That one job that just kicked your butt........the one you will never forget! Mine was on a landfill operation back in the 90's. I hated landfill equipment anyways but I was a field tech so I had to go where I was ordered. I needed to do some engine work on a K351 Bomag compaction dozer that was operating on the hill when I got there. They pulled the machine off the hill to level ground so I could get my truck up to it which I did. The smell when I got out of the truck was like a brick wall falling on top of me which is nothing new if you have been around this kind of equipment. I got a few tools and climbed up on the left rear drum to open the engine enclosure door. There was something dead around this machine somewhere!! It was close by too because it was a really strong odor. I had gone back to my tool box several times to gather other tools needed when I noticed fur down low on the drum I was sitting on. Closer inspection made it very clear............there was a dead dog impaled into the drum spikes. After loosing my breakfast for 10 minutes, the operator started trying to dig this carcass out of the drum. Yep, loosing more breakfast quickly followed. I was so sick and my eyes were watering so bad I couldnt even see. Yeah, I pussed out. I told them there was no way I was working on that machine until they had it cleaned......and I mean cleaned GOOD! I will dam sure never forget this experience.
LOL.!!! I'm right there w ya.. Land-fill.. Bomag, steel wheels.. EXCEPT this one would shut-off when on an incline.. YUP, going UP HILL, squashing all that muck & juices.. I ended up pulling the "belly pan" & dropping that 300lb steel plate on my chest.. driving me about a FOOT into the mire.. AFTER wiggling my way out from under it, I hadta crawl into the belly of the beast.. where I found a Racor filter/h2o separator full to the gills w/ crud.. I called back to the shop to get a replacement cartridge & an extra pair of muscles to replace the belly pan.. I'll NEVER forget THAT one..
My own was replacing a Leach Body compactor/ejection cylinder LOADED so they could unload the damn thing. Would work a few minutes then go to the corner and throw up whatever was left onto the lot, go back in then come back out for air to knock the maggots out of my pant legs then go back in. NOBODY was helping until I got the cylinder loose then had two guys outside with a yard truck and a crane to get it out over the top of the cab. I showered like four times trying to lose the stink, had that odor I could not get rid of for a week in my nose, still shudder when watch others working the dumps. Every line, all the hoses, all the bolts would not just come loose had to wrench EVERYTHING apart then back together, took FOREVER, maybe like a couple hours but was a Year off my life!
Reminds me of a similar landfill experience. I had a good friend ask for help picking up a boat without a trailer. Ok no problem I've got a tilting flat deck over. We scavenged the engine and drive from the boat and trashed the hull. My friend had to work and me and another poor guy had to cart this hull to the landfill. I don't frequent landfills much, but I anticipated driving up to the side of a hole and pushing it off. Not so much! We had to off road baja with the truck and trailer. Except it was through nasty rotten garbage and mush. It looked like old kitty litter and the smell was like no other. We drove up next to the semi trailer dumper. I had to get out and wade through the nasty muck to remove the straps and tilt the deck. When I tilted the deck the boat just looked at me. It didn't even move an inch. Really!? Had to flag down a dozer that was bigger than my house, hook a chain to it, and have him drag it off. Worst part the smell and the goo! Now how do I get back in the nice truck with 10 pounds of nasty white goo on each boot. Never ever forget that fiasco.
Had a situation in a previous life at a Cat dealer 40+ years ago on a city D7 from the landfill. Fuel was gravity fed from the tank behind the seat to the pump. In the engine compartment a bracket that secured the line was apparently not tightened and due to vibration rubbed a hole in the metal line. Some idiot wrapped a piece of rubber from an inner tube around the hole and put a hose clamp on each end and put the machine back in service. Well, guess what? engine fire destroying everything up front that was not steel. It took days to get the unit clean enough to work on. Everything in the belly pan other than dirt melted. The undercarriage was full of everything that is taken to the dump. Plastic bags, diapers, dead animals...You can't imagine how bad it smelt. Not a high point in my Caterpillar career.
