I'm sure we have all had to do some real disgusting jobs in our lives. Lets hear about them!!
dreher
Member Posts: 8,883 ✭✭✭✭
I'm not saying this is the nastiest thing I've ever had to do but it is right up near the top!! You cattlemen know about this! A green placenta. I have a real strong stomach. I've never got into anything so bad I barfed but my first and only experience with a green placenta sorely tested that.
A cow will sometimes lose her calf when she is in advanced pregnancy. The farmer will notice she doesn't feel good, will get up close to her and will smell the dead calf that has been cooking and fermenting inside her for multiple days. The farmer calls the vet. I was standing with my vet when he got the call from an old farmer. The vet turned to me and asked if I could ride along and help him since this farmer was old enough he wouldn't be much help.
Being a nice guy I said yes. We get there and the old farmer had gotten the cow tied up to a fence post real close to the barn. So we get started. The calf had cooked so long the vet was pulling him out in pieces. As in grab a leg and pull and the leg comes out but nothing else comes out. I'm holding up the tail to help the vet as these green pieces of calf fall to the ground. I could handle that. But the smell. OMG!! Finally the vet was done and since we were close to the barn he stuck a hose in the cow to flush her out. He than placed a couple of really big anti-biotic bolus' in her.
I have never smelled anything that bad in my life. I almost hurled a dozen times. I can still remember that day all to well.
I can probably come up with a dozen more nasty things I've had to do in my life but I think that was about the worst.
So what are some of your nasty experiences??
Comments
Unclogging the farrowing shed exhaust tile...
I've been in nursing since 1992.
Commercial hog farming utilizes a slotted concrete flooring system . Waste falls thru the slats s into a sloped runway and is washed outside into a lagoon ( open air septic tank ) Inside the lagoon is a circulation pump . Sometimes they need repair or replacememt . Usually have to use a boat to get to them . Not a job you want i n the summertime
-Used to muck out barns back when I was a teenager for a couple farmers near our place.....
-I worked for the City of Branson, MO...for a short time I worked in the water treatment plant....had to clean filters in the lower level a few times...I was happy when they moved me to another job
-I repaired washers and dryer for the university I attended.....don't ask, drunk folks do bad things in washing machines..
-I worked as a Social Worker and then in Court Services for over 35 years total....Lots of home visits with clients....the smells and how some of those folks lived was unbelievable...
Scullery duty
scooping rotten soybeans, the smell got in your clothes and you could not get rid of it for a while
worse smell than when I worked on a sewer truck for city municipality
If I wanted to eat fish, I'd go to Long John Silver's, and order the chicken...
Septic tanks & leach pits
I was in the sewer business over 20 years cleaning grease traps was right there at the top of the nasty jobs
Worked for a tire manufacturer for 33 years. There was a fire in the mixing department that melted about 4000 feet of control wiring into a long blob, the hydraulic hoses blew out, mixing the ashes and many pounds of carbon black into a slimy, black mess. We had to tear out all the old conduit and wiring to make room for new stuff. We ruined 2 or 3 sets of clothing every day to the point of throwing them away in the hazardous waste trailer. A month later, I was still washing carbon dust out of my skin. I couldn't dare wear a white or light colored shirt for a while.
Had purchased a home next to ours when we moved to SC. Couple guys helped move the freezer out of a building and put it in the back of my el camino. I had told them NOT to open the door of the freezer. After loading it I did not go to the dump for a couple of hours.. it was in July. You couldn't get withing 50 yds of the truck and you could smell the rotten fish that was inside the freezer. They had opened the door and the door wouldn't close and all the juices of those fish leaked inside the cab on the floorboard. My el camino had a rusty floor pan in the bed. I got sick a couple of times making it to the dump. We both had our heads out the window trying to breathe. We pulled that thing out, and fish went everywhere. Got out of there in a hurry. Came home and had to remove all the carpet in the cab. Then hosed it out with bleach and water.
Dreher, like your farmer, I had a cow with a dead calf inside her. She swelled up like a balloon. When the vet came, he said we had to get the bloat down before her could deliver the calf. He got a length of garden hose from his truck and fed it down her throat. Then he began sucking on the hose! He would stop and spit out some green slime. I almost lost it. He looks at me and says “ It’s only grass”.
Pulled a slow cooked calf as well. It has a definite funk to it.
One of my worst is recurring, I have a customer that brings me his car when it just won't move under its own power anymore. He has two hobbies, fishing, and dumpster diving for empty cans. Everything goes in the cab of his car. As bad as the constant rotten beer smell is I almost puked last Summer from the fish bait he had forgotten about. He sad they were "chicken backs" and they had been in there for a week..
