re kidding, right?” I couldn’t believe him.

He simply nodded, with a big smile on his face. I had ordered two chicken breasts as usual. While he cleared the skin off the breasts, he raised his head, “I was on vacation and supposed to return in two days. My wife had told me to hire someone…“

“I guess she said, ‘I told you’,” my sister next to me told him. He kept nodding with a smile so big we could see all his teeth.

“That day I had an appointment, but I chose to stay at home… I guess when bad things happen, they simply happen.”

“Don’t worry! If you’re wearing shoes, nobody will notice it,” the guy next in line said. “If your wife chose you, one missing toe won’t change her mind,” I told him while we were all laughing.

Lesson: Always wear shoes when working with cutting tools… or hire someone who knows how to use them. More importantly, it’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it. Even if that’s losing a toe.

For more life lessons, check out 10 Surprisingly Simple Ideas That Changed My Life.