Razor Blades

[Ringo]

Hello everyone,

There seems to be alot about razor blades in the UL section and it reminded me of a somewhat curious occurence back when I was at Uni in London.

I was in the toilet doing what men do when they sit down instead of standing up and time came for the clean up. The toilet roll dispenser was one of the those big, round, white metal ones with jagged teeth on both sides of the opening. As often happens, I noticed that the paper was not sticking out of the bottom and I would have to put my hand up and spin the roll until one end of the paper was sticking out.

As I began spinning, I heard a metallic noise and felt something drop into the palm of my hand. It was a razor blade. It was one of the old fashioned, double edged type which are rectangular rather than stanley knife baldes. I was abit confused as to why there was a razor blade in the toilet roll holder but didn't exactly lose sleep over it. I threw the blade in the bin in the toilet and left.

However, the rather strange thing is a number of years later, the same thing happened to me again only this time in a toilet in Nescastle. The balde was the same old fashioned double edge type as the one I had found before. Both baldes were new, shiny and clean.

I wondered at the time whether some idiots were going round sticking razor blades in the toilet roll so that people would hurt themselves but I haven't heard anyone else say this has ever happened to them.

Anyone else found these blades or have any ideas?

 

[Anonymous]

Nope, never heard of anything like that before. Wouldn't fancy being cut by one neither, you'd need a tetanus jab for sure.

 

[liveinabin]

I would say it was an urban legend myself but that happened to you not a FOAF. Very odd, drugs maybe?

 

[rjmrjmrjm]

Probably not... if the despenser it had serrated edges, but perhaps it was a way to cut the toilet paper?

Or perhaps it is left there by toilet attendents who may use it to cut the hard cardboard core of toilet rolls.

 

[Ringo]

It certainly was odd. The idea that an attendant left them there to help cut cardboard rolls is a good idea. As they looked very new and clean, I wasn't worried about infections or anything...didn't even cut myself.

The thing that sticks in my mind is how they fell into the palm of my hand and not just out onto the floor.

 

[Redhead666]

I have never heard of this and you were very lucky you weren't cut. It's strange that it happened to you twice...but I find it very hard to believe that an attendant would store razor blades in the toilet paper dispenser knowing how dangerous it could be.
Sounds like a cruel prank to me.

 

[JamesWhitehead]

Quite a few of these Urban Legends - such as the smiley-cult - depend upon the old-fashioned double-sided safety-razor blade. I can't remember when I last saw one or noticed them in the shops.

How common are they now? A bit of a speciality, I think. Not even something for the specialist, who surely prefers a Sweeny-Todd cut-throat? :?

 

[decipheringscars]

Couldn't it also happen that urban legends inspire people to do things as a prank? Maybe someone just figured it would freak someone out if they'd heard enough of the ULs.

I suppose one person could encounter that sort of "copycat" thing twice, but it certainly is odd.

Does anyone know of any info about whether people ever copy ULs intentionally as pranks? Please no one go out and do so now that I've mentioned it.

 

[ignatiusII]

Couldn't it also happen that urban legends inspire people to do things as a prank? Maybe someone just figured it would freak someone out if they'd heard enough of the ULs.

I suppose one person could encounter that sort of "copycat" thing twice, but it certainly is odd.

Does anyone know of any info about whether people ever copy ULs intentionally as pranks? Please no one go out and do so now that I've mentioned it.

Strangely enough, I posted just yesterday in the "Razor Blade In Turkey Sandwich" thread about the hoary old "mentally unstable individuals inserting razor blades into candied apples and distributing them to unwary kiddies on halloween night" urban myth or urban legend, which actually happened to me when I was a kid and out trick-or-treating.

I suppose it's entirely possible that one or two whackjobs might actually be inspired by an UL and be emboldened to turn legend into reality.

 

[Aarauer]

The one time I could have left someone feeling badly puzzled, I didn't do it. I was studying fashion design at an underfunded art college. All the fabrics we had to choose from for a project were really unattractive and cheap, and I couldn't make up my mind which was the least horrible. Eventually the tutor crossly pulled out an old roll of something which looked vaguely 1950s and to me quite beautiful. Some weeks later, in the middle of sewing up the resulting design (one of my least worst), I was sitting in the pub with my boyfriend. By that stage of the 3 year course, I was boringly sensitive to designs, shapes of buttons, whether stitching was straight etc. Suddenly, on a girl standing at the bar, I saw my material ... made into a very ordinary dress, but for me the focal point of the whole pub. It was the only other time I had ever seen it. I put my hand in my pocket, and there was a roughly 10 cm scrap of it that I had been carrying around. I thought about going up the bar, sneaking it onto the surface next to her elbow and creeping off back to my seat ... but it seemed cruel. She could have spent the whole night wondering where a bit had come off her dress, and why there wasn't a hole.

 

[Mob1138]

Quite a few of these Urban Legends - such as the smiley-cult - depend upon the old-fashioned double-sided safety-razor blade. I can't remember when I last saw one or noticed them in the shops.

How common are they now? A bit of a speciality, I think. Not even something for the specialist, who surely prefers a Sweeny-Todd cut-throat? :?

They're still quite common, i use them myself and you can get them from any branch of Boots or Superdrug i've ever looked in.

 

[Ringo]

A word to doubters out there - not only will you save a fortune you will get an awesome shave if you switch from your 50 blade nonsense-sticks and tins of gunge to a proper shave soap (or cream), a brush, a safety razor (with decent blades) and an alum block....

What's an alum block? Or is it an aluminium block and if so what's that for? Do you chill it and press it against the skin?

 

[rasputin]

I think the possible explanation is that they were used to slice up cocaine or other drugs. Lots of people do drugs in public toilets and they slice them up into lines and then snort them. Some people use something sharp like a credit card or razor blade to sort them into lines. Could this be a possibility? Was there any white dusty residue on either of the blades?

 

[GNC]

If you're in a Tex Avery cartoon, you can also use alum to shrink someone's mouth to prevent them from eating you.

 

[tony_carson]

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[_Lizard23_]

I agree about the alum stone, no self-respecting barber here would be caught without one. They also mostly use a kind of cut-throat razor that takes old fashioned razor blades snapped in half, a new one for each punter. Opinions seem to vary on whether or not you get a better shave from yourself or the barber ... I guess it depends to a certain extent on how good at it you both are.

I personally wouldn't leave my razor blade in the toilet roll dispenser after I'd been chopping up powders in a public toilet. Someone might hurt themself, and besides, I'm going to need it again before long.

 

[AMPHIARAUS]

I have no idea how they make toilet rolls, but in some industries where they put things on rolls they are chopped into slices using "slitters" where the replaceable edge is a razor blade.

I don't think that was the cause of the orginal postings find, but hey just saying it could be a lost bit of th manufacturing process..................

 

[Ringo]

Do you know what... a distant memory is coming back to me from my days working at a hotel in London. I do seem to remember the chambermaids having the types of blades I'm on about, wrapped in paper.

Maybe it is something that is used for changing the rolls and they leave a blade the dispenser for the next one? Anyone out there who changes loo rolls for a living?