When working for the Volvo dealer we had plenty of opportunities to visit landfills, transfer stations and other stench pits. None compared to the rendering plants. We had a customer (Coldwater rendering) they had a heated tub gut wagon. It developed a crack below the blood line. That can't happen. So we (I) had to climb in and dig out all the guts, skulls and carcasses from under the heater tubes. All kinds of rot going on. That trailer had had everything from goat/lamb to fish and cattle. Usually when you start welding on a gut wagon, it'll smell like barbecue, not this one. Smelled like like rotten everything from beginning to end. It was a 2 say weld repair after 4 days of cleaning and prep work. Worst work of my life. I just reminded myself that the wife and kids were depending on me, for that , I could handle it.
You guys are going to make me puke again.
Now that's funny, had a guy at work where we could just start talking on these subjects, he would run to the closest garbage can and unload lunch breakfast, whatever was inside, other times would dry heave until left the room. Had another poor sap Reactor Operator, Ex NAVY had been in Sub Service, could get sea sick watching movies unbeknownst when he entered service. Was fine Under Water, but surface running to get in or out of port he would cower in the engine room with HIS bucket. We would enter as a crew ONE at a Time until three of four were around him, then start slightly swaying in rhythm where you would hear "Stop it, Stop It RIGHT Now" from either the CR Super or the Reactor Operator! Before we could all leave he would puke.
Pansy boy
I'm associating with savages! Man I'm glad to be here.
My woman here is the same way. I can sit here and just act like I’m going to puke and her eyes get as big as dinner plates with this look of OH NO on her face. She can’t even hear me puking if I’m sick or she will start too. It’s rather comical
That’s MR pansy boy!!
Lets see where will I start, I have annuals of nastiness. Working in the towing business you will see and smell everything and sometimes touch it too! Cleaning up a motor home wreck where the holding tank busted open and the road heat has been cooking the soup inside. Cleaning up a rendering semi full of all types of rotten farm critters that spilled out in a ravine, you through a rope around a dead 300 plus pound poker and it explodes full of maggots. Recovering a septic pumper that some got away. Then the one no one wants the guy who's been dead in a car for four days in 85* heat that tried to suck start a 357. Finding dead road cooked deer parts on top of truck drive axles. Replacing a trailer relay valve between the axles of a trailer dripping blood meal and maggots on you then stop in the local tavern after work and have people scatter. And those are only a few but wait there's more.
No landfiill repair horror stories for me. I guess I'm fortunate in that respect. Worst thing I chewed up with a mulcher was a dead cow carcass. Burgers and steaks never smelled too good for another year or so after that stink took up residence in my nostrils. Beavers, coons, possums and other miscellaneous slow critters disappear from my actions every day that I work and most without notice. Those that I do see get mixed in well with the soil and few are the wiser. My only horror story was the Hunny Wagon when I worked at a campground in my early 20's. That is the poop/blackwater collector that is towed behind a tractor or truck to collect that wonderful blue water from camper holding tanks and transfer it to the wagon and then to the dumping station. For all of you that may camp in RVs and don't know any better, PLEASE do not throw your used condoms or corks (string pull tampons) into the holding tanks. It can really ruin someone's day. The Hunny Wagon that we had would be hooked up to the blackwater tank on an RV with about 6'-8' of a 3" flexible hose, then ran the "effluent" through a small grinder/pump running off of 120v via extension cord and then forced the mixture through a 5/8" 75' or 100' garden hose into the towed storage tank. The problem was the corks and the rubbers - occasionally they would stop that little pump dead in its tracks once it tried to grind one up. Every time you heard that little pump drag down heavy, you prayed for it to be strong and not quit. Semi liquid solids were not a problem but the artificial man-made stuff certainly was. So, it's 95 degrees in the shade with high humidity, the pump has come to a complete stop and you have at least 8' of vile liquids heading into the pump plus whatever has been through the grind on the downstream side. Gravity is NOT your friend in this moment. You reduce the length of the intake hose to limit its fill, close off the tank valve so you