I was cruising to work last week, thru the rural countryside, when I encountered what we euphemistically call in these parts a ‘honey wagon’.
A great big old tanker truck whose business it is to empty septic tanks and pools.
Now I am no stranger to these sorts of things, as we’ve had to call upon their services more than a time or 12 over the years, given the rural nature of our home and the vagaries of ageing septic systems.
So I don’t have issues with what they do, and I don’t get particularly squeamish over the topic (as those of you who have read my essay on the gangrenous bowel exploding in my face will recall.)
What took me by surprise was the logo on the side of the truck:
Your st is our bread and butter**
(yes, that’s how they spelled it)
:eek:
If that’s so, and if noone else can empty my septic tank besides your company, I will certainly hire you.
Just don’t breath on me. Or touch me.
And don’t smile at me either. I don’t want to see your teeth.
In fact, just mail me the bill after the job is done. And call to tell me if there’s anything I need to know.
I’m really dense when it comes to this, but QtM, is this a factual question? I assume when they say that, they mean that your shit puts food on the table. Well, maybe a bad example, but “your shit pays my bills” would work. I don’t know if “bread and butter” is still an oft-used expression, though.
(apologies if this sounds snarky, I’m mildly intoxicated.
I no longer recall what their silly sayings were, but a septic tank cleaning service in Ithaca NY (I think it was called Stinky’s) dealt with the matter somewhat similarly.
After all, if your business is cleaning septic tanks, what choices do you have? Probably just two: (a) become a surly alcoholic who hates his life; or (b) make fun of it and try to laugh.
I prefer option (b) and it seems this view is shared by many who are actually in the biz.
The first time we had to deal with a septic pumping after moving to our new house, I opened the yellow pages (hey, it was 16 years ago and google didn’t exist!) and scanned the page. One ad caught my eye and it was the first one I called:
“No one sticks their nose into our business”
I figured a guy with a sense of humor about it couldn’t be all bad. As Carol said above, there are a couple of ways to view things and I’m partial to those that can find humor in life - or make humor when there isn’t a lot of funny to be found.
One of the Door County pumping outfits (may places are not suitable for septic tanks and have to use holding tanks):
Royal Flush Sanitation - A royal flush beats a full house.
I just saw a truck on Friday for a service that goes around picking up dog poo (how much money can there be in that?). A couple of the mottoes emblazoned on the side of the truck:
Over ten years ago ( before kids) I was tired of my job, which I constantly spent at day dreaming ( when I wasn’t working.) I knew that if I wanted to make money, I had to create a niche industry which served two basic tenets: People are inheritly lazy and cheap.
So, I thought of the nastiest jobs people just hate to do.
Picking up dog poo.
2.) Cleaning out the litter box. (This idea came after we got a cat.)
Fuelled by my BIDNESS ACUMEN, I tell Mr. Ujest alls about THIS GREAT IDEA I HAVE and I have a NAME FOR IT (A most *critical * element.) ( Which I cannot recall exactly what it is at this moment, but it WAS GOOD and something like *Poopie B Gone * or Doody Calls.But, it was better! really. Maybe it was The Poop Scooper. crap.
Mr. Ujest, being a man of pragmatic ideals solidly grounded in his German upbringing, gave me a look that said Why would people pay you to pick up their dogs poop when they should be doing that themselves?, but what he reallly said to me was, " You don’t even pick up your own dogs poop…" and then I faded off into my Happy Place and here I am a decade later still without my niche industry.
There are now a couple of guys in the area that do this…and I could have been the first. if only I actually picked up my own dog’s poop.
BOT:
One of the septic guys in the area are Todoroff Brothers: We’re #1 in #2.
QtM , if you live in Southwestern Ontario, chances are that truck belonged to my uncle. However, I’m pretty sure his trucks just say ‘shit’ and not ‘s**t’.
Yes, my family reunions are very interesting, why do you ask?
I’ve seen most of the variations on septic humor listed here before, and I ‘get’ the joke about ‘bread and butter’, I just suffered from mild cognitive dissonance over the imagery of coprophagia.
And I was surprised that “S**t” had become acceptable as advertising in our rather conservative locale, where many still object to newspaper or billboard ads for ‘family planning’ because it would be embarrassing to have to explain to the children what that meant.
I would also like to see a link to this, please. Or maybe I should say interested in a link to this, perhaps “like” is not really the word I’m looking for…
