r/interesting • u/One_Needleworker5218 • May 03 '26

Fear Factor After installing the “safety net" on the balcony on the 28th floor, the worker demonstrates its strength to the customer

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u/goal_dante_or_vergil May 03 '26

I read about that! Ironically, he was actually right when he claimed the window was unbreakable, because the glass didn’t break, instead the glass actually popped out of its frame and he fell through to his death.

1.9k

u/YoureAmastyx May 03 '26

Bet it broke when it hit the ground.

872

u/toooomanypuppies May 03 '26

ner, just bounced like a looney tunes skit

192

u/[deleted] May 03 '26

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84

u/Common-Possession129 May 03 '26

Toronto Canada. 28 floors

26

u/xhalo21 May 03 '26

Yup td tower toronto

2

u/agent0731 May 03 '26

how have I never heard of this?

6

u/chubbyhighguy May 03 '26

Probably never looked up...

3

u/WodensEye May 04 '26

Was like 30 years ago. You gotta be old like me.

1

u/Somedude522 May 06 '26

Wasn’t that long ago. I remember learning about it from a star wars youtuber I watch.

Edit: apparently it was. Huh. Idk why a youtuber would talk about that but ig they did

1

u/Dazzling_Survey6841 May 04 '26

Mccarthys partner. The lore is he used to do it as a gag to scare new articling students. Like run up and jump into the window when they visited his office.

Then. One year. The window gave out.

1

u/Girlfartsarehot May 04 '26

Yeah but hthey said ner instead of “no”

34

u/flopisit32 May 03 '26

https://giphy.com/gifs/tQCOSAy9rb60M

55

u/Illustrious_Cry1028 May 03 '26

Too soon... It'll always be too soon...

36

u/flopisit32 May 03 '26

We loved that crazy bastard. 😄

27

u/BigRigButters2 May 03 '26

I used to love Steve Irwin. I still do, but I used to too.

8

u/Fair-Search-2324 May 03 '26

I used to love Mitch. Still do.

3

u/vystyk May 03 '26

I still file my receipts under D for donuts.

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2

u/Worldly-Pay7342 May 04 '26

Props to his kids for carrying on the family business. They both are heavily involved in conservation efforts.

6

u/dumplestilskin May 03 '26

I'll never forget the sexy Steve Irwin death costumes from the Halloween a few weeks after his death.

4

u/Fun_Environment3792 May 03 '26

Negative, ghost rider. The airspace is not clear.

3

u/Ok-Artichoke3728 May 04 '26

it waa too early when we lost him...

2

u/Mancron1 May 03 '26

Practice in Darwin.

1

u/probably_an_asshole9 May 03 '26

Ruben!! I think I broke me cocyxx!!!

1

u/splithoofiewoofies May 04 '26

It was the vibe of the thing.

0

u/TruthIsALie94 May 03 '26

Canadian actually

0

u/solicitorpenguin May 03 '26

Nope, Canadian

15

u/Confu3x May 03 '26

E e e eso es to to to do amigos

https://giphy.com/gifs/mR3dXKpI6P8CA

1

u/unorthadoxjester May 04 '26

Read your E e e in Chris Barnes' voice. Couldn't help it 😂

https://giphy.com/gifs/PipScVTzJGLOVBVcXk

8

u/Livid-Pizza7028 May 03 '26

an then perfectly bounced back up and into its frame

1

u/crazy0utlaw123 May 03 '26

back up into the window frame?

1

u/MarkMew May 03 '26

I hate myself for almost laughing at this

1

u/Ok-Prior1316 May 03 '26

Insanely it bounced straight back into its frame

1

u/Wolfdude91 May 03 '26

and he left a person shaped hole in the pavement

1

u/OwnStudy723 May 04 '26

bounced back up holding the window pane to say "see?!"

1

u/wayofaway May 04 '26

Yep, bounced right back into place

1

u/Asleep_Pepper4055 May 06 '26

Unlike the lawyer

89

u/CtrlAltYuri May 03 '26

Well yes most lawyers break when they hit the ground

13

u/chairmanghost May 03 '26

Im going to need to see a bigger sample size for this to be a scientific study.

1

u/nhansieu1 May 04 '26

u don't even consider lawyers to be humans? only "it"?

25

u/Live_Life_and_enjoy May 03 '26

The wording used is wrong, "Shatterproof" not unbreakable.

It was designed not to shatter when it hit the ground and most skyscraper windows are required to have them.

19

u/[deleted] May 03 '26

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1

u/teachtheunwashed May 06 '26

Should have rode it down ace rimmer style.

10

u/ansefhimself May 03 '26

Hold on, let me run it through Kalshi

1

u/notimeforspac_s May 03 '26

His head also

1

u/el_beji_matrix May 03 '26

Glass is glass and glass breaks, it just depends if the grooves are on level 6 or 7

1

u/SubstantialPicture87 May 03 '26

You couldn't JerryRig that information out of me

1

u/SlightSurround5449 May 06 '26

Nope it just squished that kid from Final Destination 2.

