Probably the most disgusting thing I've had to do

[evilhomer]

They're renovating a kitchen nook in one of my buildings (an office kitchen). My task was to clear out the appliances and dishes. It was an ominous omen for me when I got a stomach churning item out of the cupboard. There was a mystery liquid inside a plastic container with organisms growing inside. They were a half dozen of them, about the size of a house fly with some kind of fuzz growing on them. I got caught up in that sick fascination and couldn't help but stare at these for a moment. This is mixed in with everyone's coffee cups that they are drinking from every day Once I snapped out of this trance I threw it to the garbage and ran to the bathroom for a hand wash.

That was the worst of the cupboard. A little bit of sugar or salt spilt, some general uncleanliness, nothing that I'd live with but I suppose not bad for these slobs. On to the fridge....

One look and I knew it would be trouble. The fridge that was supposed to be empty was jam packed. I have instructions to throw everything out but this is too much so I call up my contact:

Me: Hey Grace, sorry to bother you; I know you told me to throw it all out but this fridge is jam packed.
SC: What's in it?
Me: What the f*** do you think dumbass?!? I don't know, a bunch of plastic bags. I suppose it's people's lunches.
SC: Can you check?
Me: No... there's 20 or 30 bags in here.
SC: Fine, whatever... they were told it had to be emptied, just toss it all.

So off we go. I have a plan to be nice about it and not toss anything that anyone might want to keep like a tupperware container or such thing. This plan went out the window when I get through a few bags and reveal some kind of green slimy substance coating on of the shelves I should have killed the job at this point, I'd certainly have legal entitlement to do so, but Grace is a bitch and my boss has no spine in dealing with her. My life is easier if I just tough these ones out. So I call a break and head to the store for some thick rubber gloves. We keep clear of the mystery shelf and hope that the life form growing on it doesn't take offence to us being in it's territory and go on with the task. I don't even look into any of the plastic bags, I just keep them at arms length and handle them just by the tops. I find a tupperware container with some cherry tomatoes in it. More specifically, I assume they were cherry tomatoes. They are in the decomposition stage where they've begun to liquify, the mold on them is growing mold. I find another container that once was jello with more of my fuzzy friends from the cupboard.

Those were the notables of the fridge's contents. Fortunately most of it was in bags so I didn't have to look at much. Oddly enough the smell wasn't too overwhelming, or maybe a self defense mechanism just shut down my nostrils for this task. We get it cleared out, and move it to storage. I just know that we're going to get a request to clean it but I've already told my boss not to bother asking. I simply can't believe that anyone would let a place where they are putting something that they are going to eat get to such a disgusting state.

[Bright_Star]

I can hear the news now. Refrigerator Flu!!...LOL!

[ralerin]

Did you finish bleaching the fridge or did you assume it was a loss and decided that it, too, would go out with the garbage?

[Golden Phoenix]

Y'know what, i can handle a lot of things, maggots, decomposing flesh, blood, vomit etc without feeling too bad.

But mould...*shudders* it makes me feel sick to my stomach, your post is just, *retches and runs for the bathroom*

ugh

Can someone pass me my toothbrush please?

[mharbourgirl]

I simply can't believe that anyone would let a place where they are putting something that they are going to eat get to such a disgusting state.

*snerk*

Really? You never met my roommates when I was in college. There were 5 of us. I moved in about a year or so after the rest of them had rented the place, and it didn't take me long to realize that everyones' schedules were so varied that even though the bathroom got cleaned almost every day, the fridge was a walking timebomb just waiting to spill the next great plague on our poor planet. After my first week in there, I asked around if anyone would mind if I cleaned out the fridge, because we couldn't fit anything new in it and the smell was rather...um... ok, there aren't actually words in this language to describe it. My offer was met with rather excessive enthusiasm. :P I had thought I would empty containers and wash a few shelves down, how bad could it be? After the second container of evolution in action, I started chucking things into the garbage using my fingertips. I'm pretty sure the brown goopy stuff in one bag had once been celery. Not at all sure what you have to do to get a neon pink bacterial culture on leftover canned peaches, though. At least, I think they were once peaces.

When I was done, there was a carton of milk, a jar of minced garlic, and half a bottle of mustard sitting all lonesome in the fridge. And three full sacks to be hauled out to the curb.

