This just happened
I had a houseguest this weekend, and she was probably too polite to say anything, especially keeping this in mind, but I am horrified.
In my house, there are two large buckets/bins, one for garbage and one for recycling, each with large dark garbage bags permanently inside and then a thinner, clear plastic bag on the garbage one. That way, I can just take the entire (lightweight) recycling bin by the corner and one tied-up clear plastic bag outside the dumpsters instead of lugging them both out there.
There's a reason for this level of detail, I promise.
So tonight, I went to empty them as usual. Grabbed the recycler and pulled it out from the washing machine area, then pulled out the garbage can and went to tie up the bag. A nasty whiff of something assaulted my nose, and I thought, damn, good thing I'm taking this out now. I tied up the bag with another whoosh of foulness, grabbed the knot and pulled.
The stench was overwhelming.
I gagged and look down, and the black "liner" bag is full of some kind of liquid, equally horrific in smell. So I dropped the plastic one back in and went to tie up everything into the liner bag as a lost cause. I started to pull it up out of the bin and hear splashing. Looked down into the garbage can itself and saw blood rolling back and forth, accompanied by...you guessed it...the smell of a freakin' GRAVEYARD. Oh, it was awful. Seriously, I think I know what stumbling upon a house with a week-old dead body in it must be like now.
Turns out the unused portions of a whole chicken, cut up and used for soup earlier in the week....and by earlier I mean Monday, so six days ago...had been put at the very bottom of the garbage can and had somehow transmitted its rank self through two layers of plastic, allowing it to pool into a giant puddle of NAST that I would find at the end of my weekend.
I thought that the place smelled a little odd as we walked in the door from dinner and a movie Saturday night, but I chalked it up to having leftover Thai in our hands and general cooking funk. Oho. If only. Needless to say, it became apparent that even bleaching wasn't going to take care of the job completely, and the bin went from sitting outside in the rain with soapy water in it to being gently placed in the recycling dumpster and hands dusted, a job well done.
So, my apologies to Bert, who was undoubtedly happy to leave the morgue and not look back, and an item on the calendar to discuss with a certain other person living here about food handling rules and regs. Where's EHS when you need them?
In my house, there are two large buckets/bins, one for garbage and one for recycling, each with large dark garbage bags permanently inside and then a thinner, clear plastic bag on the garbage one. That way, I can just take the entire (lightweight) recycling bin by the corner and one tied-up clear plastic bag outside the dumpsters instead of lugging them both out there.
There's a reason for this level of detail, I promise.
So tonight, I went to empty them as usual. Grabbed the recycler and pulled it out from the washing machine area, then pulled out the garbage can and went to tie up the bag. A nasty whiff of something assaulted my nose, and I thought, damn, good thing I'm taking this out now. I tied up the bag with another whoosh of foulness, grabbed the knot and pulled.
The stench was overwhelming.
I gagged and look down, and the black "liner" bag is full of some kind of liquid, equally horrific in smell. So I dropped the plastic one back in and went to tie up everything into the liner bag as a lost cause. I started to pull it up out of the bin and hear splashing. Looked down into the garbage can itself and saw blood rolling back and forth, accompanied by...you guessed it...the smell of a freakin' GRAVEYARD. Oh, it was awful. Seriously, I think I know what stumbling upon a house with a week-old dead body in it must be like now.
Turns out the unused portions of a whole chicken, cut up and used for soup earlier in the week....and by earlier I mean Monday, so six days ago...had been put at the very bottom of the garbage can and had somehow transmitted its rank self through two layers of plastic, allowing it to pool into a giant puddle of NAST that I would find at the end of my weekend.
I thought that the place smelled a little odd as we walked in the door from dinner and a movie Saturday night, but I chalked it up to having leftover Thai in our hands and general cooking funk. Oho. If only. Needless to say, it became apparent that even bleaching wasn't going to take care of the job completely, and the bin went from sitting outside in the rain with soapy water in it to being gently placed in the recycling dumpster and hands dusted, a job well done.
So, my apologies to Bert, who was undoubtedly happy to leave the morgue and not look back, and an item on the calendar to discuss with a certain other person living here about food handling rules and regs. Where's EHS when you need them?
Comments
Dude, I didn't (I SWEAR!) notice a smell. It must have been well-contained in that closet. But I bet the discovery was something I was glad to be gone for! Jason occasionally misses the garbage bag when he throws stuff in the can too, and it usually equates to some terrible, molded trouble for me. Men.
It was sooooo good to see you. Can't wait for Mossyrock!
I know, I was a little chagrined to see how long it'd been since last I posted. Blame it on the fact that this was the rare homework-free weekend (nothing due 'til Thursday)...I knew I wouldn't feel guilty sitting at the computer typing this one up instead of doing something school-y. :)
Counting down the days...
I know that when I tell Matt is the one who forgot to rinse the milk jug before recycling it, it makes me want to vomit. On him.
Glad to see you posting SOMETHING, T. Is it true we might see you soon???? (Fingers crossed) :)