@select-fire You reminded me of something that smelled almost that bad. As a favor, I agreed to haul off a deer carcass in my trailer, after it had been wrapped in a blue tarp & baked in the sun. The tarp opened up while loading & it was so ripe that that we could smell it if I slowed down under 10 mph. Funny thing is that young Cleetus was tailgating the trailer in his pickup. Yep, there he was with his arm around his girlfriend. Just how bad did they themselves stink or how stupid was he that they followed for miles & didn't back off. Heck, we didn't even save the tarp.
I had to shovel out the bottom of a sewer lift station as a line had broken and a bunch of sand had clogged the pump where it wouldn’t work anymore. Pure nasty….
I worked on a house fire once. The smell would follow you home and didn’t go away until some strong pine soap with pumice. Tossed clothes more than once.
Worst thing I ever saw was a septic tank worker that had literally boils all over his hands, face and body and I was like f that I’m studying harder
Cutting tusks, tails, and testicles on a pig farm.
About a year ago, I took my Golden Retriever to the vet for some shots and a check up. I asked the vet about his very bad breath and is there anything that could be done about it. She told me that he needed to be glanded (sp?) and proceeded to start with the procedure.
The vet had a nice looking female assistant who helped by raising the dogs tail. Upon the pull out phase, a wet blast of the stinkiest fowl puss exploded right into that poor gals face and her mouth just happened to be opened!!!😲 Then the puking started.
It took my dog several days to recover from all that stress and I will admit that I don't think I ever will!
when younger I worked construction two of the jobs I was on involved upgrading and expanding sewer treatment plants
some got shots and some like me were just told be careful you can catch any thing with all the stuff that's gets flushed ( gee thanks ) 1st place was mostly new additions but I did have to into the screen house as some could not with throwing up as soon as they hit the door ( screen house is what it sounds like all the bigger stuff gets caught in a "screen " and moved to a processing area ( most likely land fill ) not too terrible
2nd plant we were up grading adding on and refurbishing the huge settling tanks I would guess 50 feet across maybe more ( this was 45 years ago ) the tanks were were full of pours rocks that acted like filters in the bottom was long channels for drains over the channels were cement blocks stacked on end in a alternating pattern to allow space for the liquid to pass thru
the tanks were full of worms maggots and snails and tons of just good old "crap" from every one in the city and what ever else they flushed down the smell was well like rotten crap LOL
we had to remove all the rocks back hoes got most but at the bottom we had to shovel and then handle each cement block by hand then clean out the chase ways so some one got the idea to "kill" the tanks with some chemical maybe just strong bleach ? before we cleaned them but then they would set for a week or so before we got to the next one by then every thing and all the contents had rotted including the assorted insects that ate and help break it all down . I know some of your fisherman can image a sealed can of dead fishing worms that's been in the hot sun for a week that was the smell 10000X over
every morning it was like clock work most of the guys would go down the ladder hit the smell and throw up until nothing was left to come out every morning . ( some how I had a lot stronger stomach back then and never added to the collection .
we would eat lunch in out cars parked right next to the tank we were cleaning , no fresh water and only the community water jug that every one use there finger to push the spout button OH boy that was sanitary even on normal job sites ) no place to wash up . we all had one pair of rubber gloves but after a day they were covered in and out with crap so rally little use . eating lunch was a challenge some guys ( couple old farmer's would do the wipe the hands on the paints and have at it said its only "crap " so what .
not a day went by where some one would not drop a couple of the blocks and splash every one in range with a good dousing of "crap " in your face and mouth were common it sounds a lot better then it really was trust me
I was young had a new family to support and had a gung-ho attitude . they company gave me a job and I was going to do my best as as I always did to uphold my part of the deal
would I do it now no way in hades mostly because of the potential of all the diseases and who knows what I was lucky enough to avoid the fist time around and I would also be throwing up with the rest of them now my stomach is a long way from being what it once was about being queasy
as for home helped clean out the septic tanks a few times at different places not to terrible but we went on vacation for two weeks my parents unplugged a chest freezer by mistake , being young and broke I had no choice so I cleaned it out it was about 1/4 full of liquid a lot of stuff was just floating in the soup I recall a bloated turkey still embedded in my memory .. lot of bleach and baking soda
Back in the 60’s I worked on the back of a trash truck. In the summer. Before trash bags. During canning season.🤑
Dealing with dead bodies...In all stages of putrefaction... 🤢
Combat Vet VN
D.A.V Life Member
Cleaning grease trap is a pretty icky job.
