OK. I thought I’d heard of all the bad jobs in the world, but this one just blows my tiny mind.
How would you like to be a sewage diver?
No, let me rephrase that.
A SEWAGE DIVER???!!!?!?!?
I had no idea.
A few quotes from the linked article, plus my responses:
“I’ve done about 1000 hours of sewage diving. Working in a pit of sewage is very difficult; you can’t see anything for a start, so everything’s done by feel.”
And why would you want to feel anything in that lot???
“You can walk through the sewage but not really swim. We’ve had times when there were big islands we’ve had to remove when pumps have broken down. We’ve had to go in with big suction heads and suck 500 foot of solid poo out — lovely days!”
Yeah, just lovely. I’m so happy for you.
“It’s full-encapsulation diving — which means you’re fully dry inside the suit, it has sealed cuffs on it, and the suit connects onto the diver’s helmet so nothing touches the skin. We don’t come out smelling at all because there’s no contact.”
I’m sure your wife and children are absolutely delighted to hear that.
“The worst thing that can happen in a sewage dive is if you tear the suit and the suit floods.”
No s***, Sherlock!!!
“Some sewage farms can only turn their machines off for us to work on them between 1am and 3am when the flow is down, otherwise everyone’s poo starts coming back up their toilets and then they complain.”
Now why would they be so unreasonable?
“People usually stand back a bit when they find out what we do — most of the time we can get a clear space at the bar.”
I bet strong men clear a path for you!
“It doesn’t really worry us, what we’re diving in, but it would be nicer if people actually chewed their corn.”
I am SO not going there.
EDITED TO ADD: Since posting this I found a National Geographic video on sewage diving in Mexico City. Different location, same mess. Eww!
Peter
Ok, so much for this bowl of oatmeal…shouldn’t have logged on quite yet.
Maybe lunch.
Yeah. Much later.
It really isn’t that bad if you think about it. If you dive in a brackish black lake looking for a body, which I tend to do every Memorial Day, at least he KNOWS what he is in and I am never 100% sure.
oughta call the Dirty Jobs guy for this one. I wonder if he would show up?
Ok, I could actually smell the sewage as I watched the video and looked at the photo!
Peter, I laughed my way thru this one! Your comments were quite apt. (tongue in cheek! 🙂 )
What do you think about this in a book? LOL
A ACFW writing buddy who usually remains ANON on the loop.
So why do they bother putting a window on the helmet?
I’ll bet this guy rakes in the bucks on hazard pay. I bet he lives at the corner of Turdy Turd and Turd St.
Sucks to be him. No amount of money could get me in that suit and take a chance like that.
What do you tell your kids when they ask what you do? “Well, junior, I swim around in other people’s shit all day.” Imagine the poor kid’s embarassment. I’ll bet he gets a beatdown regular at school.
My first thought was also “Does Mike Rowe know about this one”. Not sure he’d do it though, even Mike has standards, lol.
No Jr’s Dad is a poopologist and a highly paid one I am sure.
At his rate of pay I am sure it smells like money!
I’ll bet his Hep B immunization is current.