It was a regular night. Things had gone as expected. Hockey was on time and we all wanted to get off work as early as possible.
Back in the day there was no rule about smoking in the facility. So the old timers (40 - 60 year old farts still playing hockey), would finish their game and hang out in the change rooms until closing. they would hav ethe showers on for hours so that the rooms would be so full of steam that it was dripping off the walls. They would all be smoking or chewing tobacco. And alot of the time they would be pounding back beers.
I know that now a days this would be unheard of. Smoking in a facility, drinking and driving home, wasting water! Crazy! alot of them got away with it back then becasue they were playing hockey with cops.
Anyway...
I was working and it was getting close to shut down. Every night we cleaned the change rooms so that they would be clean enough for the kids that used them in the morning. Mopping the spit off the floors and cleaning the toilets was always a treat. Gag!
This one night in particular I was pounding on the change room doors to let the players know that we wanted them to leave. As I approached change room #8 a player in the room laughed and made a comment that I completely ignored. You see the "old timers" were in that room and they were sometimes snarky about us kicking them out. They thought that the room was their special place to walk around in the buff, smoke and drink to their hearts content.
I started to change garbages. A nasty job that required me to wear gloves. For some strange reason almost every garbage bag would bleed this nasty juice if it was punctured. You didn't want that stuff on your clothes or especially your skin. I'm sure it was toxic.
As I approached change room #8 the last players were leaving. One of them grabbed me and said, something along the lines of sorry, and that it was a joke because they were butchers and stuff. I was confused? I thought the guy was drunk so I told him not to worry and to have a good night.
When I got into the room I started by sweeping up the tape balls all over the floor. I swept the mess into the dust pan and walked over to the garbage can to dispose of the contents. To my amazement I found a severed hogs head in the can! Eyes rolled back and tongue hanging out, it was the nastiest thing I ever found in a garbage can.
I couldn't believe it, the guy just left it in the garbage can? What the hell! What am I supposed to do with it!?
then i had this evil idea. Something popped into my mind, and should have left immediately. But for some reason I thought it was so funny. Maybe becasue of the smell in the air? Maybe because it was so late? But I acted on impulse. I grabbed the can and dragged it around the back of the arena. Gloves on, I grabbed the hog by the ears, it had to weigh about 75lbs or more. I propped it up in the snowbank, looking at the direction of the bay door where the zamboni driver exits the arena to dump the snow.
I left that night giggling to myself, with the thought of the morning driver going out into the cold winters morning to dump a load of snow, to find a severed hogs head in the snowbank.
When I returned to work a couple days later I found out that Kato was the driver that was subject to my my sick prank. I liked Kato, he was a great guy. one thing we had in common was that we both had italian family. When I told him I was the one that pulled the prank, he looked at me seriously and said, "You scared the crap out of me, I thought I was getting a message from the mob. Like in the godfather witht he horses head..."
And that is the story about the nastiest thing I ever found in a garbage can at the plex.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Friday, October 16, 2009
The mop room
It didn't take long for me to learn about the mop room at the Plex. On my first shift I was taken around the facility and shown a number of rooms that only the operations staff had access to be in. One of the locations was the mop room. Simply labeled - becasue it was where we kept the mops.
The first time I saw the mop room it seemed in order, hooks on the wall where the mops were hung, buckets in a row in front of the hose where obviously water was used to clean and fill the buckets. Some shelves on one wall full of cleaning supplies that I had never seen or heard of before. I stayed outside the room the first time I saw it. I was shown it from a distance. Standing in the hallway outside the mop room I could see everything inside, becasue it was only about 20 square feet. Along the wall where the mops were hung was a basin... ughh the mop basin. The first time I saw it I thought to myself "smart idea. keeping the water and stuff from flooding all over the room." Little did I know...
In all my life I have never been so offencively violated by a smell.
I don't exactly remember the first time I went into the mop room to get supplies, or rinse a mop, or whatever... probably because I have blocked it out of my memory, or maybe I passed out. But there were times when I would go in holding my breath and try to get what I needed and get the heck out of there...
Understand that the facility was used by hundreds if not thousands of people each day. Between the pool, workout areas, arena, halls, and everything; there were tons of messes. And not the messes that you can wipe up with a scottie paper towel. I mean nasty shit... literally.
Now after theses messes were cleaned, the dirt or mess needed to be taken somewhere. That somewhere was the mop room. And theexact place was the drin in the mop room, in that nice little basin where the mops hung.
The smells there were like a million toilets unflushed, rotting garbage and half digested regugitation, Speiw residew and molds that could kill a man by the touch. The smell was so offensive I could sometimes taste death.
It made me gag, it made me throw up in my mouth, it often brought tears to my eyes. Odly enough it would sometimes make me sweat and I could feel it enter into me through my pores. But worst of all... it gave me gas. And I'm not talking about the funny I ripped one gas... I mean gas that could stop a man in his steps and scream in agony. I have lost track of how many times people would yell out. "Holy shit who died?!" After I broke wind.
It was becasue of that cursed mop room and the odor that rose from the entrance to the pit of hell I called the mop room drain.
The first time I saw the mop room it seemed in order, hooks on the wall where the mops were hung, buckets in a row in front of the hose where obviously water was used to clean and fill the buckets. Some shelves on one wall full of cleaning supplies that I had never seen or heard of before. I stayed outside the room the first time I saw it. I was shown it from a distance. Standing in the hallway outside the mop room I could see everything inside, becasue it was only about 20 square feet. Along the wall where the mops were hung was a basin... ughh the mop basin. The first time I saw it I thought to myself "smart idea. keeping the water and stuff from flooding all over the room." Little did I know...
In all my life I have never been so offencively violated by a smell.
