Watercooler Stories

Students made to sign out toilet paper

MAHANOY CITY, Pa., Jan. 28 (UPI) -- A Pennsylvania parent said boys at her son's high school are being forced to ask for toilet paper when they need to use the restroom.

Karen Yedsena of Mahanoy City told the school board Thursday the policy, which officials said was put in place after repeated acts of toilet-paper related vandalism, is embarrassing to the students and leads many to fake sick to go home rather than sign out a roll of bathroom tissue from the office, The (Pottsville) Republican-Herald reported Monday.

Principal Thomas Smith told Yedsena the policy has been effective in curbing vandalism.

"We've had serious destruction to our bathrooms for the past two years," Smith said. "We have a case pending with the police where a bathroom down by our gymnasium was absolutely destroyed. I'm sure Mr. [Robert] Pastucha [district facilities director] could tell you the times that our toilets have been jammed with toilet paper and other papers. And after we took the toilet tissue out of there, people were throwing books. It was our way to try to curb the destruction in the bathrooms."

Smith said he would be willing to revisit the policy, but the sign-out system would be reinstated if there were any further cases of vandalism.

Video shows tank crossing Russian road

URALVAGONZAVOD, Russia, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- A spokeswoman for a Russian tank manufacturer said a tank seen crossing a road in an online video did not break any traffic laws.

The Uralvagonzavod spokeswoman said the tank recorded crossing a busy street near the Nizhny Tagil tank factory had a green light while cars seen nearly colliding with the tank should have stopped for a red light, RIA Novosti reported Monday.

"The car drivers who did not stop at the red traffic light were wrong," the spokeswoman said. "The tank drove through at green."

"The video clearly shows that there is a red light for the cars," she said.

Three successive tenants have twins

OKLAHOMA CITY, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- An Oklahoma house has been dubbed "The Twin House" with a third consecutive family to live there having a set of twins.

Chelsea Smith of Oklahoma City said she and her husband, Brady, were not concerned in summer 2011 when Jennifer Gaines, who had lived in her house two tenants before her, told them that the last two couples to live there had boy/girl fraternal twins, The Oklahoman reported Monday.

"I thought it was crazy," Chelsea said. "I thought, 'Well a house doesn't make you have twins.'

However, Chelsea said she discovered she was pregnant in early 2012 and an ultrasound soon revealed she was carrying twins -- a boy and a girl.

"I don't really think I could even verbalize it for probably 24 hours," Chelsea said the moment when an ultrasound technician gave her the news. "I didn't even say anything when she said there were two. We're like, 'You've got to be kidding me.'"

Chelsea gave birth Aug. 16 to Vivian Elaine Smith and Elliot Lowry Smith.

The couple joked they could use the house's history as a selling point if they ever decide to move.

"Maybe we could sell it to someone looking for twins," Brady quipped.

Clooney picks up stranger's bill

BERLIN, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- A German man said he was shocked to discover actor George Clooney had paid his restaurant tab after fearing he and his friends had been rude.

The man, whose name was not released, told the Bild newspaper he was eating Friday evening at the Grill Royal restaurant in Berlin and was told by his waiter his $134.66 bill had been covered by Clooney, who had been dining with friends at the next table, The Local.de reported Monday.

The waiter told the man Clooney was concerned he and his friends had been rude while the man was trying to eat.

"That's not true at all. They had behaved in a very cultivated manner. I was stunned," the man said.

The diner, who said he did not recognize Clooney at first, said he left his business card for the actor in the hopes of eventually returning the favor.

Clooney is in Germany filming scenes for upcoming film "The Monuments Men."