My roommates bought me coffee for a week in appreciation, so I guess it was worth it. Y'all just remember that I saved you from being knocked off the evolutionary ladder with my leet cleaning skillz.

[BookstoreEscapee]

After the second container of evolution in action

I like that one!

When I worked in the stores the fridge could get kind of gross sometimes, but now working where there is a full time cleaning staff things get cleaned out every week. There are signs on all of the fridges (there are two kitchens in the office area where I work, and they each have two fridges, and there are more fridges in the three cafeteria areas in the warehouse) that say they will be cleaned out every Friday and anything left will be tossed. They mean it. I once had a whole bottle of salad dressing that I had just opened the day before and forgot to take home tossed. When I worked in Philly I was in a small office (about 60 people total) and they had a monthly fridge cleaning sign-up list.

[Crab]

You just tossed it in the bin?
You poor person.
Don't you realise the only way of dealing with this is to kill it with fire?

[KhirasHY]

This is why we had a very strict policy on our refrigerator: If it's there for 2 days, you'll find it in the trash.

I got sick of finding people's 3-week old fruit in there, so every day I would keep a white board updated with the items...people got the idea fast when their stuff started disappearing in record time.

[evilhomer]

You just tossed it in the bin?
You poor person.
Don't you realise the only way of dealing with this is to kill it with fire?

I thought you had to cut off it's head and bury the remains a minimum of 6 feet apart

Harbourgirl: THREE full sacks ?!? I thought I had it bad with two trash containers. My hat goes off to you, I got off easy cause all this stuff was bagged or in containers.


I'm hoping that after this fiasco, they'll adopt the policy in place at most other offices of "Fridges are emptied Friday @ 5:00... period" or the even better date labelling all items to have them tossed the next day.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

The refrigerator in the swamp's breakroom is cleaned every Sunday. Or so the sign on the wall says.

The freezer on the other hand...I swear there's Tupperware containers of soup or other foodstuffs dating from the first Reagan administration in there.

I only go in there if management has stocked it with ice cream for us. Mmmmm, yummy ice cream.

[ShinyGreenApple]

They enforced a once a week fridge cleaning at Hell-Mart, as I recall, shortly after I started there.

It came about from some unnamed employee discovering that someone had left one of our ever-popular lemon pepper rotisserie chickens on a shelf in the breakroom, and apparently, let it sit there by it's onesie for, well, a while. Said lucky discoverer discreetly took the carcass and left it on the desk of the store's safety manager, where she inspected it and found it to be filled with . . . maggots.

Yeah, the guys and gals in maintenance were pretty anal about pulling up a chair on one side of the refrigerators and a trash bin on the other, like clockwork each week. I didn't put my stuff in the fridge much after that, despite their brave efforts. People are so nasty.

[Jay 2K Winger]

Am I the only one who thought of the fridge-spawn from "Cowboy Bebop"?

[Geek King]

Am I the only one who thought of the fridge-spawn from "Cowboy Bebop"?

Nope. Mmmm, sweet bean curd.


Oh, and fire is not enough. You have to nuke it from orbit to be sure.

[Bronzebow]

Oi, this brings back a memory.

About four years ago, I signed up with my current employment, a software company. The office in our branch was a rented space with about six offices, five people, a water dispenser, microwave and fridge. My first few weeks there, I'd make my lunch and bring it in, and I happened to notice one day that there was a boxed pumpkin pie in the freezer.

Fast forward to about a year ago. We leased a new office space and started the process of moving out to where we are now. After I packed my office, I checked the fridge, since I know I forget to grab my tupperware.

What's in the freezer? A pumpkin pie in a box.

Me, yelling: Hey, Bossman...how long's this pie been in the freezer?
Him, yelling back: Uhh...when did you get hired?
Me: ...2005.
Him: Then it's five years old. You want it? It's still good.

Yeah, no. I might live the bachelor lifestyle, but I draw the line on food that's over halfway the decade mark. We actually opened it up, and the upper crust was completely blackened. Not a piece of it had been eaten either...seems a waste for a perfectly good pumpkin.

[dmcglu82]

Just click and listen Lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USz6b...om=PL&index=12