via missionlocal: ZFGH — which ran at a stunning 24.5 percent operating deficit in the latest fiscal year — works to collect $3,321.47 from unemployed former bike messenger who received one stitch

“Goddamn,” says Conan Mattisson with a laugh. “It was probably one of the dumbest accidents ever.”

You know how it is. You buy a new knife and you forget how sharp new knives are and, before you know it, you’ve sliced an inch-deep cut in the webbing of your dominant right hand. Goddamn.

“Oddly enough, there are not a lot of blood vessels there. It didn’t really bleed — but you could see the inner workings of my hand,” continues Mattisson, a 40-year-old former longtime bike messenger. “I could see my tendons. I could see them sliding back and forth in their sheath. It was gnarly.”

Mattisson has gone sailing off any number of bicycles and has learned not to take lightly any injuries to one’s head or hands. He was also short on options: It was nearly midnight on Feb. 14. There was nowhere to go but the emergency room at Zuckerberg San Francisco General. He wrapped up his hand, put on his helmet, and pedaled his bike the mile or so to the hospital from his apartment on Mission and 20th.

He sat for a few hours, was visited by medical personnel for a few cumulative minutes, and ended up with a single stitch in his hand. It was, at most, a five-minute procedure. Done and done — and Happy Valentine’s Day.

Then the bill arrived: $3,321.47.

Gnarly.