Death scene. HOT summertime. Single lady, way crazy. Kept window air conditioners unplugged. She thought they used too much electricity. Kept windows and doors closed and locked. She was afraid someone might come in and harm her. She died in bed. She laid there for 8 days. At least, it had been that long since anyone had seen her. Temp in the house was near 100 degrees. She was bloated past what her skin could hold, so she had burst open. It was the only death scene I attended where the body had decomposed to the point of releasing ammonia. The Justice of the Peace quickly ruled the death natural and got out of there. I felt bad for the funeral worker who had to bag the body and haul it away.
As a teen, I worked for a time in a plant that made shower stalls and bath tubs from fiberglass. That was a nasty job.
Burning coffee grounds in a pan on the stove helped...some...
Combat Vet VN
D.A.V Life Member
+1 Grunt 2, ya never forget THAT smell...and it never leaves ya.
Forum Moderator twice
I did commercial roofing for many years. Flat roofs were often insulated with fiberglass and wood fiber panels. I’ve always had a pretty strong stomach but that particular combination was awful to tear off when saturated and fermented, almost made me barf many times.
Tearing off coal tar pitch results in chemical burns from the dust, especially if exposed to sunlight. I expect to have skin cancer some day.
I was going to tell about my working for a hatchery and de-beaking chickens. But you guys win, I can't compete with what some of you have done.
Joe
I helped a few days as the crew was short a few people one day but the regular crew I deeply felt bad for
they said we have to eat and take what we can as for work we were building the then new s-10 plant and remodeling the old factory up on the roof in the heat of summer with axes chopping out old sections of tar pitch roofs and as you said it ate you up no way around it any one who does it has my respect
I worked a plane crash when I was a paramedic. A Beechcraft Bonanza flew into the ground in a thunderstorm at 215 mph. Pilot, plus two female passengers and a little 9 year old boy.
Now, you can work a car wreck where the drunk guy hit an oak tree at 70 mph, now that is pretty grim. But, 215 mph? The biggest piece was about 15 pounds. Just imagine, a person's head is severed from the torso inside the plane because the person was strapped in with seat belts, the head rockets through the wind shield, the head hits a pine tree, and it is doing about 150 mph. And you have to peel that off of the tree and put it in a bag. Your partner holds the flashlight.
We picked up pieces all that night and most of the next day. I imagine the possums got busy the next night, we couldn't get it all.
I agree Dano. Just sad or disheartening.
It's mid August, and the neighbors have not seen elderly Mrs. Jones for a week.
You and your partner are going to have to enter the house for a welfare check. Vick's Vap-O-Rub on your upper lip helps.
There you go, chme. A person has been rotting away for a week. Flies and maggots etc. It was disgusting to me.
Another one of my fun experiences!! The dragline broke at the bottom of a slatted floor, 450 sow feeder pig operation. I put on a pair of chest high fishing waders, put a Maine northeaster rain coat, than the hat with the full hood and a bill on the hat. Climbed down in the pit, shuffling along VERY SLOWLY as the footing was slippery and falling in 4+ feet of hog pee and poop just didn't sound like anything I wanted to do. I didn't look up. Really, really didn't look up!! As you slowly shuffled along you were feeling for one end of the dragline with your feet. When you found one end, you hooked it with a long metal hook with a handle and yelled up to let them know to start looking for. When they found you I would pass up the hook, start shuffling along hunting for the other end so I could hook it and pass it up. Then I started to head for which ever end was closest to climb out. This was a shower in, shower out facility so it was straight to the shower to shower off all the pig filth.
The whole time I was searching for the dragline there were liquids and solids plopping on my head and shoulders. It seems like many of us have been involved in many interesting situations!!
I performed maintenance work in a rendering department at a slaughtering facility. That was nasty, especially in July.
Dreher , i have worked inany of the same type of hog operations here in NC. We primarily worked for Maxwell foods And Goldsboro Hog Farms and to a lesser degree Smithfield foods . Did a ton of work for Butterball .
You are not understating this, pitch is rough, I roofed for many years. While I mostly did shingle work I've spent a lot of time doing doing flat roofs as well.
I was a rep for equipment in wastewater plants for many years. When I was laid off I found a job in a plant that made fertilizer out of wastewater. It was a good position, they warned me about the smell but since I had a lot of experience I thought I could take it and I could while I was there But it got into your skin and you never got away from it even when not there. Here’s what the guys did every day. Bring a fresh set of clothes change into your uniform then leave your cloths outside wrapped in plastic then when you leave take a shower at the plant, quick put your cloths on and run out. Even when doing that I would come home for another shower and still smell it. I felt bad that I quit after a week. I had to throw out everything I brought into the plant because the smell never left.
A 0ld plumber told me remember two things crap runs down hill and don't chew your fingernails