Alarming moment at 99-Cent

[Seanette]

Wasn't at all sure where this one belonged, so here seemed like the least bad choice.

Errands today took me over to 99-Cent. In the soft drink aisle, DH spotted a *razor blade*, sharp side facing him, arranged between two bottles of soda. It did appear rather deliberate. The blade also appeared to have come from a box cutter (one corner looked like ex-box-cutter blades tend to, with assorted discoloration). We both notified store employees, and I e-mailed corporate as soon as I got home to my computer (not trying to be a b*tch about it, but I wanted to be VERY sure this kind of safety hazard was taken seriously).

What kind of sicko does something like that, anyway?

[powerboy]

Not sticking up for them or anything. But, maybe the blade fell from the cutter, it happened to me a few times, when I was an unloader, and happened to be just recently here at home.

[rvdammit]

And there's always the chance of SC Sabotage

[Seanette]

Not sticking up for them or anything. But, maybe the blade fell from the cutter, it happened to me a few times, when I was an unloader, and happened to be just recently here at home.

Mmm, yeah. It "fell from the cutter" straight up and down, solidly braced between two 3-liter bottles of soda, with the sharp edge positioned to cut someone if they simply reached for a bottle (as many people do) and did not happen to notice this sharp object right there. I'm not seeing how an accidental fallout could result in such a nicely-done trap, especially since I've used that type myself and cannot figure out how the blade would fall out in the first place (it uses your basic single-edge blade).

I realize you're giving people the benefit of the doubt, and I do respect you for that, I simply don't see how it fits in this scenario.

Responding to RV, I'm not even guessing whether it was SE or SC at this point, I'm just hoping that 99-Cent takes the incident seriously enough to check for other such nasties at that store. If I *had* to guess, I'd lean toward SE simply because an employee would have more opportunity and would be more likely to have box cutter blades handy. That's a very top-of-the-head *guess*, so please don't go nuclear at me for accusing anyone.

Keep in mind that someone much suckier than I would have made a huge screaming public scene about the whole thing instead of politely alerting store staff (and doing so in a way that did not attract undue attention from other customers).

[trunks2k]

Mmm, yeah. It "fell from the cutter" straight up and down, solidly braced between two 3-liter bottles of soda, with the sharp edge positioned to cut someone if they simply reached for a bottle (as many people do) and did not happen to notice this sharp object right there. I'm not seeing how an accidental fallout could result in such a nicely-done trap, especially since I've used that type myself and cannot figure out how the blade would fall out in the first place (it uses your basic single-edge blade).

Well, an employee may have been changing the blade and lost the old blade. There's a lot of reasons why it could have ended up the way it did, I don't think it's very fair to jump to the conclusion of it being a trap.

[Department stores *sigh*]

ugh reminds me of a time when some jackass at work was doin this in the stockroom. someone laid traps with razerblades sticking out of boxes and such and it was obviously deliberate. didnt figure out who it was but with massive turnover it stopped fast enough

[Lehk]

sounds like a willfully set trap to me, pinched between soda bottles on the shelf?

that means the bottles were on the shelf first, and assuming there was another shelf an inch or less above, or even being on the top shelf an employee would not be switching cutter blades above the bottles.

if it was caught on the rings of a 6-pack or lodged in a box i would be inclined to think it was an accident, but this i think was a booby trap

[Seanette]

sounds like a willfully set trap to me, pinched between soda bottles on the shelf?

that means the bottles were on the shelf first, and assuming there was another shelf an inch or less above, or even being on the top shelf an employee would not be switching cutter blades above the bottles.

if it was caught on the rings of a 6-pack or lodged in a box i would be inclined to think it was an accident, but this i think was a booby trap

That was what I thought, considering it was vertical, held between two 3-liter bottles on the top shelf (about my shoulder/head height) and arranged so as to be hard to see but with the sharp edge very well positioned to nail an unsuspecting soft drink grabber.

A random fallen/dropped blade would NOT have been so neatly positioned, or so optimally arranged to cause harm.

[powerboy]

Seanette, you never know, I was just stating from my experancies. And yeah, it can land perfectly straight up like that, if it lands against something. Trust me, on that, for I have seen it happen.

[Seanette]

Seanette, you never know, I was just stating from my experancies. And yeah, it can land perfectly straight up like that, if it lands against something. Trust me, on that, for I have seen it happen.

What part of "it was *held* between the two bottles", bottles that were close enough to each other to be touching (and the blunt edge was *firmly* between them) am I failing to make clear?

[ShoresKoC]

I realize you're upset by what you found, but there is no reason to get defensive and nasty towards those who are trying to see the situation from another angle. They are simply playing devil's advocate. You're not going to have everyone agree with you all the time, ya know. "what part of.. am I failing to make clear?" has some pretty nasty undertones that will just make people not want to read what you have to say anymore.

That being said, it sounds like a pretty nasty situation and I'm glad your DH saw it before he hurt himself.

[Seanette]

The two people who actually SAW this situation first-hand, and who are both possessed of at least average brain power, TYVM , already tried all the possible ways an accidental blade drop could result in a blade that was:

vertical
sharp edge facing out
held firmly between two 3-liter soda bottles that were close enough to touch each other
inconspicuously placed (someone my height or less would have found it nearly impossible to see, and DH, who's about 5 inches taller, nearly didn't see it)

Sorry, but based on direct first-hand observation of what I saw, all the denial that it could possibly have been deliberate just doesn't work, and I'm still trying to figure out how I described this so sloppily that everyone is still convinced that what direct witnesses consider borderline impossible is the only acceptable explanation. Frustrating that I apparently can't write clearly enough to get the point across.

Based on my own experience with the type of box cutter that takes that style of blade, the blades don't fall out THAT easily, and when you're changing it, if you're dumb enough to not immediately dispose of it properly, what are the odds that it's going to stand on end and hide between large objects while held firmly between them, in such a way as to endanger anyone reaching for the objects in question? This was on the top shelf (as earlier stated, ca. my shoulder height or slightly higher. I'm 5'4") of the beverage aisle, in a section where the merchandise would not be shipping in packaging calling for a box cutter anyway, TTBOMK (I did 7-11 for a couple of years and have also done grocery stocking). One detail I may not have mentioned was that this was on the back row of the shelf, which happened to be the only row at that point due to low stock. It would have been a stretch for me to even reach the bottles in question.

So how did that blade land so neatly placed in that location and that solidly braced by accident, again?

[ShoresKoC]

I didnt say it did, I said that people have a right to explore POSSIBILITIES without you getting defensive and treating us like idiots.

[Seanette]

Friendly suggestion: if you're going to take everything I type personally, maybe you should just put me in your ignore list? Might be easier on your blood pressure.

[MadMike]

Since there seems to be no end in sight to the arguing and fighting in this thread, I'm shutting it down. We've already tried cleaning it up once, to no avail.