Dirty Jobs“Dirty Jobs of the Big Apple”
Original Air Date: April 14, 2008
Stacy –Two Cents Reviewer
Can you smell it? That is a brand new episode of Dirty Jobs, with Mike Rowe. And while this episode isn’t traditionally dirty, I am still thankful that technology has not advanced to the point where we have smell-o-vision. This episode, all about New York, tackles the building and installing of water towers and the glamorous world of elevator repair.
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Dirty Jobs
ReplyDelete“Dirty Jobs of the Big Apple”
Original Air Date: April 14, 2008
Stacy –Two Cents Reviewer
Can you smell it? That is a brand new episode of Dirty Jobs, with Mike Rowe. And while this episode isn’t traditionally dirty, I am still thankful that technology has not advanced to the point where we have smell-o-vision. This episode, all about New York, tackles the building and installing of water towers and the glamorous world of elevator repair.
First up, Mike visits Rosenwach Tank Company of Brooklyn, NY where he learns the basics of water tank construction while sporting a great ‘We Tank NY’ shirt. Yes, I admit, the swag Mike picks up on these jobs is half the appeal to me. The other half is Mike. We learn that water tanks are vital to New York, and are found on top of nearly every residential building because, after five floors, it’s just hard to fight gravity, so why not work with it! Rosenwach has been in business, using the same equipment and techniques, for over a hundred years and estimate that half the water tanks in New York have been built and installed by them. Basically, what they do at the warehouse is plane the pieces of wood and drill the dowel holes to be fit together, on sight, like a puzzle. It’s pretty straightforward, very dusty, and extremely precise work. There’s a reason for that.
The next day, bright and early, Mike introduces us to CJ and his crew who are way up on top of building ready to dismantle the existing water tank and replace it with the one Mike helped make yesterday. Let me first say, that while this job is not dirty, as in slime, or mud, or any kind of urine (that’s later), it is dirty in the since that not just anyone is going to want to do it. I’m one of those people. There is seriously no railing up on that building, and a very nice shot of the Empire State Building. CJ and his crew work like madmen, if madmen were organized better than an orchestra. Mike is basically trying to keep up, not slow them up, and not screw up and fall to his untimely death. It’s a fascinating process, and very dangerous. It one of those jobs, especially if you are like me and did not grow up in a large metropolis that you never think of as needing to be done. But there it is. And they take down and reinstall the whole thing in one day. Amazing.
On the second, much smaller segment, Mike reminisces about his first five floor walk-up apartment in New York, and how he’d wished he’d had an elevator. Working with Phil, of BP Elevators, Mike soon learns that maybe not having an elevator wasn’t such a bad thing. Phil is a repairman hired by the building to keep the hundred year old elevator in shape. They basically start at the top, cleaning off all sorts of crud and debris, and ride the elevator down, working as they go. It is disgusting work, it really is, especially as Phil retells stories of urine and other body fluids that end up where they are. The trip ends with a visit to the pit, where everything they’ve been cleaning has been gathering. And, it’s still insanely gross, and I feel the need to shower just mentally reliving it, but there is something good that comes from it; Mike finds a gold American Express card. Drinks are on him, but first he’ll need a shower.
Next week is Alaska Week on Discovery Channel, and Mike is no exception. Expect lots of fish guts and frozen tundra. It should be fun. It will definitely be dirty.