During my twenty-seven years with the company I retired from, I worked several of those years going into homes and businesses. On heavy days I could hit fifty homes a week. The vast majority of homes were at least fairly well kept. Then there were those that were not. Here are a few of the worst.
This home's front porch was so filled with junk and trash you couldn't get to the door. I went in through the side entrance and walked into about a twenty foot hallway. Both sides of the hall were lined with over used litter boxes I'm sure had never been emptied and the odor slammed me in the face. Into the kitchen, open food on counters and dining table with around fifteen cats on those counters and floor. Cats in the living room and bedrooms. In the master bedroom where my work was, the toilet had over flowed and not fixed. The overflow covered the bedroom carpet and had soaked it long ago. The repair I made was simple, but I had to run outside several times for a new breath of air.
The next home was unkept and dirty, but that wasn't the problem. Roaches were literally everywhere. Not only floors and walls, they were thick on the ceiling and on the beds. When I used a staple gun, the 'snap' sent roaches falling from the ceiling which I had to dodge.
One mobile home I went in had chickens and roosters living in the home. They scattered as I walked through, I dodged them as I walked. Chicken shit everywhere, on the floor, dining table, and furniture.
Another mobile home was so full of dogs and cats which were not housebroken, the floors were soaked so badly one repairman went through the floor with his leg. This home was placed off limits to our employees. I heard from a friend that when the person died, a relative lit a match to it and burned it to the ground. I don't know if this was true, but could have been due to the home's isolated desert location.
I went to a home that reeked of an odor I couldn't even place. Only the living room was carpeted and in the rest of it, the tile was thickly covered with grease, like a cooking grease. I placed my hand on the floor once and immediately went back outside and cleaned my hands. Good thing we carried good soaps on our truck.
This last one I'll mention was the worst of the pack rats. The back yard and both porches were filled with junk. Now, I kid you not, every room without exception had only a pathway. That includes the kitchen and bathrooms. I turned sideways walking down the hall. I have no idea how the owner cooked, where they ate, where they slept or sat.
Here is the kicker. In all of these homes, a woman lived alone. I went into many with a lone man, but they could never compete with what I found with women. It could be coincidence, but pigs can fly, too.
I never understood how people could live under these conditions willingly. Or keep their health. How could they live in a place I couldn't breathe in? I've often wondered what led them to this point.
I saw and experienced so much in that job. The way couples live and treat each other. The conditions in which children live, and are left (I've called the police more than once about children).
And by the way, "lonely women" stories that come from men who work in homes aren't just "stories" either.
I'll tell you more sometime.
beyondtheveil posted on Dec 05, 2008
| views: 458
Comments
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MissMimi said on Dec 06, 2008....
I'm the first to admit that my housekeeping habits are somewhat relaxed -- I don't mind a bit of dust or clutter. But... this is something totally different. I don't know how people can live in these conditions, but they do. I have to believe there is something more going on than just laziness. It really is very sad. And I do worry about children living in homes like these. Good for you for calling the police. -
PAPERBACKWRITER said on Dec 06, 2008....
I am bookmarking for now, beyond.
I have an interest in the subject, that I want to research for the future. I agree with MissMimi about the reason not being laziness.
Thanks for posting.
Warm regards,
paper ~
p.s.
i hope you don´t mind, i tagged it social ailment to link it to a blog, i would like to write in the future.
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beyondtheveil said on Dec 06, 2008....
mimi- Yes, this is something totally different. I wasn't kidding in the least when I said you couldn't even breathe in some of these homes. I didn't call police about these homes, but when children were neglected or I felt in danger. For instance, I worked in an alley for a couple hours once, then noticed crying from a baby alone in a house with outside temp. well above 100. No one had been there since I was, so I called them then and they were very interested. They broke in and took the child out, and I left about that time.
paper. Thanks for coming by, and of course you can tag. Will you post that blog here? I'd be interested.
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fragglesrock said on Dec 06, 2008....
wow. i wonder where these people's families are? i worked at the city animal shelter and the officers witnessed several "hoarders" of animals. it truly is an illness. interesting post. thanks.
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mobil said on Dec 06, 2008....
I've seen this too Beyond, probably not to the extend you did. I used to go to one customers house to collect, my eyes burned from cat urin as soon as I hit the threshold.I know a carpet layer and this old lady wanted a new carpet in her living room, the floor was covered in cat and dog shit. The carpet layer told her he wouldn't pick it up, but would be back in a week to install the carpet.When he got back it wasn't better, but worse. He rolled out and cut the carpet and layed it right over top all that shit.It's a diease, some people cannot help themselves, a sickness in the mind that doesn't allow them to see this stuff in a normal way. -
Hegemone said on Dec 06, 2008....