only have to deal with the squirrelly sh*t tube that is bursting at its seams and try your best to carefully empty that into a 5 gallon pail so as not to contaminate the camp site or back spill it on yourself. That stink is now about you, clinging to your clothes, your skin and every hair in your nostrils. There is NO ESCAPE. You do your best not to lose your latest meal and the lining within your stomach. Oh yeah, and the flies now think you are a good friend! You dump your 5 gallon pail of Mr Hanky juice direct into the wagon and get ready for the fun part. Now comes the technical part - disassembly of the pump. These were the days before nitrile gloves. All we had was bare hands or heavy rubber Dr Proctor gloves that came past your elbows and were nearly impossible to do technical work with. You take a large slotted screwdriver and remove the 4 screws that cover the impeller section to reveal that day's treasure and dig out the rancid mess. Once the offending man-made material is removed from the impeller section, replace the cover, fire up the pump and flush a little clean water down the line for a quick test of operations. Now, reconnect to the RV's holding tank and hope for all you're worth that there is no more "treasure" to be found that day. Sometimes I would have to go through this distressed pump procedure 3 times in a day. No shower or soap combination ever seemed to work well enough to clean that stink out of my nose. It was horrible. Of course I always had Tuesday trash days to look forward to - campers that had a lobster boil or clam bake on Fridays or Saturdays had leftover trash that had time to be at its best come Tuesday. WOW, now I know why I love the smell of fresh wood chips so much!
Nothing like some good old fashion gross stories to finish off the day.
yuck
This is all vetech's fault. I blame him for making us relive these horrid moments. I'd like to see millennials search for an app to do the things we've all done. Speaking of 'plugs' , I once crawled out from under a loader that had no fwd or rev shift solenoids. Out the corner of my eye , I saw a mouse tail on my shoulder. I jumped like a little girl. The operator was laughing her MFAO turned purple she laughed so hard. That's no mouse honey, that's a super plus coochie plug. After that, I was known as the plug guy at that transfer station
I was a Paramedic and Fire Captain for 21 years, I bet I could make all of you lose your appetite. I only felt nausea on one call, and I just told myself NO, and pushed it away.
My grandpa was fire chief of a local volunteer fire dept some of the stories he had were not to be repeated
not a repair job` but wait until you have to deal with a pail full of used diapers sealed in a van in az. at 118 deg. having been in that pail for over three weeks
What a lovely thread... said no one.
Reminds me when I used to go to a beef processing plant to work on their 440 propane powered Bobcat they used to move hind quarters and 1/2 cows around with. From slapping through all the hanging meat the machine was just caked in fat. Working on it there in the freezer was OK. Then they had a serious issue and they decided to bring it to our shop. Of course I got the job, it was a Friday, brought it into the shop (90 degree + weather) and go home for the weekend. Came in on Monday and the odor in the shop would make you gag. Worst part was I was walking to my bay and I said to one of my coworkers, does it look like that machine is moving? Yep, machine was covered top to bottom, inside and out with maggots. OH joy !
Let me tell you how my experience with a similar situation went back in the late 80’s. I got sent out on a old 610 bobcat at a meat processing plant, I had never been in one. They pulled this machine outside when I got there and it was just covered in guts. Just the sight of it had me ready to hurl but the smell wasn’t too bad. I just walked around the machine for 10 minutes wondering how in the hell I was going to do anything with this machine without getting covered in the nastiness. That’s exactly when it hit me....a lightbulb went off. My thoughts went like this........”Wait a dam minute here. I am the lead field mechanic so I have earned certain privileges. I make more money for the company than any of the other field techs, or the shop guys. This kind of work is a total waste of my technical experience and abilities. I have RIGHTS ya KNOW!!“ Called my boss......He agreed, then sent the #2 field tech to replace me as I got sent to another job that was more in line with my expertise. Yeah, I pulled the old seniority card out and cash it in. That tech bitched at me for weeks after that. Did I feel bad? Hell no! I had already earned my stripes at that point with the likes of the landfill equipment.
