What Happened Here?

Today at work something happened that was rather amusing...but in a sense it was also sad. I will attempt to be delicate in relaying the story so as not to be too harsh on the ones involving the little altercation...so bare with me...
I had to be at work extra early..five-ish to be exact..when I generally don't have to be there until around eight a.m...The reason being ..I had to make four breakfast pizzas for a business that wanted to treat their night crew before the end of their shift...I entered the front of the store, as I have been doing of late, because of the weather. When I got past the deli there was a barricade...I thought..what the?...and not questioning why it was there ..moved it and proceeded to the back and up the stairs to clock in....On the way back to my department..I saw this big dude in a red t-shirt glaring at me...then I realized what I had done...I had trod upon the newly waxed floor..which was why the barricade..and evidently it was not dry when I had trod upon it..cause I somehow felt that I was being the center of conversation carried on down in the kitchen area! Curiosity got the best of me and, of course, I investigated the situation and sure enough! I certainly WAS the topic and it was NOT good! I had totally ruined the wax job and it had to be redone....GEESH, I was in deep *&^% now! The cashier in the kitchen told me not to worry and that it would be alright...so that helped a bit..until about an hour later when I saw the big dude in the red t-shirt conversing with my superior...and glaring in my direction...Crap, I thought..there is no way that this is just going to pass over!
Sure enough, within the next hour or so I was called into the hallway between the deli and the bathrooms for a conference with The Big Boss..the store director..
He had already falsely accused a co-worker from the adjoining department..and she was really upset...she was not guilty and still got a bawling out!...so, when I got called back there, I knew I was in for it!
He asked me..."Did you walk on that floor?"...well, of course I said yes....then he wanted to know "Why"?....I don't quite recall my answer to this one..but the next part of the lecture really threw me a curve..I have had a few accidents there at my workplace in the last 11 years and he proceeded to remind me of every single one he could access record of...and asked me if I had any idea of how much my medical expenses had cost the company....when I said I didn't know for sure..He said, "Guess!"
This was not a suggestion...it was a command! He went on and on about the cost and how we were to prevent accidents from occuring and made a big production that went on a lot longer than I cared to hear...words were exchanged..some of them...not so polite..finally I told him that I was sorry I walked on the floor and that I would never pull a stunt like that again..and he let me go! I was a bit riled for a while until I learned that he had called several others over the carpet today and it must have been his day to lay down the law to all of us who had the unfortunate experience of breaking bones...or spraining something at his store...Do we not pay for the compensation we get when we are laid up from such an accident...or at least part of it? You would have thought that he donated blood that saved us from dying...and that we owed him our lives...The ad for our store says that the store itself is employ owned....today I felt like I was owned by the employer...not a good feeling...and it was not a good day..I hope that he realizes someday that we are the reason his store is successful...we help make his big paycheck with our efforts...if we happen to get injured in the process..we should not be made to feel like we are now a worthless liability to him and his store...like I felt today when he chewed me out for a mistake that I didn't even realize I was making at the time. Either he was having a bad day...or trying to make sure mine was even worse!