Wow, sounds like some pretty bad living conditions. I too have experienced these kinds of places. I used to clean houses with my friend and there were some that we had to either turn down, or we just didn't do because they couldn't have afforded it. I really never could understand how people can live with such clutter either, as I've known a few places that there were literally only paths around the place through the clutter. It amazed me how most of the people that lived in an environment like that, at least that I knew of, knew just where everything was too. To somebody who doesn't live like that, you look at it and say 'Oh my gosh how will I ever find this or that.' The person living in it looks at it and says 'Oh, I know I put it right over here.' I think some people are just utterly blind to it. My mom knew two people who were quite wealthy brokers and their house was horrid. They let their animals relieve themselves on the rugs, they didn't clean it up for days, and they never washed the rugs, just cleaned up whatever was on top. They barely had paths to walk through, and I was amazed that they managed to house two dogs in this mess. However, sadly, it did not surprise me when both dogs got sick and ended up passing. It really is amazing how some people choose to live. -
uniquely-ironic said on Dec 06, 2008....
Your blog rings true. When I was locksmithing I entered more than one "crazy old lady" home that was packed to the point of only leaving trails or so infested with pets that the human's health was in danger. Men on the other hand will live in a shell of a home, sometimes without even utilities.I always thought it was a shame that the families of these people didn't at least attempt to get help for them. Money was not always an issue. -
pickersplock said on Dec 06, 2008....
Believe it or not, people like this suffer from obssesive compulsive disorder.Generally you associate that with peole who are immaculate and clean all of the time, well this is that same disease, only it's the next step.Check this out, it's one of the worst cases of hoarding; -
RollingC said on Dec 06, 2008....
I've only experienced that a couple of times. Once I went to visit momentarily an acquaintance of my sister (back in high school days) and was impressed with the sloppiness of the house. There were stacks of dirty dishes (4 to 5 plates high) all over the place and even under the sofa...some of them with scraps of food still on them. Now I'm sloppy and a pack-rat but nothing like that...not even close.
I've always considered that as some kind of dementia or other.
Rc
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Lucytorial said on Dec 06, 2008....
My grandmother was a horder but not of the proportions of the Collyer brothers. That is an amazing story. -
beyondtheveil said on Dec 06, 2008....
fraggles- There are truly many hoarders of animals today. Most recently, I've seen them on those animal cops shows. I've seen quite a number in real life.
mobil- Wow, can you imagine laying new carpet over that? I guess you're right about not seeing it the way others do, if they see it at all. But that odor....
hege- The cost to clean up these places would be a small fortune, wouldn't it. When you mentioned the stock brokers, it reminded me of two lawyers I knew who were the parents of a couple guys I knew when young. This can affect anyone, I guess.
unique- Your point about the men rings true with me. When I think back, most of the men in dire situations lived a very spartan life. Messy, but little at home.
pickers- I read that entire article about the Collyer brothers. I agree, its probably a disease, although I didn't look at it exactly that way. In most of the cases I found, the people weren't 'wierd', but evidently touched in some way.
rolling- I have a few friends who hoard things. One is a friend who lives across the street from my mother's house. Nothiong wrong with him, just collects a lot of stuff.
lucy- I'm thinking my step-father was probably like your grandmother. I wrote a post on what it took to clean up his crap. He wasn't like the Collyers, but only beacuse of less money and a place to put it.
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husbandhater said on Dec 06, 2008....
O.k. so no one is perfect and no one here is the epitomy of clean. And I'll include myself in this catogorey. But I will say something. Interms of the children of people like this,it is not the child's fault that their parent holds such and illness although it is sad that they live in such conditions.
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GladysNyte said on Dec 06, 2008....
I read the about the Collyer brothers. It's really sad how people with OCD are almost trapped by their obsessions in their own homes. But sometimes it's a necessary evil.
I saw this picture once on cable where this guy was married to a blind woman, and he had collected thousands of copies of papers stacked all over the apartment.
Well, the people came in to move all of the tons of paper out. They did a great job, and not longer after he succumbed to cancer and died.
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lionesss said on Dec 06, 2008....
i do believe that some people dnt realise how bad they are they have compulsive disorder, which can go eitha way,1, too much stuff bein hoarded,2,keeping too clean, all my family say i have ocd in cleaning, as im always bleaching something or other,alot of people have a mental illness and need help b/c they have no family as the welfare take no notice and let them get into a deeper mess,its sad eitha way especially wen young children live there aswel,,,,,x -
beyondtheveil said on Dec 06, 2008....
hh- I'll certainly agree that it's not the child's fault. What I don't know is how many of those children follow in their parent's footsteps. I would expect very few to be the excessive type due to the probability that its a disease. But those raised in a 'dirty' home might to a large extent follow suit. I just don't know any statistics on this. -
k666 said on Dec 06, 2008....
sounds like a lot of those people are compulsive hoarders.
here's a forum thread i found a couple years ago where a person took pics of her mother's ocd-ness. http://plonkmedia.info/crazymum/
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beyondtheveil said on Dec 06, 2008....
k666- O my God, yes, this is what a few of the homes I've seen look like. What a tour you took me on. I have to agree something is wrong with hoarders of this nature. If these pics were from two years ago, I wonder if they still have walkways. Again, thanks for the tour. -
Lucytorial said on Dec 06, 2008....