I don't exactly remember the first time I went into the mop room to get supplies, or rinse a mop, or whatever... probably because I have blocked it out of my memory, or maybe I passed out. But there were times when I would go in holding my breath and try to get what I needed and get the heck out of there...
Understand that the facility was used by hundreds if not thousands of people each day. Between the pool, workout areas, arena, halls, and everything; there were tons of messes. And not the messes that you can wipe up with a scottie paper towel. I mean nasty shit... literally.
Now after theses messes were cleaned, the dirt or mess needed to be taken somewhere. That somewhere was the mop room. And theexact place was the drin in the mop room, in that nice little basin where the mops hung.
The smells there were like a million toilets unflushed, rotting garbage and half digested regugitation, Speiw residew and molds that could kill a man by the touch. The smell was so offensive I could sometimes taste death.
It made me gag, it made me throw up in my mouth, it often brought tears to my eyes. Odly enough it would sometimes make me sweat and I could feel it enter into me through my pores. But worst of all... it gave me gas. And I'm not talking about the funny I ripped one gas... I mean gas that could stop a man in his steps and scream in agony. I have lost track of how many times people would yell out. "Holy shit who died?!" After I broke wind.
It was becasue of that cursed mop room and the odor that rose from the entrance to the pit of hell I called the mop room drain.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
first week at the Orleans Recreation complex
I was 18 and got myself a job at the Orleans Recreation Complex just outside Ottawa Ontario Canada. I was really proud of myself, the only other jobs I had before this had been packing groceries at the Loeb, fast food at Burger King and delivering the news paper door to door.
The first couple shifts I was there I was really eager. I wanted to impress my superiors and show them my worth. I met a bunch of new people and felt like a part of the group right away.
The Orleans Recreation complex at the time had 2 swimming pools, 2 hot tubs, 10 racketball and squash courts, 2 ice rinks, a daycare, a library, 3 halls, a cardio room and a full free weights gym. My job specifically was to be an ice attendant and help the zamboni driver move nets during ice resurfacing. I was called operations - this way it was in my description to complete maintenance on any part of the building inside and out.
The new people at the "PLEX", as we called it, were always given the horrible jobs. So anytime there was something to mop up or garbage that needed to be changed or worse, the rookie had to take caare of it. Rookie's were also called scum.
Now that you have the premis... I'm scum and I'm eager. My supervisor at the time tells me that I have to go clean a mess up in the men's washroom upstairs. So I go and get the mop and bucket, and follow this 'fearless leader' off to the can. When we get there I find the maintenance man, Dan Desero, replacing the bricks in the wall around the urinals. This is the first time I ever met Dan. My supervisor, Earl, tells me I have to mop up the residue from the floor.
Without hesitation I wring out the mop and start slopping up. While I'm working away at the floor, earl asks Dan acouple questions about the bricks that have been replaced. Dan says without hesitation, "What do you want Earl?" with an irritated tone.
Earl walks over to the urinal and leans over to inspect the work that was done.
Dan looks at me with an irritated expression, like Earl has no right to question anything Dan works on. And Dan takes advantage of the opportune moment.
Dan smirks as he hoofs Earl in the ass and pushes him head first into the urinal. Dan lets out a howling laughter. It was either because Earls head went in the toilet, the hollow noise his head made when it knocked against the porcelain, or maybe a bit of both.
I wasn't sure how to react. I stood there in shock as Earl screamed out "You could have broke my neck!". And Dan pointing and laughing and calling him names. Dan then looked at me and said, "that was funny! you should be laughing! What's wrong with you?" .
And this was how I was introduced to the best and worst place to ever work.
The first couple shifts I was there I was really eager. I wanted to impress my superiors and show them my worth. I met a bunch of new people and felt like a part of the group right away.
The Orleans Recreation complex at the time had 2 swimming pools, 2 hot tubs, 10 racketball and squash courts, 2 ice rinks, a daycare, a library, 3 halls, a cardio room and a full free weights gym. My job specifically was to be an ice attendant and help the zamboni driver move nets during ice resurfacing. I was called operations - this way it was in my description to complete maintenance on any part of the building inside and out.
The new people at the "PLEX", as we called it, were always given the horrible jobs. So anytime there was something to mop up or garbage that needed to be changed or worse, the rookie had to take caare of it. Rookie's were also called scum.
Now that you have the premis... I'm scum and I'm eager. My supervisor at the time tells me that I have to go clean a mess up in the men's washroom upstairs. So I go and get the mop and bucket, and follow this 'fearless leader' off to the can. When we get there I find the maintenance man, Dan Desero, replacing the bricks in the wall around the urinals. This is the first time I ever met Dan. My supervisor, Earl, tells me I have to mop up the residue from the floor.
Without hesitation I wring out the mop and start slopping up. While I'm working away at the floor, earl asks Dan acouple questions about the bricks that have been replaced. Dan says without hesitation, "What do you want Earl?" with an irritated tone.
Earl walks over to the urinal and leans over to inspect the work that was done.
Dan looks at me with an irritated expression, like Earl has no right to question anything Dan works on. And Dan takes advantage of the opportune moment.
Dan smirks as he hoofs Earl in the ass and pushes him head first into the urinal. Dan lets out a howling laughter. It was either because Earls head went in the toilet, the hollow noise his head made when it knocked against the porcelain, or maybe a bit of both.
I wasn't sure how to react. I stood there in shock as Earl screamed out "You could have broke my neck!". And Dan pointing and laughing and calling him names. Dan then looked at me and said, "that was funny! you should be laughing! What's wrong with you?" .
And this was how I was introduced to the best and worst place to ever work.
The idea here
I'm going to write down some of the crazy things that have happened to me over the years.
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