My father-in-law has a side job doing maintenance at an apartment building. Sometimes I help him, usually installing air conditioners in the summer & removing them in the fall. The place is a house that was converted into 3 apartments, and frankly it’s kind of a shithole, but it’s just down the street from the local community college, so it probably commands a decent rent.
Anyway, while helping him install an air conditioner in one of the apartments recently, I spotting something odd lying on the floor: A chemistry spatula [I can’t manage to link to an image. Google “chemistry spatula” to see pictures of what I’m talking about.] The apartment was a mess, full of beer & whiskey bottles, and desperately in need of cleaning. So, I’m pretty sure the owner of the item wasn’t using it to compound lifesaving medicines for third world countries.
Any idea what they’d be using the spatula for? A cocaine spoon? Something with cooking meth?
It’s hard to tell from Google how big a “chemistry spatula” is. But if it’s the size of the spatula that comes with mixable facial bleach (don’t judge!), that spatula is about the size of “coke nail” and I would suspect that’s what it was used for.
I’ve seen them used to do “bumps” of cocaine and other powdered drugs, such as MDMA. It’s an easy way to get a little out of the bag and snort it without the hassle of mirrors, razor blades, and straws or rolled up bills.
Knowledge is from past experiences, not recent ones.
It was roughly 8"-10" long, and it was exactly like the spatulas I used in my college chemistry classes. This one was stainless steel.
You would order it from a scientific supply company like Sigma-Aldrich or Fisher Scientific. (I tried to link to catalog items at both of their websites, but the link wouldn’t work when I previewed the post.)
Yeah - I’m not sure if taken alone I would believe it was being used for drug dealing/ using.
In addition to the bleach and phone repair uses given - I have one that came with a nutritional supplement (granted it was plastic - not metal).
Depending on what their DOC was/is would vary what you’d likely see - and maybe they were real careful and took everything else or disposed of it, but I doubt it.
You’d probably find other stuff -
like very small baggies, pieces of plastic (especially if it had a knot in it), or aluminum foil
Burnt foil or anything that isn’t normal burnt really - especially little balls of copper scouring pads
Tiny corks or really crappy looking paper roses (gas stations and convenience stores sell cheap paper roses in glass pipes that are used for crack)
Shoe laces or something else used for tourniquet
Mirrors, cards (like hotel room keys or used up gift cards), razors, or items with powdered residue found near sinks or countertops [used for separating out drugs to be snorted/smoked or crushing pills]
Any evidence of cigar use
And of course any more obvious stuff (I assume you would have mentioned if their was water bongs, currency counting machines, bricks marked “cocaine”, gold plated machine guns, scarface posters)
I suggest the wise thing to do would be to just ignore what you saw and mind your own business.
After all, if the renter is not doing anything illegal, you could bring down a whole world of trouble on them or on yourself or on both.
If they are doing something illegal, best to let the police handle it. That is what they are paid for.
People who go out of their way to stir up trouble for neighbors when they are not sure what the truth is deserve a big spanking IMHO.
Why can’t you just mind your own business? Either that or do not enter into anyone else’s home unless you are mature enough to leave their property alone?
If you want to snitch on people or get them into trouble, why not consider a job in law enforcement?
I didn’t get that the OP was trying to snitch on anyone. He observed something that seemed odd and posted asking what it might be used for.
I think a little curiosity is good - he didn’t say he searched their place or did anything to violate their privacy - he was just curious about what he saw.
At least that’s how I read it - maybe I am missing something.
I was mainly concerned about the possibility that they were cooking meth, in which case I would probably call the police so the other tenants don’t get blown up by this idiot. If he’s just mixing weed, I really don’t care.