Had my own load of Honey Buckets from Septic Tank companies as well having to help at two of the quarries on Lift Station repairs they handled themselves(I'd rather **** in the woods), then i get to the Nuke all is Good, No poop trucks, No Landfill and then TADA, a lift station we had to inspect DAILY as in climb Down the ladder into this tube affair Pump station with electrical and mechanical stuff in the dry(sometimes), and then a less than pleasant set of "**** Whippers" that lift station fed where the effluent of the plant facilities especially the Clerical Staff went where we used a Pool net to harvest the Red Cotton Trout at the dividing weirs, or we would have to Tag Out Lock Out the Potable Water System for repairs and the facilities got signs "DO NOT USE" where you know how that works. Women are NASTY, Plain and Simple, JUST NASTY!!!!! I swear Enganearing PLANNED the water outages with the Hormone Cycles of our Clerical Staff, they would nearly ALL be on the Red Cotton Pony SAME TIME OF MONTH and then a water outage. Toilets in WOMEN'S Facilities would be Terd High above the Seat, bowl ABSOLUTELY FULL, add to that the 'Candy Sack Dispenser Pockets' in the Stalls that were NOT trash Cans would be loaded with the lovely stinking residuals and NONE of the clerks had ANY idea who did that, had portolets outside but they were seldom IF EVER used by the gals. 724 Full Time employees, just under Half women.
LMAO!
Wait til there's a body in there, too.
Agreed, women are a different type of person. Don't tell my wife.
That sign should put in every parliament building in North America.
Another HORROR Story, as I transferred to the Nuke, was entry level, so a Plant Helper(Janitor/Laborer), enganears were on Third Floor of the Service Building, when first arrived at plant the other helpers would draw straws for that floor for Taco Bar Thursday at the plant cafeteria. Seems was ONE Enganear that suffice to say could have been the Cover Story for the above signage. EVERY GD Thursday we would haul a Garden Hose to the third floor Men's facilities, would be AT LEAST two stalls with splatter four feet UP THE WALL behind the commodes. Guy was ABBYNORMAL, had to either have a Colostomy bag where his butthole was on his side or he had a butthole center of his back, EVERY GD Thursday we Washed the Walls & Stalls down in the 3rd floor men's room. And from what the guys I still know that work there, he is STILL THERE, been there at Least thirty years.
This one is beyond the pale/pail. Back in the late 80's/90's WSP put out a APB for a guy who went missing while driving back to Seattle from Spokane. Weeks went by-nothing. A DOT workman checking road and guard rail on I-90 about mile post 133 on the Vantage grade noticed tire tracks just before a guard rail going over the edge and a flock of crows and magpies. He got out to check could smell it before he looked over and found the Suzuki Samurai wedged in the gully in the median. I ended up with that call. I winched it out and up the bank and ended up helping the coroner put what was left in a bag, The animals/coyotes got after him real bad. Towing sometimes is pretty grizzly.
Mini-van = diaper wagon.
Have heard of guys scrapping rail cars involved in accidents cutting into sulphur blocks, turning around and instantly puking.
Scrapping ran into all manner of nasties, dead critters behind metal panels that when cut open would catch fire and stink. Back to TS comment, ran tow for the first company I worked at full time beyond Trade school, nasty set of corners on old US 54 leaving Nevada MO into Deerfield MO, first one was downhill made a severe 45 degree right then you entered a old thru truss bridge at a quick left over Marmaton River that generally was near to dry. One of my first calls, guy's truck I knew and knew the driver as well his family as lived not too far from my place and we would drink a beer or few and BBQ on good days. They never figured out if he died or fell asleep on the downhill, truck did not make the last turn instead launched off the embankment and landed headlong into the other bank traveling pretty much at speed. Trailer sheared from the kingpin plate where the entire mass loaded trailer crushed the cab into the bank, my very first severe tow. Did not recognize the truck at first pulling the wreck off the bluff then had to help remove the remains from the truck, then I knew, was toughest night I believe I will ever see. Smells I will not forget.
I have repaired stuff at landfills and rendering plants but i think i have you all beat i have lived most my life around the amish.
