Thread: Having your razors confiscated is just one more reason I hate college dorms...

Aside from the nasty bathrooms, people taking a poo while you're trying to shave, kitchens with mice, closet-sized rooms, shoebox-sized closets, sketchy stains on the carpet, broken in roof, peeling paint, obnoxious music from your floormates, intrusions of your RA...

Aside from all that, you can have your 3,000 dollar razor collection confiscated and be required to take the risk of shipping it back home. That's what happened to me today, because somebody reported to the campus police that I had knives in my room. Now the worst part is that I almost never go to my room, because I stay at my girlfriend's room and I was beginning to move all my shaving stuff to her room. I had basically moved all my razors by last week except for a few rusty blades that I was planning on taking home to buff.

Well, the campus police came today and inspected my entire room. The guy even admitted that it was clear that I used them for shaving and not as weapons. He asked me if I had any others from the ones in my room, and I was dumb enough to admit to having 10-15 at my girlfriends. Those 10-15 were, of course, my nice blades...he asked for all of them except two or three that I could keep to shave with. He said that having 15 razors in a college dorm was inappropriate, but he didn't say because it was dangerous. It was "an issue of perception" whatever the hell that means...it really sucks because I had basically stopped keeping them in my room and had stopped shaving with them in my floor's bathroom. If I had just made this transition a little earlier, maybe no nosy student would have seen them and reported me for having them...

But I guess that's what I get for not wanting to search for an apartment in Manhattan. You get (less than) what you pay for and you deal with the utter lack of privacy when you sign that contract to live in campus housing...

Thanks for letting me rant

Unfortunately, it is private housing. There is a chance you could scour the housing contract to make a case, but chances that it will work are unlikely. I was an RA, so I got to deal with this stuff from both sides. Trust me, it's not fun from either.

I have to say, given that they care about perceptions, I think you are lucky that you can keep 2 or 3 to shave with. They could have told you you couldn't have any.

Anyway, I feel your pain. And I'm curious which ones you'll keep with you... Lots of great ones to pick from.

Seriously, what damage could you do with 200 or 300 razors that you can't do with 2 or 3 razors. If they are perceived as dangerous, then you should have had to get rid of all of them.

Morons.

Sorry for your "loss."

What do you want for $40,000 a year ? or is it $40,000 quarterly ?

Originally Posted by Utopian

Seriously, what damage could you do with 200 or 300 razors that you can't do with 2 or 3 razors. If they are perceived as dangerous, then you should have had to get rid of all of them.

Morons.

Sorry for your "loss."

That's exactly what my girlfriend said.

And why is it that every suite I've been has been allowed to keep sets of very sharp and very pointy steak knives when these razors aren't allowed?

My only worry now is that they don't get lost in the mail.

I'm happy they at least let me keep a few. It's just the whole process that was ridiculous to go through. What I kept:

-8/8 Heljestrand MK 134
-13/16 Globusman
-6/8 Puma 89
-13/16 Filarmonica 13

I guess I got pretty spoiled by living in a real house.

Dude, you're too honest, you should never have admitted to the ones they couldn't see.
At least you get to keep some. You needed to explain the concept of "resting a blade" .
They might have let you keep a 7 day set

That's ridiculous, yet understandable at the same time.

Originally Posted by bassguy

That's ridiculous, yet understandable at the same time.

I know what you mean. It was very frustrating from my perspective, but I also see the other side.
I try to think about how I'd feel if my next door neighbor had a ton of razors and my only exposure to that type of thing had been Sweeney Todd. I'd probably be weirded out or scared, too.

That Sucks!

Time to find a private apartment to move to. Why cant people just mind their own business? Does someone have a beef with you?

I have no idea if this is practical in your dorm, but you might want to consider advertising and hosting a "shaving class" in your dorm. You can introduce the concept of straights and DEs to them. (You're more likely to create more actual converts if you include DEs, as any idiot can use them.) You can also teach about the advantages of brushes and soaps as opposed to canned crap. The whole thing can be couched in terms of how much more environmentally friendly and economical these options are.

If you educate them, they'll be less afraid of your toys and you're less likely to get a repeat visit from the campus police.

Another thought:
Contact the chief of campus police and let him know that you'd like him to have a better understanding of what you are up to. That is, that your razors are a hobby at least as much as they are utilitarian devices, and as a hobby it is perfectly reasonable to have many of them. The best way to provide him the necessary information is to give him the URL to this forum. Hopefully he has a natural sense of curiosity and will do some reading here. Again, the more they know the less likely you are to be hassled.