The Razor's Edge

I remember as a child seeing my father on ocassion walking around with a piece or two of tissue stuck to his face. I was to find out later that that was probably due to the fact that he had just replaced the blade in his shaving razor and had gotten bit by that razor. Those little razor cuts can be nasty. I'm sure that there are many people who have pulled that tissue routine on a razor cut. But would you ever think to use "I cut myself shaving" as an excuse to be late?

Twice within the last month I have heard of shaving incidents from people that I know. One woman was very upset that she had missed the church ceremony of her nieces wedding. She had gotten into the shower and was doing the customary clean up job and decided to shave her legs. She said she really didn't even need to shave her legs because they weren't going to be seen unless someone were crawling around on the floor. But she went ahead with it anyway and, oops, there was a little bit of a varicose vein sticking out and, you guessed it, she nicked it. Well, it didn't dribble, it didn't trickle, it pulsed, shooting blood out uncontrollably. She tried a band-aid. Didn't stop. She tried direct pressure over a clean band-aid. Didn't stop. She tried an ice pack and direct pressure over another clean band-aid. Didn't stop. The clock was ticking. She wrapped up her leg and quickly got dressed, the leg still bleeding, and had to call her husband to break the news to him that they were going to the emergency room. They did stop the bleeding there with a little cauterization, but the ceremony was over by then. Damn that razor.

Oh yes, the second person. Well, someone very close to me got a phone call from their boss who was supposed to be in early so he could cover for the office staff while they attended an early morning meeting. The boss lives an hour away. The meeting had already started. The message was that he hadn't left home yet because he had cut his forehead shaving and it wouldn't stop bleeding. I won't go any further or I might get this person fired.

So, will you file this in your "good excuses to be late for work file?"