You are correct if the Amish are anything like they are here.
Went to a sale in Bowling Green MO Years ago to try to buy some old tools and machinery for parts with a buddy of mine, Amish and Mennonite showed up in droves where there was no outbidding if wanted something they bought it. The women are treated like dirt as are the animals, the women left at the buggies and wagons with a few men to keep gawkers away, the odors emanating from them were almost enough to knock a buzzard off a gut wagon where I swear they purposely set themselves to a froth before showing up to be disruptive then pushed thru the crowd to the front to press most of us to walk away. We left early and the two groups pretty well bought everything. Did not realize they are all this nasty until now.
Stopped at the convenience store they had the doors propped open i ask why then it hit me how could a person stand them self. This guy had just left not a few days no bath weeks of no bath.
Almost makes you wonder if they do not Dope up just prior to going into the Outer World, just to drive us away. They smell that bad normally would have to be carrying some form of disease or rot.
Interesting that all the nastiness of these jobs is, seemingly, due to the smells. Brings me to mine, I guess... Not a repair but when I was first coming up in the working world I did maintenance and facility clean-up for a big company park. My job was to clean all the restrooms (women are much grosser than fellas, like much grosser!) and to go around to the different picnic shelters to clean up after various local companies would rent them for their company picnic. Well, mid-summer heat and few day old picnic trash went together like a lot of the smells seem, as mentioned above. It'd be about 530 in the morning and I'd run around on a golf cart removing torn bags of trash full of rotting cole slaw, baked beans, stale beer, and usually pulled pork or fried chicken. Most of the time all those ingredients would spill on me and slosh around the back of the golf cart to the point of me not eating any of that stuff for probably 15 years. It does do what the old-timers say and build character. I'm better for it but I don't miss it at all. I've also cleaned up bathrooms at my current place of employment, even though it wasn't anywhere close to my job to do so, when someone completely disrespected the folks whose job it was to clean up the apparent explosion they made in a stall. No good.
Fortunately I never had to deal with the smelly and gross. My worst had to do with extreme noise mixed with heat and humidity. I worked for a company that did electrical control upgrades for corrugated paper machines (some people call it cardboard) We tried to do our work during plant shutdowns but on this one occasion we were working on one of the machines while the rest of the plant was up and running. We were near Tampa Florida in July. I suspect the heat and humidity isn't anything too different than what many of you would consider normal, but being from the Pacific Northwest, I wasn't acclimated. Add to that a noise level that no amount of hearing protection seemed appropriate. Communication with coworkers was impossible, you could not shout loud enough to be heard.
That's called a shot gunning.
Drive By Shooting!! Spray loads everywhere!
In basic training I had KP duty at the meat processing facility for the base. The floors were covered in 'stuff' - various and sundry animal parts. This wasn't a slaughterhouse (fortunately,) they took in beef sides. I remember one huge kettle catching ground beef, the meat was spilling over the kettle on the floor and the guy picked it up and stuffed it back into the kettle. Took an hour to clean my boots. I noticed all of the beef sides were graded "Good". My grade was "don't bother".
You were lucky I Basic trained Ft Knox Knew when I saw it as to the ‘Steak’ we were served My Grandfather had a supplier get him Horse for a sensitive mutt(chihuahua) and we were served that same dark red stringy stinky meat. Ate it as was hungry.
I may have told this before. I was leaveing the farm one night long story short and run some kids parking in a gate way off. There was trash and i thought it was theirs but it was a deer remains in trash bags. I thought they wouldnt be back but 2 nights later there they were i stopped and told them they could park there but watch the trash. Days later i was stopped were they had parked to unlock the gate i got out of my jeep and i was standing in rubbers tampons and paper towels.
I have read over the years that hover peeing is quite common. Hence why female toilets are far far more dirty then male ones.
I have had a few women tell me that it is very common, but, I don't think that sign was about peeing. The discharge angle was wrong, for one thing.
Oh now it's all about discharge angles, nothing to do with hot sauce and dipping sauce.