Don't Play with Sharp Objects - A Cautionary Tale

I was at a home inspection a couple of weeks ago with a buyer's agent. We were standing on the rear deck discussing the installation of hurricane shutters - it's a thing in Key West.  The other agent had
a knife in his hand which he kept flailing about as he was talking. I kept telling him not to move his hand around.  He had something important to tell me. He felt compelled to keep moving that damned knife in the direction of my head. He wasn't mad. He was oblivious to the danger he could cause.

I had enough and told him the true story that happened in Denver three decades ago. I owned a bunch of apartments in Denver. I was on a trip to Tulsa, Oklahoma to testify in federal court against a guy who owned our bank a lot of money. My partner called me to tell me the story of what happened to Rick.

Rick was a 30 something tall, thin, exceeding handsome gay man who rented from me. He was the captain at the fine dining restaurant at one of Denver's premiere hotels. My partner told me that he had taken some new mini blinds to install in Rick's apartment.  Mini blinds are inexpensive and easy to install. All you need is a nail or drill to create a starter hole and then a screw driver to affix a screw to fasten a bracket to the window frame. Rick saw my partner put up one of the blinds and offered to help.

Within a few seconds of picking up a screw driver, Rick poked a hole in his eye. He screamed. My partner grabbed him and rushed him to Denver General Hospital. The wound was too severe to wait minutes for an ambulance. They were at the hospital in just a few minutes. It didn't matter. Rick lost his eye. It was heart breaking. This was life changing. It was forever.

I tell people this story because people do dumb things all the time without considering the consequences. There is a reason your mother told you not to play with sharp objects.