Is there ONE good reason for a septic truck...

[rammstein]

to be pumping out something from the back of a small cafeteria?

The cafeteria in my office building is the most decrepit, disgusting place ever. It screams food poisoning, and I never eat there. Ever. The people who work there are unsanitary, and clearly don't care.

Today, I am walking into the office, and there is a septic pump truck there, with a hose running back over their counter and into the mystery room behind it. The smell was like, well, the inside of a septic tank.

There is no bathroom back there. Do septic trucks also occasionally pump grease traps?

Thing is, grease traps get pumped more than once every 2 years I assume. Our whole office was the most FOUL smelling place ever for about 4 hours.

Why would this happen? What could have been back there? Were they all pooping in an old bathtub that doubled as a pasta boiler?

I feel dirty.

[widebody911]

What makes you think the truck was pumping stuff out?

[rouxroux]

yes. They pump out used grease/oil. At a local eatery, a young boy got the unlocked lid off of one of the traps and fell in. Horrible way to go.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Yes, most likely cleaning out grease interceptors. Yummy.

[Tobra]

but think how good it will smell coming out the exhaust pipe of the old MB diesel

[Tishabet]

There's an interesting episode of "Dirty Jobs" where the host is working on a septic truck. As mentioned above, they pump out the grease traps... apparently it's worse than actual sewage.

[RickM]

Originally Posted by Tshabet

There's an interesting episode of "Dirty Jobs" where the host is working on a septic truck. As mentioned above, they pump out the grease traps... apparently it's worse than actual sewage.

Can't be worse than this guy's job..... http://www.newsweek.com/id/67483

[syncroid]

We used to have the grease trap truck come by to suck out the goo from the restraunt next door to my work when they were still open. The smell is enough to gag a maggot.
I feel sorry for the guy in that article. Very sad.

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally Posted by Tshabet

There's an interesting episode of "Dirty Jobs" where the host is working on a septic truck. As mentioned above, they pump out the grease traps... apparently it's worse than actual sewage.

Yes. Far worse. My first job ever was working as the clean-up kid at the local butcher shop. The most feared job in the place, by myself and countless predecessors, was cleaning out the chicken vat. This was a metal tub about the size of a feeding trough, with a metal grate on top, on which the frozen chickens sat for a few days as they thawed. And dripped greasy fat into the tub below...

We were under very explicit instructions to clean it out outside, after every neighboring business had closed and everyone had gone home. The idea was to have the smell gone by the time they all returned in the morning.

Well, one day I finally broke. I was only asked to clean it out about once a month. I think it must have been my third month; the third time I had to clean the damn thing. When the butchers had cleared out at 5:00, it was the first thing I did. I wanted the "share the wealth", so to speak. So I wheeled it out back and started shoveling dripping fat out of it into the dumpster (we had to do this the night we knew the dump truck was coming, so it would be gone in the morning). Then I got the hose out and started rinsing. Before the Exxon Valdez - esque slick of slimey chicken fat made it halfway down the parking lot to the storm drain, the neighboring businesses were emptying out. Customers had no clue what they were smelling, but the owners sure did. Boy were they pissed. Probably could have yelled louder if they weren't gagging so much. Anyway, in less than ten minutes the fire department was there (still don't know who called them). They couldn't stand it either. Wimps. Anyway, several of the irate business owners got them to help me rinse the parking lot with their fire hoses. It was quite the little to-do. The police even showed up after awhile, probably to see what the firemen were up to. They left pretty fast.

Got fired the next day. Did I say I had lots of predecessors? The chicken vat did 'em all in.

[id10t]

Nastiest thing I had to do at a job was cleaning the whirlpool tubs we used for acute wound care in the PT department. Warm room, very humid, and the smell of blood (just blood if you were lucky). Did find a toe one time....

[Superman]

One of my first jobs was cleaning a butcher shop also. Sadly, there was no chicken vat for me to experience.

Another yummy job is cleaning industrial range hoods. Grease clogs them up, which needs to be melted out of there with steam.

[TerryH]

Originally Posted by widebody911

What makes you think the truck was pumping stuff out?

Nothing like coffee out the nose... thanks!

[Danny_Ocean]

Originally Posted by rammstein

The cafeteria in my office building is the most decrepit, disgusting place ever. It screams food poisoning, and I never eat there. Ever. The people who work there are unsanitary, and clearly don't care.

I feel dirty.

Sounds like almost every restaurant in Miami...

[Jims5543]

Originally Posted by Danny_Ocean

Sounds like almost every restaurant in Miami...

Really? Tantra is that bad? The Forge is that bad?

Just because you did not like it in Florida does not mean the place sucks, it just was not for you. I have been facing the decision to move away from Florida and I just cannot do it.

Some of us actually like it here.

[Laneco]

I LOVE Miami - Cuban coffee is the bomb! Try it and you will forsake all other coffee as wussy and overpriced!

I worked about 10 years for the State of Oregon doing, among other things, inspections on commercial trucks. I loved to examine the vehicles that other inspectors avoided like septic trucks, rendering trucks, cattle haulers, etc. Often found great violations, I mean hey, its pretty understandable that a maintenance guy might put off adjusting brakes on a poo hauler, right? So I would always give bad smelling trucks a look.

One day I'm out working in 105 degree heat and in comes a rendering truck. As he rolls over the weight scales the gathering flies indicate he has an especially juicy load on board. I stop him and head out for the inspection. As soon as I step outside the scale building I am bombarded by a hideous reek of rotting flesh laced with manure and urine. Now the truck driver knows exactly how bad this smells and he's waiting for me to puss out. No way buddy.

I keep my cool during the whole inspection (probably 30-35 minutes). No way I'm going to let this guy know that I'm ready to pass out from the smell. As I'm finishing up the inspection I ask about a large metal object at the rear of the truck. It has nothing to do with the wheels, tires, brakes, but I am curious... WHy does curiosity always get me into trouble?

The driver says, "Oh that's the catch-tank," and opens it up. The tank is full of the liquid that leaks from hideously juicy rotting animal carcasses. There's probably 4-5" in the bottom of the tank swimming with maggots. The smell was like taking a hard swung pulaski straight in the gut. I bent over double and much to my personal humiliation, tossed cookies...

The bad part was, the vehicle had a serious violation that required repair before it could leave the facility. So I had to work another two hours with the fly-invested stink-mobile parked right near me. GROSS!

angela

[peppy]

I have a restaurant with no grease trap, don't put grease down the drains! All of our waste oil is kept outside in a enclosed container that is emptied every other week. About once a year they swap the container out for a clean one. There is never any smell unless you stick your head in it, and then it is really not that bad.
Does Miami have a health department?

[Porsche-O-Phile]

One of the reasons I'm vegetarian. Go clean out a butcher shop sometime (I also had this job as a kid for a while at a local grocery store). Not the primary reason I decided to give up meat, but it sure as hell makes you question why you're putting this stuff into your body. . . Nastiness at its most vile.

[trekkor]

I've worked in many restaurants over the years with grease traps and oil/grease tanks.
The one place that topped them all had a trap that the maintenance guys referred to as the "Smeg Tank"...



KT

[Danny_Ocean]

Originally Posted by Jim Cesiro

Really? Tantra is that bad? The Forge is that bad?

Just because you did not like it in Florida does not mean the place sucks, it just was not for you.

No, it sucks...

[Rick Lee]

When I sold Yellow Pages ads, there was one client whose ad we used in our own sales pitch, called "Crime Scene Clean Up". You can just imagine what these guys see regularly. Ever wonder who cleans up the blood and guts after the police are done with a crime scene and it's in a private residence or small business?