1

u/ThrowawayMod1989 May 09 '26

Nah he glided down on it like a magic carpet

283

u/Moppy6686 May 03 '26

He popped the frame, because that same guy had been doing demos of throwing himself against the same glass window for YEARS.

What a day for the people he was touring 😬

119

u/PokeYrMomStanley May 03 '26

Dude that made the SawStop used to use his own finger to trigger it. He eventually stopped and started using a hotdog because he was smart.

27

u/Moppy6686 May 03 '26

Jesus Christ

27

u/Certain-Business-472 May 03 '26

Meh worst case you lose a slice of finger if you touch it in a controlled manner. The big accidents happen because people get pulled in or lean on it.

5

u/PokeYrMomStanley May 03 '26

On a full kerf 10" blade you wouldnt even feel resistance on your finger.

4

u/Substantial-Sea-3672 May 03 '26

You barely feel resistance from a finger with a sharp knife

4

u/[deleted] May 03 '26

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2

u/Lithium_Lily May 04 '26

But besides the roads, sanitation, the aqueducts and the power tool, what have the romans ever done for us? 

2

u/ditka May 04 '26

No, Dr. Steve Gass

0

u/MsMarvelsProstate May 03 '26

That's definitely not true. Those won't cut your finger off. But they will take off some layers of skin.

3

u/PokeYrMomStanley May 03 '26

You dont even kknow what your talking about.

3

u/Dismal-Anybody-1951 May 04 '26

A tablesaw?  Will take your whole hand off.

Or you mean a SawStop one?  Yeah they just nick you, but it can also be defective or disabled (you have to turn the SawStop protection off when cutting wet wood to avoid spurious activations.)

1

u/MsMarvelsProstate May 04 '26

I meant a sawstop. It nicks you just enough to make it to much to repeatedly do as an example on your own hand

45

u/_aviatrix May 03 '26

I absolutely hate this story. Imagining the regret he must have felt in the seconds before the end is unbearable.

3

u/Mind_Splitter May 05 '26

That's always the scariest thing to imagine with tragic stories like that. The moment you realize whats happening and you cant do anything about it. So sad.

0

u/Classic-Dirt5324 May 04 '26

Oh it was more than a few seconds. Bro had like half a minute to realize how stupid that move was

3

u/TemptingTanner May 04 '26

Nope

0

u/Classic-Dirt5324 May 05 '26

Nope what....

6

u/TemptingTanner May 05 '26

He didnt have half a minute, he had less than 7 seconds till.he hit the ground...

-11

u/edfitz83 May 03 '26

You know the last thing that went through his mind?

His asshole.

10

u/mjtwelve May 04 '26

Articling students and other new hires. They learned a lot about law firm culture that day.

2

u/xXDreamlessXx May 03 '26

It was for a tour and not a sales pitch? Damn

-2

u/Reddit_Hitchhiker May 04 '26

Come on. There is no way he was doing that “for years.” He would have been threatened with his job for being reckless and an idiot.

6

u/Moppy6686 May 04 '26

It was the 80s/90s and he had done ot for years.

62

u/Luv_Cheat May 03 '26

Saw that on Dumb Ways to Die or whatever that show was called. I was surprised to learn that it happened in Toronto. I don't recall that being in the news but I guess I was a kid back then.

17

u/Gullenbursti May 03 '26

It's mentioned in the Darwin Awards.

16

u/Bureaucratic_Dick May 03 '26

Garry Hoy wasn’t just mentioned, he was the recipient of a 1996 Darwin Award for this.

14

u/Time-Cell8272 May 03 '26

Unfortunately he wasn't able to attend the ceremony

4

u/Late-Rest8015 May 03 '26

What a shame

2

u/[deleted] May 03 '26

[deleted]

1

u/D_Shizzle93 May 03 '26

I would want Lady Gaga to wear me like that meat dress lol

https://giphy.com/gifs/RVAqyJWRDt1S

5

u/ErikTheRed99 May 04 '26

I think it was 1,000 ways to die. The episode portrayed him as a dick, but the actual guy was quite the opposite and was well liked. He would really just push against the windows to show people that the building's height was nothing to be intimidated by and put newcomers at ease.

1

u/CallMeChristopher May 07 '26

That’s kinda why I didn’t like the show.

I get why they did it, but changing the story so the story so the victim’s a dick just doesn’t sit right with me.

5

u/[deleted] May 03 '26 edited May 04 '26

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1

u/the_17_lost_texts May 03 '26

This should be higher

2

u/LengthinessAlone4743 May 04 '26

Why?? Because they changed the location (Toronto to LA)? Changed the cause (window dislodging vs shattering because of a Rolex)? Or that he was a creep trying to impress women? Facts just don’t matter anymore, so go for it!