Beyond, it took four family members, two huge skips (bins) and two teams of professional cleaners when gran passed away. Her house was a living shrine to all things fucking useless, including her ferril cat that had to be put down. She was psychotic that cat.The good thing that came out of it though was that my sister and I who were baught up by her got to take with us a cherrished item each. Rememberence I guess. -
beyondtheveil said on Dec 06, 2008....
gladys- You said "trapped by obsessions in their own home". That's true, I hadn't looked at it that way. And very sad.
lionesss- There is the other side that you mentioned, by being obsessively clean. One of my best friends in high school lived in a sanitized home and he hated his mother as long as I knew him. She wouldn't allow anyone in the home with shoes on, no exception. She was driven by perfection, and it drove the family to very hard feelings toward her. My friend had a brilliant mind and went to an Iowa university and BYU to study engineering. I had not seen him in decades until a couple years ago and he was living in a filthy house an alcoholic. I have no idea if his early home life had anything to do with it.
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gingersoul said on Dec 06, 2008....
BeyBey....this post brought me back so many awful memories......it has been very painful for me goingo through it and especially looking at the post of K666 and the photos of that house...
I don't know if you remember the post i wrote after my sister passed away....
Her home looked exactly like that one...only...nothing was so well kept in boxes ...my sister was literally living surrounded by garbage....piles and piles of dirty trash bags filled with anything you can imagine as trash...
The thing that really got me to tears earlier has been the picture of the couch that K666's mother has in the living room...
My sister's bed had became her couch...it had become the only place in which she was sleeping because the path to the bedroom was completely obstructed by those piles of garbage....
This is my post....i rarely read it .....it hurts too much....stilll....
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beyondtheveil said on Dec 06, 2008....
lucy- "All things fucking useless" described my step-father. Our home was never dirty because my mother was in charge of it. But he had boo-koos of storage outside for things like boxes of empty nose spray bottles, to dangerous chemicals, to any thing you could think of he would never use. It took weeks over a long period of time filling dumpsters and trailers to the dump. He would be eating something from a plastic container like cottage cheese comes in and when empty hand it to my mother because he couldn't throw it away. -
beyondtheveil said on Dec 06, 2008....
ginsoul- I remember that post well. You opened your heart up in that post to the point that I felt I knew your sister, felt her pain and your pain. I know it was very difficult for you to write. Her case was not obsessive-compulsive, it was other things. That was so painfully written I have never forgotten your sister, I think that few who read it have ever forgotten either.
It is easy to see why the couch brought you to tears.
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Me-Myself&I said on Dec 06, 2008....
i worked for a company the did restitutions. so, there were times that i wore white jumpers. some fridges were.... they were thrown away. i even went into houses that were rent homes and that had been totally trashed. we cleaned, painted, fixed ....lordy it was work!
i don't get it.... why folks live nasty! of course.... i am a neat nut. i am the most "wipingness" fool you ever seen! it's bad. *smile*
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gingersoul said on Dec 06, 2008....
BeyBey.......yes....her case was different by the situations you talk about here....
In a way.......i know that i should have skipped this blog and read another one.....
But .....i just had to open the link to K666 post....
I knew it was going to hurt... i still carry inside guilt and regrets toward my sister...
I remember your so heartful comment to my post....you have always been a dear friend to me...{hug}
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luvin12 said on Dec 06, 2008....
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queenparanoia said on Dec 07, 2008....
the hair of my back is standing just reading about this. i agree with this is a psychological problem about hoarders. i think ginger posted something about this...hoy crap k666!!! that was a house full of stuff!!! -
beyondtheveil said on Dec 07, 2008....
memy- If you clean houses, I can see why you're a wiping fool. Nothing wrong with that.
ginsoul- Yea, I carry some of that guilt too. I guess we will both always wonder if we did enough, should we have done more. Its normal to feel that way, I think. I have some of that guilt over my mother also. I believe I told you a little about that.
queenie- That post of ginger's is one of the best on SC. I think maybe she has over ten of the best. The k666 post was a real trip through hoarding, huh?
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queenparanoia said on Dec 07, 2008....
beyond: oh yeah!!! like those boxes!!! she didnt even open those... holy crap if my mom would do that i would move out!