FLINT, MI – Not even multiple fractures of his foot – and a few to his pride – could keep Performance Brands’ David McFarland from educating tanning salon staff about the company’s latest products.
On January 9, 2013 David McFarland, Performance Brands National Sales Rep, limped into the Flint, MI headquarters of Tropi-Tan salons on crutches, wearing a foot brace and bearing an interesting story. “A couple days ago, my son and I went fishing at a bass pond that we’ve been to a hundred times before and I hurt myself jumping over a creek,” said David. “It’s about a 12-13 foot jump that my son and I have made many times, but always from a different spot. I was wearing boots and decided to take them off so they wouldn’t slow me down, then I got a running start and made my jump – unfortunately, what looked like soft sand and mud on the other side turned out to be a slab of concrete!”
As he landed, David’s heels slammed into the unforgiving surface and he immediately went into what he describes as a “pain angel” position. “I lay out on my back and stretched out my arms,” he said. “My son and my cousin started laughing at me until they realized that I was in serious pain. I took off my sock and they saw that the bottom of my foot had turned purple and black, and my son said, ‘Oh, my God!’” Needless to say, the injury cut the McFarland family fishing trip short, and David’s son had to wade into the creek and allow his father to lean on him as the two walked back through the water to the other side. “I called my doctor and told him that there were no bones protruding through the skin and it didn’t feel as though it was broken, so he said I didn’t have to go to the emergency room,” David added. “That was great news because I had to travel from Florida to Michigan the next day.”
That night, David purchased a pair of crutches and a foot-brace at a local thrift store and managed to hobble onto a plane the next morning. The first stop was the Electrik Beach salon chain based in Monroe, MI. “David called me from the airport to tell me about his accident and I said, ‘You don’t need to come here if you’re hurt’, but he did it anyway,” said Adrienne Aaron, Electrik Beach coowner. “To help him out, I picked him up at the hotel and drove him to three of our stores, where he trained a total of 25 people. David always does a great job and our staff had a great time with him, as usual. It’s always a pleasure having him here.”
From Monroe, David drove north to Flint, MI to train staff from the area Tropi-Tan salons. “My sessions at Tropi-Tan were fantastic!” David exclaimed. “Everyone seemed very attentive and interested in learning about our latest products and some techniques for selling them. It was well worth the effort that it took to limp onto the plane and go there!”