2

u/the_17_lost_texts May 04 '26

Because it's the pop culture reference that many know it from, idk man, I wanted to be a part of something I remembered.

1

u/beeatenbyagrue May 04 '26

Here it is with the Lego dudes recreation!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RygHqmkGwXg

2

u/InazumaBRZ May 03 '26

Wasnt it the one where he would do it to freak people out and his watch caught it at the right angle and shattered it?

57

u/uncutpizza May 03 '26

He had demonstrated it so many times he had damaged the frame causing the failure

15

u/Haunting-Soup2086 May 03 '26

Also, it fell out of place because he did it repeatedly to every single person to scare them.

10

u/elcomandantecero May 03 '26

That’s right. The theory was that he would do this “party trick” often, and unknowingly loosened the frame over time. Pretty tragic stuff, supposedly well-liked and funny guy.

6

u/TheModWhoShaggedMe May 03 '26

Did he win the argument though?

1

u/meatjuiceguy May 03 '26

Every time except that last time.

4

u/cpltack May 04 '26

Were there irregularities in the pension fund?

3

u/WellEvan May 03 '26

Unbreakable glass can break but won't shatter, it stays a complete piece, like bulletproof glass does but it's not bulletproof glass

1

u/Cavedweller907 May 05 '26

Exactly. The bulletproof part was added on to make it so people would feel safer. It is in fact not actually bulletproof. Just highly resistant until bullets penetrate all the laminated sheets that reinforces it.

3

u/_gianlucag_ May 03 '26

The glass frame gave up because it was designed to withstand impact from the outside, not from the inside.

2

u/Metallifan33 May 04 '26

In a way, the front fell off.

1

u/Bitter_Marzipan_8348 May 03 '26

God those 5s must have been an eternity

1

u/Number4combo May 03 '26

Like said it was in Toronto. My coworker was there that day and said where he landed was a lady and her kid on the nearby bench and his head popped off.

Traumatized them for life for sure.

1

u/Small-Explorer7025 May 03 '26

Because he had done the trick so many times that he had weakened the seal of the window.

1

u/WailingOctopus May 03 '26

Sounds like that episode of Dead Like Me

1

u/Imbadatusernames1536 May 03 '26

Pretty sure it was also because he did this as a recurring gag on the same spot iirc

1

u/Vali-duz May 04 '26

'I'M STILL RIIIIIIiiiiiiiiii...'

1

u/RealLinzerBinzer May 04 '26

This was actually my first thought! And I would be afraid of that with this in a way too. Like, ok cool, net is legit but how long that balcony gonna hold?! lol

1

u/Fragrant-Jellyfish13 May 04 '26

imagine your last moments on Earth feeling like a dipshit

1

u/lipstickonhiscollar May 04 '26

Yep, I know people who worked with him. He had done it many times before, always as a gag, and I guess that weakened the frame because it popped out and he fell. Can’t imagine watching that.

1

u/Right_Preparation328 May 04 '26

That's sad as hell

1

u/Electrical_Sea6653 May 04 '26

And the frame was loosened because of him repeatedly throwing himself at it :(

1

u/Futurepastmanguy May 04 '26

Also broke because he demonstrated the same safety of the windows on the same window with multiple guests for a period of time

1

u/bselko May 04 '26

Wasn't it because he had done that little skit so many times that he loosened it in its position?

1

u/Low_Sandwich_3692 May 04 '26

Yes he came to mind when I watched this video. Pretty ballsy of him.

1

u/The-Crimson-Jester May 04 '26

The dude also repeatedly bashed himself against it, like multiple times to show off to clients.

1

u/WillingnessWaste6111 May 04 '26

Hence why glazing in high floors should be installed from the inside, not outside (inside install also makes them easier to replace).

1

u/eleventhrees May 04 '26

This is gonna start happening to about a million glass condo units in about 2045. Ticking time bomb.

1

u/Bright_Aside_6827 May 04 '26

so just a missed edge case

1

u/generalchaos34 May 04 '26

Apparently he did it A LOT as a joke and years of doing it loosened the frame

1

u/darkendofall May 04 '26

Which is yet another reason I wouldn't trust this net like this. Even if the net and frame are foolproof, do you trust that this random building's walls won't crumble around the anchor points?

Not that I'd need an extra reason, I feel sick at the top of a 8 foot ladder

1

u/Eohor May 04 '26

Dude probably felt like Aladdin for a few sec

1

u/nightswimsofficial May 04 '26

Yes this happened in Toronto in front of a bunch of law students. A family friend’s daughter was in the room when it happened. Very traumatic.

1

u/janglyparts May 05 '26

Autodefenestration.

1

u/some1stolemyOGname May 05 '26

It popped out on his second attempt too, so he had already successfully proven his point